Pages : 208
Overall Mark : 8/10
John Wainwright is a freak, a human mutation with an extraordinary intelligence which is both awesome and frightening to behold. Ordinary humans are mere playthings to him. Their feelings, and sometimes even their lives, are expendable. And Odd John has a plan - to create a new order on Earth, a new supernormal species. But the world is not ready for such a change...
OLAF STAPLEDON (1886-1950)
Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and Liverpool University, Olaf Stapledon worked for a shipping office in Liverpool and Port Said before returning to lecture at Liverpool University. His books included the SF classics Last and First Men and Star Maker.
VERDICT
Although this is probably Stapledon's least adventurous novel, I think it is the most interesting. John is an interesting character that goes from being a relative nobody who is looked down on by society as he is so freakish to a megalomaniacal, power-hungry leader of men who manages to create his own powerful society that the rest of the world feels threatened by. A great little read, and a great moral tale.
