Customer Reviews

Web Shifters #2 Changing Vision

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has become one of my favorite bedtime stories that I have read several times. I loved the story, and it's nice to have a story I like that since I know how it goes, I can put down and go to sleep.

"Changing Visions" is a better than average novel, full of lots of derring-do, action, and suspense. It has some great characters in Esen the shapeshifter and Paul the human, and their interaction is interesting and well done.

So, why does it mostly leave me cold, when I otherwise like Ms. Czerneda's writing? I'm not sure. I really like Paul and Esen -- their development here makes sense, is well thought out, and it's an enjoyable relationship all the way around. And I felt sorry for Largas, Kearn, and most of the other characters that Paul and Esen are unfortunately forced to outfox during this book.

Still, this book is not as strong as the first (granted, the first was exceptional). It's a good novel, but it's not up to the standard of "Beholder's Eye" or "A Thousand Words for Stranger." I'm not sure what's up with that; it seems that Ms. Czerneda gets a really good concept, writes a book about it, then writes a few sequels because the concept isn't exhausted. Nothing wrong with that, but the quality dips consistently in follow-up books -- and especially here moreso than in the Trade Pact universe setup.

Of course, when your first book is one of my top twenty all time books, it's pretty hard to live up to that standard, too. ;-) Revisiting this review, I realized something; I hold Ms. Czerneda, along with a few other favorite writers like eluki bes shahar (also known as Rosemary Edghill), Mercedes Lackey, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and Lois McMaster Bujold, to a higher standard than others.

With some other writer, I might give this a higher rating; my original rating was three stars (wanting to give it three and a half, but not knowing that I could say so here). For another writer writing the very same book, I'd probably give it four or four and a half, which is why the newly adjusted rating.

Esen is extremely interesting, and I like to see her interact with others. She's written well; she's an innocent child _and_ a Stranger in a Strange Land, all in one. And I like Paul, who's interesting, flawed, and an overall meaty character.

But there's just something about this book that nags at me, that says it should have been better than it is. Probably the fact that the first was so outstanding; no matter how well written this book is, and it is very well done, it can't compare with the originality of the first because that's where I met the vast majority of these characters.

But that's not Ms. Czerneda's fault; she wrote an interesting world and wanted to play some more. This is a good book, and as such, I've adjusted the rating accordingly, to a four star effort.

Barb Caffrey

Oh, and yes, I'd definitely recommend this series to anyone. It's very well done. (Even though I hate Skalet, mind you.)

Changing Vision is the second novel in the Web Shifters series, following Beholder's Eye. In the previous volume, the Web of Ersh has been destroyed and Esen-alit-Quar has baited and terminated Death. Acting Captain Kearn thinks Paul Ragem is dead, but still searches for the Esen Monster. However, Esen has relocated to Minas XII in the Fringe and, to her surprise, is soon followed by Paul. The Garson's World survivors led by Joel Largas have also settled on Minas XII.

In this novel, fifty years have passed since these events. Paul has become Web-kin to Esen and they are now using the names Paul Cameron and Esolesy Ki. They have started a small business, Cameron & Ki Exports, on Minas XII and have close business and personal ties with Largas Freight. Their company is having a small party for employees and business associates, and a few of Meony-ro's friends, to celebrate their fiftieth anniversity. They are called out of the party to attend to a dying Ganthor mercenary whose Herd has been abandoned by their employer; Esen shifts to her Ganthor form and convinces the Ganthor to join their small Herd, thereby easing his dying.

Later that evening, the staff surprises Esen with a gift: tickets to the Panacia Hiveworld, D'Dsel. Since Esen hasn't gone offworld since her arrival, Paul thinks a vacation will be good for her, but Esen hates surprises and doesn't want to go. After returning home, they exchange gifts: Esen gives Paul a medallion with the company logo containing a small piece of Web-form in cyro storage and Paul gives her a holoshow containing vids of 110 different humans.

The next morning, they meet with Captain Janet Chase, who is chasing Paul, to learn about the boarding of her ship by Tly inspectors and the confiscation of her cargo. Paul also asks about the contents of the courier pouch, which the Tly have taken, but only after Chase had transferred the contents to another case, which she gives to Paul. Chase also has news of a new sentient species, the Feneden, which have come to D'Dsel to negotiate a trade agreement. Esen does not like Chase, who has tried to break up the Cameron & Ki partnership, but is pointly polite in the meeting until Chase tries to kiss Paul, whereupon one of Esen's large Lishcyn feet strikes a table leg and spills hot pyati with cream all over Paul and Chase.

Esen flees this fiasco to their private greenhouse over the warehouse. While sulking there, Joel Largas arrives to putter around with the plants and gives Esen a figurative shoulder to cry on and some paternal advice. He also spoils Paul's surprise: they are leaving for D'Dsel that night on the Galactic Goddess. Esen hates surprises ... and the stupid hat that everyone on the tour has to wear. Nevertheless, they are off to Panacia and Esen hopes that they will meet the Feneden, for she hasn't encountered an unknown sentient species in seventy-four standard years.

As usual, things don't work out quite as simply as Esen wishes. They encounter Rudy Lefebvre, Captain of the Russell III and Paul's cousin, who is hunting evidence of Paul's innocence of aiding the Esen Monster. Project Leader Kearn is also on the Russell III and he is looking for the Esen Monster itself and finds kindred souls in the Feneden. Tly Inspector Logan is on the the Black Watch and he is looking for a superweapon to use against Inhaven. Somehow, the common factor in all these ships and persons is the need to find Esen.

