Sheila Merritt at "SciFi Dimensions" said that while it should have been "a fine tribute and a fitting farewell to this master of science fiction", it turned out to be an "easy book to put down." She said that the plot "meanders in fits and starts" and that the book is too long for the story it tells. Ed Park of the "Los Angeles Times" enjoyed the first third of the book, but said that for the rest, its "winning and winking self-consciousness evaporates." He wondered how stable the manuscript was when it was published, and added that it does nothing to "burnish the legacy of either of its authors."