Cuando despertó, desnudo y golpeado, en un calabozo de la comisaría de policía de Jasperton, Adam Nova no sabía absolutamente nada de sí mismo, de dónde había venido ni de lo que le rodeaba. No era más que un cascarón vacío: incapaz de hablar, de moverse incluso, sin el menor contacto con la realidad. Pero estaba en el mundo, y tenía que adaptarse a él. Experimentando. Así inició su duro y penoso aprendizaje, tropezando constantemente, sufriendo graves reveses, pero avanzando con tesón en el difícil camino de la vida.
Afortunadamente, tenía las voces para ayudarle a llenar sus inmensas lagunas. Y, dentro de él, unos poderes que desconocía, pero que estaban allí, y que iría descubriendo lentamente. Hasta llegar, finalmente, cuando todo parecía hundido a su alrededor, a la revelación de su fantástica naturalez.

Laumer starts out with a real Sturgeon formula as outlined in books like More Than Human and in some measure The Dreaming Jewels- the special person or persons have to go through the trials and tribulations arranged all too willingly by a cast of gritty manevolent characters in order to reach their final moment of self realization. He uncharacteristically does not use a first person narrative to tell the tale of his downtrodden bum idiot Adam, who speaks in the tongues of many people, and is bounced from one cruel turn to another. Finally he settles down with a con artist bent on using his telepathic gift, to become rich and in the process Adam begins to learn who and what he really is.The story covers his growing from one level of conciousness to the next. But this book is not merely a superman book, this is an epistemological allegory. The Infinite Cage of the title is conciousness itself, the true shape of our limitation, the trap we twist and turn in all our lives to escape though we don't realize it. This is a novel of great insight, sorrow and humor. Laumer is a psychologist of surprising acuity. This story is certainly on level with the kind of thing Sturgeon writes and it might even surpass. Last year I had been startled at how well done Dinosaur Beach was; I thought I knew what this guy was about and that story was far better than I anticpated. This one knocks it out of the park. I certainly didn't expect a book of this depth. I would not be surprised if this turned out be his best book when I'm finished with reading everything he's done. It'll be hard to top. ( )

ZB13