Beholder's Eye

I remember reading The Big Idea for Czerneda's latest book on Scalzi's blog (ok, it was 2018) and was intrigued by her idea of an extremely long-lived being. I didn't realize that Czerneda was a biologist, and had grounded her ideas in theories about trade-offs between reproduction and longevity. It turned out the blog was promoting the latest book in the story of Esen, which sent me back to this first book, Beholder's Eye.. Esen is described as a shapeshifter, but in actuality, is a more crystaline-type being whose small group consider themselves a sort of archivists for sapiens. Esen's adventures proved unexpectedly entertaining.

"I'd licked the problem of holding form. And six hundred days later, I'd accomplished the first half of my show more task: deciphering the molecular structure of the Kraosians. I'd scrounged hair and nail clippings from several hundred different individuals simply by hanging around the rear of barbershops for a couple of months. That information was safely chewed, swallowed, and incorporated into my biochemical memory. I was a success.

I spat out a flea."

Czerneda states she wrote this, her second book, for herself, and with two goals: to show a meaningful friendship and to have fun with the possibility of Esen's abilities.

Mission accomplished.

That it turned into an intriguing mystery and side exploration of some of the creatures of the Fringe of space doesn't hurt either. There were parts where I laughed, parts where I was tense, and there may have even been a moment of sadness, but I'm not telling.

The shapeshifting was used well, and I appreciated the way that Esen 'became' the creature she shifted into, accounting for genetic and biological instincts, such as the herding instinct of the Gunthor. Esen is relatively young, for her species--a mere five-hundred standard--and I thought the narrative voice captured that well. This would work at a new-adult novel, in many ways; it about her first assignment away from her Web, and decisions she must make on her own.

Interestingly, I have to say that it reminded me a great deal of A Memory Called Empire. Completely different technological focus, but very similar thematically. I'll be going on to the next. show less

Superb fun. One of the few takes on an alien being that really works in making them feel alien. With a particular bonus in the differentiation between traits innate to the species and more learned cultural behaviors, and a decent nod to correct physics and the laws of conservation. I do prefer book when the author has made a reasonable effort to get the things they invent, believably right.

Our hero is a web/energy being, part of a direct family of four siblings spawned from one still existent 'mother'. Who has raised them over millenia to study the galaxy around them, and revere the life around them. They do this by 'cycling' from web form to any other life-form shape that they know. Part of each one's mission is to thoroughly know new show more forms and introduce them to the web of family members. Es is the youngest at only a few centuries old, and out on 'her' first mission to a newly discovered planet whose species doesn't yet have star travel. Es takes the form of a dog-like intelligent being, unknown on the planet, and behaves sufficiently dog-like that the natives don't notice. However when a Human survey party lands (there is a large Human commonwealth within the Galaxy, plus many other humanoid aliens) she is quickly recognised - but not as the web-based shapechanger who's existence is unknown to the wider Galaxy. The natives decide they don't want any aliens on their world, Es and Paul only just manage to escape, with Es being forced to reveal her alieness to Paul, who vows to keep it a secret. Meanwhile a darker danger is encroaching from 'Out There' and many wrecked and lifeless spaceships are being found. As the danger appears to be heading towards on of her sisters Es attempts to get a warning out, not without further raising the suspicions of the Humans.

The first half of the book is probably the best with Es trying out various forms in different situations. None are fully described as Es knows them like her own skin, the reader being left to imagine the morphology from terse hints. This works very well indeed. Later on Es is trying not reveal her capabilities and is stuck more or less sin one form - a Ket. Still humanoid but biased much more towards a tactile approach than humanity, while this does have it's own amusements it is less fun than the initial shifting between forms. The dedication the author requires of the character to ensure they have sufficient mass for the new form, and the problem of excesses when cycling through the energy based form is noteworthy. All authors should follow this excellent example. At no point does it interrupt the narrative, but yet it is clearly something to be considered and not just hand-waved away - the only exception being the translight travel.

I'm definitely going to look out for the sequels, although this did read perfectly well as a standalone novel. It is the author's 2nd published book. show less

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this book at first. Maybe it was the audio version throwing me off, but for such an ancient alien being shapeshifting through one alien form to another, I got the distinct impression of youthful ignorance.

Then again, I suppose that was intentional.

Fortunately for me, things weren't boring. We had a meet-cute and a serial murderer and lots of planets to travel between. I definitely had a better time when the serial murderer was involved, but getting into our youthful hero's biology, it's way of consuming and granting memories, of being a kind of energy being afraid to reveal herself among any kind of sentient life... was rather cool.

I've read a lot of these kinds of SF throughout the years and this show more one doesn't go far off the track, but the things it does well, it does well. A lot of thought was put into the nature of this alien and it shows. In fact, this is what will draw me back to the series.

Hey, folks, mass conservation is APPLIED here! Wooo! show less

At first I didn't like it very much. It was a bit slow starting, and these confusing interludes thrown in seemed to be trying to create tension but not really working.

But as I got further in, I saw how they made sense, and the story was stronger than I had thought. It was just a slow burn.

The coolest thing about it was all the different kinds of aliens. The main character shapeshifts into many of them, and we learn not only what they look like, but how they perceive the world and what their cultures are like.

Czerneda creates such original and varied alien species! And Esen's is such an altruistic one, collecting and saving knowledge of dying and extinct species. Full of adventure and wonder. This series does begin a little slowly with detailed description but that is the style. Slowly, you get pulled into a plot you weren't expecting until all the species feel three-dimensionally real nomatter how extrodinarily unbelievable they each may be.

Esen, member of a shape-shifting species that shares its true nature with no one, takes on her first adult adventure. She gets into trouble, gets pulled back, gets into more trouble, and finally gets into the worst trouble of all. More would, I think, be spoilerific.

Entertaining enough. For me, this was a fine book that lacked sparkle. The alien species are relatively mundane, the plot was of the "one against the world" sort, the characterization was okay but not delight-inducing, and the settings were rather dull-ly colored. I thought it might have tried to take on too much, given how often the book moved us around in space and time (so much so that I found myself struggling to follow the transitions on audiobook -- they happened too show more quickly or with too little verbal recognition for me to catch them). Oh well. show less

A trilogy by the dependable Ms Czerneda our youthful (500 yer old heroine finds that when you are a near -immortal shape shifting alien. Capable of devouring just about everything up to and including starships it pays to keep a low profile if you don't want people to get excited about you. Amusingly different aliens populate this book. And via the shapeshifter's perspective we get an insiders view of how they think.