This early novel by MacDonald is chock full of great sf ideas, as much as any sf book of the early 50's. Unfortunately it is a real let-down when compared to MacDonald's great suspense novels of the same period, like "The Brass Cupcake" and "Judge Me Not". With those two novels MacDonald burst forth on the paperback original market in 1950, after his apprenticeship in the pulp magazines, as a fully developed talent, fully as great a writer from the get-go as he ever would be. Unfortunately, "Wine of the Dreamers", while it succeeds for its ideas, is a dud with respect to execution. It is telegraphed, some of the key scenes happen off stage, it reads like an outline for a novel that never actually got written. Read "Judge Me Not" if you want great early MacDonald, and read "Bright Orange for the Shroud" if you want MacDonald the greatest he ever got.