[The characters and plot elements of Grimus] comprise a pretty flashy bunch of ingredients which could easily have yielded silly melodrama. In this artful first novel, Rushdie manages not only to turn them all into a good story, but also to present it all seriously without pomposity via notably witty prose. There are a few passages where he seems to be trying too hard, but in general, after a slow start, the book takes off like Flapping Eagle's namesake. Rushdie is a talent to watch.

"Science Fiction: 'Grimus'," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the July 30, 1979 issue of Publishers Weekly, published by R. R. Bowker Company, a Xerox company; copyright © 1979 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 216, No. 5, July 30, 1979, p. 53.