Review by clong (2005-02-19)
This is the only full length novel published by Smith, and after reading this you can understand why. As a full length novel Norstrilia is only marginally successful. It's more a series of related short vignettes, that move along in jumps and starts (indeed two were previously published as short stories). There is little sense of structure (although the very ending brings us back to where we started, providing a rather effective as a denoument). The dialogue tends to be stilted, and the descriptive prose is nothing to write home about.

So why read it? Smith is an amazingly inventive author, who describes myth-making galaxy changing events that no other author could have conceived. Norstrilia, like virtually all of Smith's fiction, is part of the "Instrumentality of Mankind" storyline, recounting important actions by characters who play key roles in the evolution of that fascinating tale of our future.