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Web Shifters #2
Changing Vision
Caught in a web of her own making Esen-alit-Quar had violated the First Rule of her species when she revealed her existence to a human named Paul Ragem. And though both Paul and Esen had survived, others of Esen’s Web had not been so fortunate.
Es could hardly believe that fifty years had passed since the terrifying events which had nearly cost her her life and which had forced Paul to give up everything a human treasured―family, friends, even his own identity―to protect the secret of her continued survival. In that time they had built a new life together out on the Fringe.
They had a successful export company, friends and associates.ÌýEsen, now known as Esolesy Ki and wearing the form of a Lishcyn―a species rare enough in the Commonwealth and never seen in the Fringe―was perfectly content to remain on the world of Minas XII, leaving it to Paul to travel the starways on company business.
Meanwhile she used their vast information resources to search for any signs that others of her kind had found their galaxy.ÌýWhat neither Es nor Paul could foresee was that a simple “vacationâ€� trip would plunge the two of them into the heart of a diplomatic nightmare―and threaten to expose both Es and Paul to the hunters who had never been convinced of their destruction.
Es could hardly believe that fifty years had passed since the terrifying events which had nearly cost her her life and which had forced Paul to give up everything a human treasured―family, friends, even his own identity―to protect the secret of her continued survival. In that time they had built a new life together out on the Fringe.
They had a successful export company, friends and associates.ÌýEsen, now known as Esolesy Ki and wearing the form of a Lishcyn―a species rare enough in the Commonwealth and never seen in the Fringe―was perfectly content to remain on the world of Minas XII, leaving it to Paul to travel the starways on company business.
Meanwhile she used their vast information resources to search for any signs that others of her kind had found their galaxy.ÌýWhat neither Es nor Paul could foresee was that a simple “vacationâ€� trip would plunge the two of them into the heart of a diplomatic nightmare―and threaten to expose both Es and Paul to the hunters who had never been convinced of their destruction.
484 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
10 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
Julie E. Czerneda
103Ìýbooks743ÌýfollowersHaving written 25 novels (and counting) published by DAW Books, as well as numerous short stories, and editing several anthologies, in 2022, Julie E. Czerneda was inducted in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Her science fiction and fantasy combines her training and love of biology with a boundless curiosity and optimism, winning multiple awards. Julie's recent releases include the standalone novel To Each This World, her first collection Imaginings, and A Change of Place, #3 in her Night's Edge fantasy series. Out July 2025 is A Shift of Time, #4 and the second last of the series.
For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.
For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 18, 2019
I think this books was a bit better than the first. Being the last of a species, cultivating long-term friendships, and following your heart and curiosity is a pretty awesome way to start a book, IMHO. :)
Of course, things get hairy and complicated, and I won't spoil any of that, but I do want to mention something.
I'm reminded -- a lot -- of Farscape's Moby Dick and Odo from Deep Space Nine. In a lot of deep ways. You know, for you SF tv fans who know these stories inside and out. If you like either, you'll like this series. The combination is comfortable, enjoyable, and very familiar.
So while I may never call this groundbreaking, I can call it a solid, character-based SF with a cool biological basis featuring many kinds of aliens.
Of course, things get hairy and complicated, and I won't spoil any of that, but I do want to mention something.
I'm reminded -- a lot -- of Farscape's Moby Dick and Odo from Deep Space Nine. In a lot of deep ways. You know, for you SF tv fans who know these stories inside and out. If you like either, you'll like this series. The combination is comfortable, enjoyable, and very familiar.
So while I may never call this groundbreaking, I can call it a solid, character-based SF with a cool biological basis featuring many kinds of aliens.
December 23, 2008
Just finished Changing Vision, the second book in Julie Czerneda's Web Shifters trilogy, as part of my campaign to clear multiple novels by the same author off my To Read Shelf. Picoreview: tight, cohesive story as always with Ms. Czerneda, and I am reminded once again that I do love her portrayals of her alien races. The Iftsen were particularly amusing.
I might have suffered a bit for it being so long since I read the first of this trilogy, Beholder's Eye, though. Mostly what I remembered from the first book was that the protagonist, Esen-alit-Quar, was an alien shapeshifter who established a deep friendship with the human Paul Ragem, and that they had no trace of romantic inclination. This holds true in the second book, which brings out several fun details that round out this universe of Ms. Czerneda's nicely.
