Frederik Pohl, along with the late C M Kornbluth, created a whole vein of satirical sf in the early Fifties; recently, in the award-winning Gateway, he successfully combined wit and humanity in a novel of character. [JEM: The Making of a Utopia] is a more old-fashioned type of sf with its far off star, strange planet and three races of intelligent, primitive aliens…. Pohl covers a broad canvas in minimal space and necessarily skimps a little on detailed characterisation and plotting, relying for much of the intense emotional effect of the book on the shifts of mood of his naïve male protagonist, the American xenologist Danny Dalehouse…. The characterisation is sketched in, but Pohl is sufficiently able that a few strokes give the effect of solidity, not least in his portrayal of the crablike Sharn-igon, who pursues a solitary vendetta against humanity when his mate dies of...