I first read The Chrysalids when I was 16, would have done so a lot sooner given the chance, but my mother would not let me up till then. She thought it might be too old for me. Well, it was an unforgettable treat for me when I did. That is the strange thing about certain kinds of science fiction - and I do not by that mean the spaghetti gung-ho kind of read, I mean …showed first 75 words of 532 total…

…showed last 75 words of 532 total…sympathetic are the persecuted Outsider Chrysalids of this book, but less so are the superior Freaks of The Midwich Cuckoos. Neither is this book all black and white: David Strorm the nattator has his doubts about the self-assured arrogance shown by the Sealand woman towards the community in which he grew up, however cruel and rigid it was, and where would Uncle Axel with his own wisdom figure within the brave new world of Sealand?