For example, this book takes place 50 years after the first one does, and yet, Paul is still a vital, energetic man. Not precisely youthful, but not old either. He comes across as a man in his late thirties or forties, perhaps. And it's interesting to see that Ms. Czerneda's Humans clearly have longer lifespans, which reminds me of the Dunedain in Tolkien. ^_^ From Paul's description (black-haired, gray-eyed), I could almost see dark-haired Viggo Mortensen playing him. I also liked that Paul is described as having established a family in the time since the first book--he's married and had children grow up by the time of this second novel.
However, there's no trace of his family on camera in the plot. His wife is a spacer, and apparently his children have become spacers as well. This is a point that intrigues me, because I have been wondering what this implies about what will happen with Paul's and Esen's relationship in the third book. Esen spends most of her time in non-Human forms in the story (and the forms she assumes are all beautifully described; I really love Ms. Czerneda's ability to come up with unique alien species), but a couple of times she does actually shift into Human form--and it turns out that while she is several hundred years older than Paul chronologically, if you go by relative ages she's actually much younger by her species' standards than he is. So when she takes on Human form, she's actually a kid, roughly 12 years old. And yet, she decides by the end of the book to start taking on Human form more often, because that form is special to Paul.
The third book, from what I've seen of Amazon reader comments, says Esen will be coming of age in that story. Which ought to have interesting effects if she goes into Human form at all. I'm not sure how I feel about this--half of me, the incurable romantic, really wants to see Paul and Esen's relationship take on love, and the other half of me, the half that thrives on things like the platonic relationship of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, is already protesting that Esen and Paul have a richly defined relationship already. I do trust Ms. Czerneda to handle it well either way, so I shall have to simply see what happens.
As for the plot in this book, aside from the Esen-Paul mileage: pretty tight plot all around, though some of the underlying details didn't quite come together for me, things involving why Paul and Esen left their comfortable refuge on a Fringe world in the first place and got themselves embroiled in a serious diplomatic dispute between two other species. I am not sure whether this was a result of the writing or me just not piecing stuff together well enough--there are a lot of details there about what Paul and people connected to him are doing behind the scenes, and they do start to come together at the end, but I feel a bit slow on the uptake processing it all. It might work better for me on a second read, where I can pay better attention to those details.
I also liked that the obsessive captain chasing after Esen through most of the book is not just an obsessive madman; Kearn has good, noble qualities that actually do come out in a crisis, which makes him a much more interesting character. His second-in-command Lefebvre, who has personal connections to Paul, is the same for different reasons. The one character who can be called a real villain of the story actually gets less camera time than either of them, and he's more of a stock madman type character; we never get into his head, so he makes less of an impact. And he's one of those details not quite coming together well enough for me.
I'll definitely read the third book, though. While this isn't up to the level of the superior A Thousand Words for Stranger, still an excellent read. ^_^
I might have suffered a bit for it being so long since I read the first of this trilogy, Beholder's Eye, though. Mostly what I remembered from the first book was that the protagonist, Esen-alit-Quar, was an alien shapeshifter who established a deep friendship with the human Paul Ragem, and that they had no trace of romantic inclination. This holds true in the second book, which brings out several fun details that round out this universe of Ms. Czerneda's nicely.
For example, this book takes place 50 years after the first one does, and yet, Paul is still a vital, energetic man. Not precisely youthful, but not old either. He comes across as a man in his late thirties or forties, perhaps. And it's interesting to see that Ms. Czerneda's Humans clearly have longer lifespans, which reminds me of the Dunedain in Tolkien. ^_^ From Paul's description (black-haired, gray-eyed), I could almost see dark-haired Viggo Mortensen playing him. I also liked that Paul is described as having established a family in the time since the first book--he's married and had children grow up by the time of this second novel.
However, there's no trace of his family on camera in the plot. His wife is a spacer, and apparently his children have become spacers as well. This is a point that intrigues me, because I have been wondering what this implies about what will happen with Paul's and Esen's relationship in the third book. Esen spends most of her time in non-Human forms in the story (and the forms she assumes are all beautifully described; I really love Ms. Czerneda's ability to come up with unique alien species), but a couple of times she does actually shift into Human form--and it turns out that while she is several hundred years older than Paul chronologically, if you go by relative ages she's actually much younger by her species' standards than he is. So when she takes on Human form, she's actually a kid, roughly 12 years old. And yet, she decides by the end of the book to start taking on Human form more often, because that form is special to Paul.
