"galaxy" reviewer groff conklin described the stories as "three creaking classics . . . fun to read, [but] rococo antiques [without] believable characters, human relations, even logical plots." boucher and mccomas dismissed the book as "a hopelessly outdated set of novelets . . . of concern only to those who wish to observe the awkward larval stage of a major figure in science fiction." p. schuyler miller described the stories as "old-fashioned fun which [campbell] no longer takes any more seriously than you need to."