The False Mirror (1992)

This series is turning out very well. At first I was concerned when the story picks up maybe a couple hundred years after the first novel. But having read all three now, it makes sense. We are picking up on the crucial points of mankind being involved with the Weave.

The whole concept is quite fascinating, and well done. The main character in this novel is Ranji, who goes through serious existential and identity crisis in this novel. It's a bit hard to explain for me, but the author has done a great job in the way he has written, in that you follow Ranji through each of these mental and physical ordeals, and you see his thinking slowly change. He literally wrestles with himself mentally, and it is most interesting to follow.

I will keep this spoiler free as possible, but I feel that anything that is mentioned on the back of the novel is fair game.

The novel starts on an Ashregan (Amplitur controlled) planet. The Ashregan are apparently somewhat closer to humans than other species. Ranji is among many Ashregan that are actually genetically manipulated over a couple hundred years by the Amplitur.

These are shock troops the squids want to use to combat the extremely powerful humans. The humans have been turning the tide of war for the Weave, and the squids want to come up with a counter, which are these modded Ashregan. Of course, the mods don't know that they are any different than any other Ashregan.

There is much about the Ashregan society, the adulation of the squids, and how they are trained for combat. There is also a very humorous situation where Ranji gets captured, which I will not detail here, but it is a very fun part of the book.

After leaving the Purpose filled society of the Amplitur, the Weave and some humans discover the real secret behind Ranji. They are all working under the assumption he is a modified Ashregan. But they soon discover, he is actually a modified human with Ashregan qualities.

This sets off a frenzy of activity in which they try and determine how the squids actually got their tentacles on some humans, and how they made them capable of mental manipulation. This in itself is good suspense, and the answer is something that the Weave scientists work to undo.

In the reversal of the squids genetic manipulation, something else happens. This something is very fascinating given the world in which the story is set. I will say only that this is something that the squids certainly did not plan, and the Weave has no inkling of this side effect either.

So during this novel, you begin with an extremely self confident Ranjii, great champion of the purpose. After his capture, he is confronted with the fact that he is a genetically manipulated human, which fills him with horror. Practically all other races in the universe are afraid of humans, due to the violent and warlike nature of mankind. So his mental torture of coming to grips with the fact that he is indeed a modified human causes Ranji some entertaining mental torments as he tries all kinds of ways to deny. Ultimately, he accepts it, and then is on a mission to free his other fellow modified humans. The story of him coming to grips with this, as well as helping his other fellow travelers come to grips is a fascinating tale.

But that is only about 2/3 of the tale. When they discover the side effects of the surgery that reversed their modifications, it becomes a further layer of mystery and deception.

Very fun read. ( )