The third book, from what I've seen of Amazon reader comments, says Esen will be coming of age in that story. Which ought to have interesting effects if she goes into Human form at all. I'm not sure how I feel about this--half of me, the incurable romantic, really wants to see Paul and Esen's relationship take on love, and the other half of me, the half that thrives on things like the platonic relationship of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, is already protesting that Esen and Paul have a richly defined relationship already. I do trust Ms. Czerneda to handle it well either way, so I shall have to simply see what happens.
As for the plot in this book, aside from the Esen-Paul mileage: pretty tight plot all around, though some of the underlying details didn't quite come together for me, things involving why Paul and Esen left their comfortable refuge on a Fringe world in the first place and got themselves embroiled in a serious diplomatic dispute between two other species. I am not sure whether this was a result of the writing or me just not piecing stuff together well enough--there are a lot of details there about what Paul and people connected to him are doing behind the scenes, and they do start to come together at the end, but I feel a bit slow on the uptake processing it all. It might work better for me on a second read, where I can pay better attention to those details.
I also liked that the obsessive captain chasing after Esen through most of the book is not just an obsessive madman; Kearn has good, noble qualities that actually do come out in a crisis, which makes him a much more interesting character. His second-in-command Lefebvre, who has personal connections to Paul, is the same for different reasons. The one character who can be called a real villain of the story actually gets less camera time than either of them, and he's more of a stock madman type character; we never get into his head, so he makes less of an impact. And he's one of those details not quite coming together well enough for me.
I'll definitely read the third book, though. While this isn't up to the level of the superior A Thousand Words for Stranger, still an excellent read. ^_^
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2022
This is the second Web-Shifters book, following on from "Beholder's Eye." I enjoyed it considerably, if not quite as wholeheartedly as the first book. This second book felt more scattered. At times, I was fully engrossed; at other times, less so -- but this may be because I've been distracted, rather than a reflection on the book itself.
Spoilers ahead. it is the friendship between Esen and Ragem that delights me. Long after I've forgotten all the plot details, I think I'll retain the warmth and kindness between them.
4 out of 5 mutable stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Spoilers ahead. it is the friendship between Esen and Ragem that delights me. Long after I've forgotten all the plot details, I think I'll retain the warmth and kindness between them.
4 out of 5 mutable stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
April 16, 2018
Not quite as good as the previous one, but still fantastic.
August 23, 2018
Who do you trust? Really?
The second book is set fifty years after the first book. So Esen and Paul have had a long time to get to know each other and to work at their joint venture, Cameron & Ki Exports.
The adventure begins when their employees, as a gift for their fiftieth anniversary, give them tickets to go on a two-week vacation to a resort on another planet. Esen, of course, doesn't want to go because she's comfortable doing her work at the office. Paul, of course, travels as needed, is frequently off-planet, and is delighted with the gift.
Alas, Acting-Captain Kearn (of Paul's old starship) had spent the entire fifty years making a fool of himself and destroying his career by following his single-minded obsession of catching and destroying the "Esen Monster", which he firmly still believes threatens innocent life everywhere. (Not to mention Kearn has a silent backer and is tipped off as to what direction to go to actually find Esen and Paul.)
I like that this is a joint tale, about both Esen AND her best friend Paul. Each tries to keep the other out of harm's way, of course to no avail because Paul is determined to share Esen's fate, no matter how much she wants to keep him safe. (Same as in the first book.)
I enjoy this dynamic because this means that both Esen and Paul are equally our main protagonist. Each tries to solve the various puzzles in their own way only to end up finding that, even though each means well, neither has the entire solution on his/her own.
Highly recommended for character-driven action and the suspense involved in trying to stay one step ahead of the fanatically determined Kearn!
The second book is set fifty years after the first book. So Esen and Paul have had a long time to get to know each other and to work at their joint venture, Cameron & Ki Exports.
The adventure begins when their employees, as a gift for their fiftieth anniversary, give them tickets to go on a two-week vacation to a resort on another planet. Esen, of course, doesn't want to go because she's comfortable doing her work at the office. Paul, of course, travels as needed, is frequently off-planet, and is delighted with the gift.
Alas, Acting-Captain Kearn (of Paul's old starship) had spent the entire fifty years making a fool of himself and destroying his career by following his single-minded obsession of catching and destroying the "Esen Monster", which he firmly still believes threatens innocent life everywhere. (Not to mention Kearn has a silent backer and is tipped off as to what direction to go to actually find Esen and Paul.)
