Pierce traces the development of themes and story structure in sf from utopian proto-sf, through so-called 'gothic sf' like *Frankenstein*, concerned with sin and punishment, on to space opera and future history. Though anglo-centric, it includes some information about French, German, and Russian sf.

In the early pages, when treating utopian fiction, Pierce did not give enough detail, and at the end, the multiple pages devoted to e.g. Asimov's Foundation series or Niven's Known Space series were excessive. The middle of the book was a happy medium.

The book is probably best viewed as an annotated bibliography of certain themes; its analysis, of necessity for a book with such a broad scope, is too shallow to make it of much use outside that. ( )

A very good study of science fiction that uses an evolutionary metaphor to trace influences and themes in the genre.

The only fault I could find with the book is that sometimes Pierce fell into simply recounting plots without explaining the work's importance or significance in the genre. ( )