Stepsons of Terra

This is the second of Silverberg's 1950's novels that I have read. Like The Seed of Earth, it was republished in the 1970's with an introduction by Silverberg. Stepsons, however, is more of a novel than Seeds. It was at least written as a novel, whereas the other is a short story expanded into a novel-like fiction with the addition of some backstory that made it long enough to serve as one half of an Ace double. Stepsons' first book publication was also as an Ace Double, so it is very short. As it should be. It's brevity makes the story of one human colonist's return trip to Earth both entertaining and well paced with reversals and surprises. Maybe had I read the blurbs before I read the book, I would have known it was going to involve time manipulations, but as it happens I blundered along with no idea where the story could possibly be going.

Silverberg, in his introduction, is quite pleased with how well the twenty year old novel held up in the 1970's. Forty years later I would have to say the whole thing is pretty rudimentary, but entertaining for the couple of hours it takes to read it.