[4][5] The stories are connected by common themes which reviewer Patricia Heaney describes as "our isolation in time and the psychological implications of technology".

"[7] Galen Strawson of 'The Independent' had a similarly mixed review,[4] "He has lost the descriptive encrustations that clogged some of his earlier work.

He is not free from clichet or the mournful pluperfects of rapid narrative infill, and many of his sentences are merely serviceable, laying themselves down like sleepers as a story moves quickly forward in pursuit of a single idea.

Herbert Mitgang, also writing for The New York Times, had a more positive impression:[5] "To categorize them simply as science fiction or fantasy would diminish their originality as storytelling.

Sybil Steinberg of Publishers Weekly describes the stories as "unsettling" and "brilliant", and comments that "Ballard's is a playful and versatile imagination, and this collection will gratify his admirers.