Even though The Fifth Head of Cerberus is what is known as a "fix-up" novel, i.e. a whole constructed of several original and previously published pieces - in this case, three novellas - the whole does, indeed, work surprisingly well. This may not become apparent in the transition from the first into the second part, but the third novella does an excellent job of connecting everything into an effective whole. Although i am not yet very familiar with the sci-fi and fantasy genres, i have found the images, themes and ideas within this book both provocative and thought-provoking. The style is quite accomplished and literary, characters sharply drawn and eerily mysterious, and the philosophical underpinning sound and pertinent.