McIntosh is one of the forgotten writers of the Golden Age of SF. I really like his books. Between 1953 and 1979 he wrote more then 20 novels. This was likely his last. It's not overly complicated but it's effective. I liked it. ( )

At its best, science fiction explores themes and theories that wouldn't otherwise be able to be explored. J T McIntosh is not the most well known science fiction writer, but he's one of the best. In this excellent novel, McIntosh explores the possibilities of immortality. The thesis is what would happen if there was one planet where the secret to immortality was discovered. What would that society be like? One of the immediately obvious problems to immortality is overpopulation. Utopia solves that by making the population artificially infertile, vastly limiting births, and making marriage just about illegal. Of course, in this world, with everlasting life, no marriage, and no children, sex is easy and plentiful.

The story involves the first visitor in 300 years to Utopia, Hardy Cronyn, and his introduction to this strange new world that boasted such positives but also so many new and strange customs. It also involves him in quite newsworthy events that he sort of stumbled into.

It is a well-crafted story, easy to read, and quite captivating. ( )