Transformer Trilogy [Paperback]

The Morphodite. On the planet Oerlikon, the regime is a fascist dictatorship that rules by fear and wants no change in the way their world operates. They have created a bioengineered assassin Rael who can change his appearance, sex and age to aid him in seeking out the person who could start a rebellion. When his handlers let him loose, he kills an offworlder who is part of a group that studies this unique planet. They are also the lynchpins that keeps the status quo and to stop new ideas from emerging. Rael's act causes the government to topple as various factions fight one another. Rael and a female companion now just want to find a safe haven.

Transformer: The Morphodite Phedeora, her lover and the children they care for have made a new life for themselves. When he was absent from the house, agents of Heliarcos bomb the house thinking Phgaedra is inside. The Morphodite changes into a twenty year old female Nazarine and realizes her original identity that of female Jedily Tulilly was an off worlder. Nazarine boards a ship to takeo Heliarcos to find answersabout her existence. At all costs they want her stopped because she has the potential to destroy many worlds. However the solution Nazarine decides upon nobody would expect.

Preserver. On the planet Teragon, a planet where ruthlessness is the norm, Demsing is a freelancer who takes jobs among the various squabbling groups who want him to take care of a problem involving their opponent. Even as a child, he has had hallucinations about fighting of other people but his foster mother won't tell him he is the Morphodite. He knows he is being watched although he has no idea what those who keep surveillance on him want. When they kidnap his lover, Demsing remembers all including how to manipulate reality. Demsing maneuvers events to insure that the people of Teragon follow a certain course of action.

All three of these thought provoking novels are as innovative and exciting now as they were twenty years ago. Each novel smoothly follows into the next as if it is one giant epic instead of three science fiction thrillers. All three tales are full of intrigue, action, and heroic deeds by a being who is unlike any human on a colonized world. He has the power to rule but prefers to live in peace. Every time he makes a life for himself those who know of his/her existence comes along wanting to capture or kill him/her. He could wreck havoc on a galaxy but because he is a decent person he doesn't seek to conquer or be conquered. He only wants to make a life for himself/herself that has meaning. Readers will feel pity for this being that has no past or future only a present.

Harriet Klausner

These, together with the Ler trilogy, are the best science fiction books I have read. It is a delight to encounter ideas of this quality, and the report of a new book being written by M.A. is enough to make me do a little samba of happiness around my living room. JUST READ THEM

This is an omnibus reprint of all three of Foster's Morphodite/Transformer books:

Morphodite (1981)
Transformer (1983)
Preserver (1985)

The trilogy is a classic good vs. evil confrontation, with the moral vigor of the Morphodite and his allies contrasted with the evil and corruption of the Mask Factory and the Galactics who built it. But they'll get their comeuppance, in the oft-appalling vengeance of the Morphodite!

This closely-linked series features marvelously Vancean writing, vivid characters and weird societies. There are minor plot-logic lapses, and, I'm sorry to say, PRESERVER isn't as good as the first two.

Pluses: good sex and better characters. The major characters are remarkably well-drawn. And Foster had a real talent for sketching weird (but plausible) human societies. Plus he's a marvelous storyteller.

Minus: humor. Almost none detectable. And the third book is rather perfunctory.

Morphodite & Transformer are two of the best SF novels of the 80's, I think, and if you've missed out on discovering M.A. Foster, you have a number of treats in store. Sadly, his books never sold that well, and so he dropped out of writing SF over 20 years ago. A real pity, and a real loss to science fiction.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  4.7 out of 5 stars