This trilogy-in-a-book could have been better told in a short story of about 25 pages. While some of the prose might indeed be considered poetic, the plot is non-sensible, and the dialogue ranges from vapid to atrocious. The character development is so deficient that it's difficult, if not impossible, for the reader to form any kind of attachment with the main characters. There are some entertaining nuggets in the plot stemming from farcical happenings, as well as some perhaps-unintended absurd writing. In his defense, Mr. Delany was only 19 years old when he wrote the book. How many people attain any kind of professional accomplishment at that age? Nonetheless, save yourself the frustration of this book.