The Web of the Chozen

This is a weird book -- unless you're familiar with Jack Chalker. Then it's almost predictable. The beginning is interesting, but then quickly devolves into typical Chalker themes. Then the second half starts to get interesting again as the plot expands and turns, until ultimately the plot goes to an extreme and then ends too quickly and patly. It's almost like you're reading the author's wish fulfillment, and you're either on board with his ideas or you're not.

Jack's one saving grace though is he's a pretty good story teller with a quick smooth writing style and he's of course very imaginative. So in the end this was a pretty quick,
easy and somewhat interesting sci fi read, if a little predicable and flat plot-wise.

In general, Jack L. Chalker is stronger on concept than execution, stronger on premise than story, and "Web of the Chozen" is no exception.

It was an enjoyable read, pleasant enough that I read it several times during my teenage years, but ultimately shallow. Read it for the first two-thirds, in which the main character experiences and then comes to terms with his situation, and not for the last third, which skims over interesting topics and finally concludes with an unsatisfying summary of events.

Recommendation: If you like Chalker, this one is worth picking up, but its storytelling flaws make it a toss-up for anyone new to this author.

This book is a variation on the [Four Lords of the Diamond] series in which a Scout (Bar Holiday) comes across a generational ship in orbit around a nice planet populated by a herd animal but no humans. He lands and finds that the planet is infected with an engineered retrovirus that morphs him into one the animals.
This was a good read, not to strenuous and perfect for taking with you on vacation (which is where I usually re-read it). Its an interesting story where the author is exploring an idea. This is my favorite type of writing and I think that's where Sci-Fi really shines.

Bar Holliday, a confident interstellar scout exploring new worlds, finds a mysterious, abandoned generation ship near the planet Patmos, where a mutagenic virus alters him into a quadrupedal creature.

Holliday discovers the Peace Victory, an empty ship, and subsequently explores the habitable planet Patmos.

What a weird book. The cover art is strangely accurate.