The pawns of Null-A

This book was originally serialized in 1948/49, so by now it's an old and heavily dated sf novel. The writing is basic, the characterization is poor; we hear of huge space fleets destroying a carelessly unspecified number of inhabited planets, but that kind of thing happens offstage while the hero deals with more immediate problems in the foreground.

The hero has various abnormal and implausible powers, attributed partly to his extra brain (yes, he has two) and partly to his training in General Semantics or Null-A thinking. Although it's clear that he's by no means invulnerable, his powers make him an dangerous opponent.

What makes the book readable and still somewhat interesting is the driving force of the plot, which keeps the reader constantly off balance with new developments and sudden transitions. It's a useful knack to be able to write a plot like this; as van Vogt demonstrates, with such a knack and a bare minimum of other writing skills you can sell a good number of books. Born in 1912, he was one of the leading sf writers of his generation. If you can do that and also contribute good writing and characterization, imagine your success!

Van Vogt found his own dreams a valuable source of ideas, and indeed the transitions we see in this story are reminiscent of those in dreams.