The failure of most recent s.f. novels to say anything new and important, or even very interesting, makes a novel like Brian W. Aldiss's Vanguard from Alpha, flawed as it is, worthy of note.

Aldiss writes pointed, dry, highly stylized short stories that pack a great deal into a small space. His novels, those we have seen so far, are pot-boilers. (p. 243)

But even in his comic-book writing, Aldiss is more perceptive than most. The final solution of his puzzle is ingenious and reasonably satisfying; his future world has at least touches of reality, because it's as idiotically patched-together and complicated as our own….

If this writer ever does a novel with his right hand, it will be something worth waiting for. (p. 244)

Damon Knight, "Decadent," in his In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction (copyright © 1956, 1967, by Damon Knight; reprinted by courtesy of Advent: Publishers...