I like that this is a joint tale, about both Esen AND her best friend Paul. Each tries to keep the other out of harm's way, of course to no avail because Paul is determined to share Esen's fate, no matter how much she wants to keep him safe. (Same as in the first book.)
I enjoy this dynamic because this means that both Esen and Paul are equally our main protagonist. Each tries to solve the various puzzles in their own way only to end up finding that, even though each means well, neither has the entire solution on his/her own.
Highly recommended for character-driven action and the suspense involved in trying to stay one step ahead of the fanatically determined Kearn!
March 17, 2021
Julie Czerneda’s Changing Vision is a tale of found families across space. Esen is the past of her species, the final member of her Web. This could leave her isolated and alone in a massive universe, but, instead, she finds a human companion, Paul, who bridges the species divide and proves that friendships can be incredibly powerful.
Czerneda focuses her space opera on the ability of people to create family even out of the completely alien and challenges ideas of family that are limited to biological or legal relations. This is a friendship that not only survives the species divide, but survives war, intrigue, lies, and torture.
Changing Vision is a tale of diplomacy in the face of warring species that deny the sentience of each other, espionage, xenophobia, and space battle, but it’s quintessence is the power of cross-species friendships as ways to create family and a sense of home for an alien shapeshifter who at times feels like she has neither as the last member of her species.
Czerneda focuses her space opera on the ability of people to create family even out of the completely alien and challenges ideas of family that are limited to biological or legal relations. This is a friendship that not only survives the species divide, but survives war, intrigue, lies, and torture.
Changing Vision is a tale of diplomacy in the face of warring species that deny the sentience of each other, espionage, xenophobia, and space battle, but it’s quintessence is the power of cross-species friendships as ways to create family and a sense of home for an alien shapeshifter who at times feels like she has neither as the last member of her species.
November 7, 2018
Czerneda, Julia. Changing Vision. Web Shifters No. 2. DAW, 2000.
This second installment of Web Shifters deepens and continues the development of characters of Es and Paul introduced in Beholder’s Eye, but it does not have the dramatic tension of the earlier book. Both are now are more mature, so there is not so much self-discovery. We want to know how far the alien-human relationship can be developed and we want to know if our protagonists will stay together, but the answers to those questions are not hard to come by early. The first novel could stand alone, but this one can’t—we are just waiting for whatever conclusions the third volume will bring us. The strength of No. 2 is the same as in No. 1—Czerneda’s well-thought out alien lifeforms.
This second installment of Web Shifters deepens and continues the development of characters of Es and Paul introduced in Beholder’s Eye, but it does not have the dramatic tension of the earlier book. Both are now are more mature, so there is not so much self-discovery. We want to know how far the alien-human relationship can be developed and we want to know if our protagonists will stay together, but the answers to those questions are not hard to come by early. The first novel could stand alone, but this one can’t—we are just waiting for whatever conclusions the third volume will bring us. The strength of No. 2 is the same as in No. 1—Czerneda’s well-thought out alien lifeforms.
November 6, 2020
I loved it. Like I have said before, this is my favorite author, I loved the first one, I love the "Species Imperative" trilogy and "Web Shifters" gives me the same joys. As "Species Imperative" is my favorite series, this is quickly becoming my second. I'm going to start the 3rd book "Hidden In Sight" today and have already ordered book one and two of the "Web Shifter's Library." I teared up a couple of times in this one, but it was often due to Esen and Paul's friendship. They aren't perfect, but they care a lot for each other. Also, their friendship is just that, friendship (more like family as they create Esen's new web of two). Non-sexual friendship. It's refreshing to read something without unnecessary romance. Thoroughly enjoyed this and would read again.
September 8, 2017
Not as good as the preceding volume, "Beholder's Eye", but still an entertaining read. In contrast to the first book, I found this one somewhat over-complicated and, at times, difficult to follow. I feel certain there were a few inconsistencies too, but I didn't take the time to check. On the other hand, we are following characters we have already learned to love and we meet yet more believable alien species.
November 14, 2018
Better than the first book, which I was already a fan of because the antagonistic elements aren't represented by an unthinking monster. Having enemies with actual motivations leads to Esen being in more interesting situations.
November 19, 2018
I loved this series and thought all 3 entries were strong. The friendship between Esen and Paul has grown between the first and second books. Delightful.
November 15, 2024
A thriller with an Alien. Refreshing point of view and intriguing story.