This novel continues the bureacratic theme with Quebit manuals: when Quebits were first discovered, linguists spend a lifetime translating a sewage system installation manual. Moreover, there is even more about architects on D'Dsel.

This novel introduces Esen's Human-self to Paul. While too small and weak for most purposes, it makes an admirable ghost, with a few dashes of a red juice for blood, to use against the superstitious Tly.

Recommended for Czerneda fans and anyone who enjoys zany adventures with likeable people in a SF setting.

As with "Beholder's Eye," in "Changing Vision" Czerneda creates and describes beautifully detailed alien biologies, cultures, and languages (the Ganthor and Ket species remain my personal favorites). It was a stroke of genius to create Esen, a shape-shifter WITH LIMITS. Every time Esen becomes Human, for example, she becomes the SAME Human, and will retain any scars incurred while in that form. In addition, she must consume living mass in order to shift from shape to shape. Without these limitations, she would be too powerful to be an interesting character, and would be able to shape-shift into a table or a vase, like Odo on "Deep Space Nine", which is a little too silly to be believeable.

Plotwise, this book became slightly confusing at the end, with crosses and double-crosses and triple-crosses. At first I wasn't sure whether or not to be pleased about Paul's resolution, but it has been growing on me since I finished the book and have given it more thought. There is also a nice cliffhanger teaser that doesn't make the reader feel cheated -- "Changing Vision" is still a complete story within itself.

While I liked the predecessor to this book, I found this one hard to read. On a gross level, the various pieces of a good story were there. There were interesting characters, well developed background and a well-developed plot.

Unfortunately, this book tends to be somewhat disjointed, with what I find to be unnecessary amounts of tension in the various threads that make it up. Items that could be resolved are dragged out in excruciating detail as the various characters viewpoints don't permit the obvious resolution. Which is ok, since most problems in life aren't easily solvable, but some of the items could be left unresolved, instead of contortions being made to wrap everything up neatly, despite the fact that a neat wrap-up isn't really possible.

The last disappointment was in the villians. I tend to find narrow-minded fanatics as villians a bit of a disservice. Creating a compelling villian that is interesting enough to be plausible while not dominating the scene is difficult in the best of times. Somehow the quality of the opposition didn't seem to rate effort the victories required. Or, didn't seem to merit the victories. Villians overcome by an obvious and silly fatal flaw just aren't good villians.

That being said, the book is still worth reading. It's just not a book that excites me.

Man o man Czerneda keeps getting better and better. This story is everything a person could want in a sequel and more. There's more mystery, drama, even more humor! The story started a bit slow if your a new reader but Czerneda explained everything without being too boring and when the story heated up, boy did it ever. I just can't wait for the sequel!! Gimme more!

This book begins 50 years after Czerneda's fine story "Beholder's Eye" ended.

We now find Paul Ragem and Esen-alit-Quar living as partners of the trading company "Cameron & Ki" on the fringe planet Minas XII. Their comfortable and amusing life is interrupted when Paul takes the reluctant Es on a "vacation" trip.

We continue to meet wonderfully detailed alien cultures and to follow the amusing escapades of the hapless shape changing Es as she continues her dedication to understanding and protecting all sentient lives. The fact that Paul shares the same goals is complicated by the desire of each to protect the other from the inevitable tribulations of their complicated life together.

I felt that this book started out slower than "Beholder's Eye" but came to no less satisfying a conclusion. In each case, Czerneda has demonstrated her considerable skill at portraying remarkably different beings and cultures in a way that makes them comfortably familiar, intriguing and exciting to us. Her plots are absorbing and her writing is eminently readable.

I'm decidedly looking forward to the next installment of Web Shifters!

At the heart of this book is the relationship between Esen Alt Quar, a 500 year old shape changing being and Paul Ragem, a human male. This might make your want to put this book with the SciFi novels that are really romance novels in SciFi costumes. That would be a big mistake. Although "Changing Visions" is personality driven it is also a first class space opera full of interesting aliens, plot twists, and wonderful characters.

Ms.Chzernda shows how immage effects the way we react to an individual by showing how various caracters, who know Esen's secret, react differently to her as she changes form. At the same time she exlores how biology influences personality as Esen's physical forms effect how she reacts to each new situation. Then there is the problems that arise from the differences in the life span of the main charactes. As the plot twists throught a series of adventures that could be labeled 'the perils of Esen' you come to realise that Paul and Esen are not suffering from unrequinted love, but a bound by much ties that are deeper and truer than that. I particularly like Paul'd "It takes a villiage..." answer to the problem, even though Esen resents his solution.

The cliff hanger last chapter leaves not doubt that there will be more adventurs ahead for Esen and her Web. I can't wait.

Fifty years after Beholder's Eye, Esen and Paul are still as fun and engaging as they were. You rediscover them as old friends only left the day before. Not only does the last Czerneda's book have enough action and plot surprise to keep the pages turning till the last one, but also great, thoughtfull characterization. You travel to faraway places, and you care deeply, at the same time, for all that you meet, old and new... And once the book is put down, some of it stays behind. A most enjoyable read, and reread.

_Changing Vision_ is the sequel to _Beholder's Eye_. Esen, a unique and reclusive shape-shifter and Paul, her only friend, take a rare vacation, as a number political intrigues take shape. Avoiding capture while simultaneously preventing a war keeps Esen and Paul busy. With enough rivalry to fill a Regency Romance, and enough adventures to rival classical space operas, the plot keeps moving through a plethora of twists, while the reader is tempted to laugh at Esen, and frequently with Esen. Despite occasionally convoluted misunderstandings, this is an enjoyable, fast, touching and funny sequel to charming novel, full of trademark exotic and attractive aliens.