More than Human

One of the problems of reading groundbreaking works years after they've received their acclaim is that what they brought to the table can seem a little routine. This is unfortunately the case with Theodore Sturgeon's More than Human, which may have seemed revolutionary when it was first published, but now seems like merely a very good science fiction novel.

More than Human isn't a typical sci-fi novel; like Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, it concerns the next phase of human evolution. Like Clarke, Sturgeon focuses on the unlocking of the potential of the human mind -- telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, mind control, things of that nature. They're very different novels, though, and I would say Clarke's is more interesting in its setup, while Sturgeon's is better in execution.

More than Human is composed of three parts -- "The Fabulous Idiot", "Baby is Three", and "Morality." "Baby is Three" was a previously published novella, and the preceding and anteceding parts were composed solely for the novel. I enjoyed "The Fabulous Idiot" the most, because it's the most straightforward -- the later two can be a little unclear, and demand that a lot of the action happen "offscreen", without necessarily even hinting at the general direction.

There are times when Sturgeon's prose, set pieces, and dialogue seem a little dated, even for something that was written in the 1950s. That said, the concept is novel for the time, and the execution is good.

It's tough to level too much criticism at a novel you've enjoyed, especially when it's critically acclaimed. I don't want to give the impression that this is a bad novel, or something to be avoided. Any reader of fifties sci-fi should absolutely pick it up. It's tough to see this as something that took science fiction into the mainstream, or that took science fiction into the arena of literature, but given the way the subject matter is handled, I can see it if I squint.