Nice follow-up on 1st, but not mandatory
Nice follow-up on 1st, but not mandatory
February 1, 2015
‘Esen-Alit-Quar had violated the First Rule of her species when she revealed her existence to a human named Paul Ragem. And though both Paul and Esen had survived, others of Esen’s Web had not been so fortunate. Es could hardly believe that fifty years had passed since the terrifying events which had nearly cost her life and which had forced Paul to give up everything a human treasured � family, friends, even his own identity � to protect the secret of her continued survival. In that time they had built a new life together out on the Fringe. They had a successful export company, friends and associates.
Esen, now known as Esolesy Ki and wearing the form of a Lishcyn � a species rare enough in the Commonwealth and never seen in the Fringe � was perfectly content to remain on the world of Minas XII, leaving it to Paul to travel the starways on company business. Meanwhile she used their vast information resources to search for any signs that others of her kind had found their galaxy.
What neither Es nor Paul could foresee was that a simple ‘vacation� trip would plunge the two of them into the heart of a diplomatic nightmare � and threaten to expose both Es and Paul to the hunters who had never been convinced of their destruction…�
Blurb from the 2000 Daw paperback edition
We are fifty years on from the events of ‘Beholder’s Eye� in which the shapeshifter Esen went against all the rules of her race and revealed her true nature to Paul Ragem, the man whose life she saved. Having destroyed the mindless shape-shifting beast from which her race developed, she is now labelled as being the monster itself and, along with Ragem, is in hiding, although still being pursued by the determined and now psychotic Captain Kearn, one of the few people who believes the monster still exists.
Although a satisfying read, there are serious flaws in the novel. Do humans in this future have a greater longevity or is Ragem just a very sprightly seventy-year old?
The novel could also do with some judicious editing. Out of its five hundred pages, it seems as if at least two hundred consist of Esen unburdening her guilt on the hapless reader, whining on about her dead relatives and her relationship with Ragem. The nature of her relationship, despite the hand-wringing, is a little vague, although having given him a sample of her body in an amulet, it appears they are now part of the same ‘web�.
The plot relies far too much on the extremely unlikely coincidences of people running into each other on the same planet. This is not a safe bet even in a small town, let alone in a galactic civilisation teeming with worlds. Esen remarks early in the novel that ‘there is no such thing as coincidence� but then fails to explain how these seemingly coincidental events could have been arranged.
On the positive side the novel rattles swiftly along, as did the first, from location to location, providing highs, lows, cliffhangers, a couple of amusing moments and some fairly decent characterisation.
One hopes that Czerneda will allow Esen to grow up and chill out a bit in the next novel.
Stylistically, and this is something I’ve noticed with some other authors of the last decade or so, it seems to be influenced by TV rather than by an earlier literary tradition, which is a shame. Presumably this is why, as in TV SF, the scientific elements are more-or-less non-existent. The ships do not seem to be subject to any relativistic effects; there seems to be no sign of Artificial Intelligence in Czerneda’s future, no bio-engineering. There is nothing here, in fact, that you wouldn’t find in a Nineteen Fifties SF novel, and everything you would find in the back stories of TV shows such as Stargate or Star Trek Voyager.
Czerneda is a good writer, and I hope to see her one day produce intelligent, lasting work rather than the admittedly enjoyable but lightweight fodder she is serving up here.
Esen, now known as Esolesy Ki and wearing the form of a Lishcyn � a species rare enough in the Commonwealth and never seen in the Fringe � was perfectly content to remain on the world of Minas XII, leaving it to Paul to travel the starways on company business. Meanwhile she used their vast information resources to search for any signs that others of her kind had found their galaxy.
What neither Es nor Paul could foresee was that a simple ‘vacation� trip would plunge the two of them into the heart of a diplomatic nightmare � and threaten to expose both Es and Paul to the hunters who had never been convinced of their destruction…�
Blurb from the 2000 Daw paperback edition
We are fifty years on from the events of ‘Beholder’s Eye� in which the shapeshifter Esen went against all the rules of her race and revealed her true nature to Paul Ragem, the man whose life she saved. Having destroyed the mindless shape-shifting beast from which her race developed, she is now labelled as being the monster itself and, along with Ragem, is in hiding, although still being pursued by the determined and now psychotic Captain Kearn, one of the few people who believes the monster still exists.
Although a satisfying read, there are serious flaws in the novel. Do humans in this future have a greater longevity or is Ragem just a very sprightly seventy-year old?
