“Species is not a determiner of intelligence: use of intelligence is its own measure.”

This novella, fairly fast-moving, has the hallmarks of Delany’s experimental narrative structure: this time one which reflects the type of intelligence of its alien narrator, not contemporary human readers. It’s difficult to remember that the sometimes jarring moments or unexplained details are relevant experiences related to that narrator (and to the story’s close). As ever, trust the author to fulfill his promise to make the experience worthwhile!

And the close of the work does reveal a relevance unlooked for, yet before us all along. It’s a clever “tying together” of threads, a “whoa” moment, but once accomplished, it loses its impact a bit, especially after the last 30 years of science fiction storytelling. Like any mystery novel, I was not convinced I had been given sufficient clues to anticipate or discover what was ahead, especially as to the nature of the title reference itself. As one character asks near the end of the book, “You mean you don’t know what Empire Star is?” Well, no, of course the character (nor we!) do!

Nevertheless, the original premise of narrative structure paired against different types of intelligence levels (for instance, a kind of cat has a higher level intelligence than some humans, and understandably so!) is intriguing and a fairly bold statement about the nature of thinking. Species is not a determiner of intelligence: use of intelligence is its own measure.

Short, fun, satisfying, and an author I must return to many more times.