I abandoned this book at the end of Chapter 13 because none of these following aspects attracted me.

Voice, narration and structure: ?/9.

I think the pace was so slow that it would have been better if Clifford D. Simak had cut out some trumpery gibberish, such as the unnecessary fantastic settings, and instead had merely emphasized the interaction between the protagonist and aliens, or investigators’ approach to the abnormal protagonist.

Plot, suspense and climax: ?/9.

An officer told a doctor about the aberrance of the protagonist and the protagonist also detected their surveillance after contacting his usual human acquaintances.

In fact, the protagonist was the guardian of a clandestine space station whose duty was to welcome aliens newcomers. One of the guests told him from statistics that a formidable war was looming on Earth.

Character, dialogue and interaction: ?/9.

The work effectively exemplified a common belief from the obverse side that it’s the sense of mystery that brings incessant charisma to the characters.

World, wonder, and detail: ?/9.

Why didn’t aliens go out of the station and observe the earth?

Why did Clifford D. Simak deal with science as if it were magic?

Theme, conflict, and influence: ?/9.

So after I reading one-third of the book, I found Clifford Simak only slightly touched on 2 challenges the protagonist might face without establishing any concrete conflicts:

One was how to dispel those curious earthmen wondering about the protagonist’s eccentricities such as ageless appearance and abnormal longevity, and the other was how to avoid aliens’ prediction about the upcoming warfare on earth without revealing the protagonist’s secret mission.