The novel could also do with some judicious editing. Out of its five hundred pages, it seems as if at least two hundred consist of Esen unburdening her guilt on the hapless reader, whining on about her dead relatives and her relationship with Ragem. The nature of her relationship, despite the hand-wringing, is a little vague, although having given him a sample of her body in an amulet, it appears they are now part of the same ‘web�.
The plot relies far too much on the extremely unlikely coincidences of people running into each other on the same planet. This is not a safe bet even in a small town, let alone in a galactic civilisation teeming with worlds. Esen remarks early in the novel that ‘there is no such thing as coincidence� but then fails to explain how these seemingly coincidental events could have been arranged.
On the positive side the novel rattles swiftly along, as did the first, from location to location, providing highs, lows, cliffhangers, a couple of amusing moments and some fairly decent characterisation.
One hopes that Czerneda will allow Esen to grow up and chill out a bit in the next novel.
Stylistically, and this is something I’ve noticed with some other authors of the last decade or so, it seems to be influenced by TV rather than by an earlier literary tradition, which is a shame. Presumably this is why, as in TV SF, the scientific elements are more-or-less non-existent. The ships do not seem to be subject to any relativistic effects; there seems to be no sign of Artificial Intelligence in Czerneda’s future, no bio-engineering. There is nothing here, in fact, that you wouldn’t find in a Nineteen Fifties SF novel, and everything you would find in the back stories of TV shows such as Stargate or Star Trek Voyager.
Czerneda is a good writer, and I hope to see her one day produce intelligent, lasting work rather than the admittedly enjoyable but lightweight fodder she is serving up here.
November 29, 2020
“Changing Vision� is the second installment in the Web Shifters Series and it builds upon the story begun in “Beholder’s Eye.� Esen is the last known individual of her kind. She is a shapeshifting Web Being that can take on the form of many alien races. She has befriended a human, Paul Ragem, who has replaced the other members of her species as her sole confidant and the only being she fully trusts.
They have taken on the roles of traders on the fringe of the galactic commonwealth, in order to look out for other potential web beings that might threaten the peace. They are always hidden, fearful of discovery. When a new alien species appears on the fringe, Esen feels she must see it for herself. Unfortunately, a number of parties are converging on this new species, and some of these are clearly threats to Esen and Paul.
Another great story that blends together a huge cast of alien races into a space opera that is gripping, yet poignant. This is a story that shows most beings have the capability of redemption, and that often misunderstandings form barriers between individuals as well as species. It’s a positive story with interesting individuals who you are glad to see succeed. I’m now looking forward to the third volume to see what happens next.
They have taken on the roles of traders on the fringe of the galactic commonwealth, in order to look out for other potential web beings that might threaten the peace. They are always hidden, fearful of discovery. When a new alien species appears on the fringe, Esen feels she must see it for herself. Unfortunately, a number of parties are converging on this new species, and some of these are clearly threats to Esen and Paul.
Another great story that blends together a huge cast of alien races into a space opera that is gripping, yet poignant. This is a story that shows most beings have the capability of redemption, and that often misunderstandings form barriers between individuals as well as species. It’s a positive story with interesting individuals who you are glad to see succeed. I’m now looking forward to the third volume to see what happens next.
December 29, 2010
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.
October 6, 2009
Enjoyed it more as got in to the book. Almost stands alone but was hard at first to read as it is the 3rd book. Definitely kept open what will happen in the future.
Runs on the theme of what happens with mortal and immortal relationships/lovers.
Runs on the theme of what happens with mortal and immortal relationships/lovers.
December 7, 2013
A great adventure and inspiring bond between Es and Paul. Great job at creating an web being who understands that she may be the eldest but yet the youngest. I loved the descriptions of the various alien cultures and physiology and how the heroes and villains become more defined.
September 17, 2016
I don't know why I took so long to finish this book - it wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, it just... failed to grab me like the others did. Still a good book, still excellently written, just .. eh. I'm hoping I find the magic again in the third book in this series.
June 8, 2007
The second Web-Shifters novel is not quite as good as the first, but still contains all the creativity and talent of Czerneda's works.
January 16, 2009
This was a very interesting story with very good descriptions of a variety of alien cultures. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the second book in the series and still very entertaining in story.
May 28, 2011
Very slack sequel.
March 4, 2012
Esen, introduced in Beholder's Eye, must learn to function as a single entity in partnership with a human.
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September 26, 201218
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