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Tipping Point #2
Body, Inc.
New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has always been on the cutting-edge of science fiction. In Body, Inc., he creates a tomorrow where genetic manipulation has become ubiquitous, and the very meaning of what it is to be human is undergoing drastic transformation.
In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants—a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread—which may well be the same secret—has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SICK, it seems, has the answers.
Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants—a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread—which may well be the same secret—has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SICK, it seems, has the answers.
Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
272 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2012
26 people are currently reading
263 people want to read
About the author
Alan Dean Foster
499 books2,038 followersBestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 25, 2020
Very interesting SiFi story but then I expect that from a Foster book. Pretty much non stop action that pulls you through the book quickly. Nice read. Recommended
January 13, 2022
Thanks to a glaring omission in cover design, I didn't realize I'd picked up the second book of a series. I'd got fairly far into the book before what I took for reference to the "backstory" and the not-so-subtle devices that felt like "stalling for time while reminding the reader about the end goal" began piling up high enough to awaken my suspicions. Oh, well.
The world of extreme technological body modifications Foster conceived for this series was pretty interesting, and the Cape Province SA setting was nice. Some memorable side characters too. Overall, though, the book really suffered from "middle installment" syndrome, where the whole thing just feels like dragged-out delaying action between the opener and the finale. If the 1st and 3rd books follow similar patterns, a "supercut" of all three would likely make an excellent story, but I wasn't left interested enough to seek them out.
The world of extreme technological body modifications Foster conceived for this series was pretty interesting, and the Cape Province SA setting was nice. Some memorable side characters too. Overall, though, the book really suffered from "middle installment" syndrome, where the whole thing just feels like dragged-out delaying action between the opener and the finale. If the 1st and 3rd books follow similar patterns, a "supercut" of all three would likely make an excellent story, but I wasn't left interested enough to seek them out.
September 17, 2018
More of Doc & Whispr's adventures
Their journey in search of answers takes them to the Dark Continent.
Africa.
Lions & Tigers & Bears - Oh My!
(well, not really bears, though Mr Mole' is still on their trail).
The story continues in the 3rd (& final) book...
Their journey in search of answers takes them to the Dark Continent.
Africa.
Lions & Tigers & Bears - Oh My!
(well, not really bears, though Mr Mole' is still on their trail).
The story continues in the 3rd (& final) book...
March 4, 2023
Book 1 ended on a cliffhanger and book 2 picks up at the same point in time. There is an assassin chasing the 2 main characters through the book but it is short on plot. I wanted more on the thread. The end has a bit of an info dump and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. I loved the setting in South Africa as we lived there 2 years and I could relive traveling through the characters. An unbelievably beautiful country.
April 3, 2017
It wasn't clear at all that this was part of a series when I picked it up and I'm pretty solidly sure I don't care enough to read any more.
The book builds some interesting concepts with the "melds", body modifications that can be pretty extreme, but these are just so much window dressing. People look different but it doesn't mean anything since it has no tangible effect on the plot. Moving into the plot, every single conflict that arises is resolved by either the female leads money or the male leads "street smarts". No deviations, nothing happens ever that isn't solved by those two possibilities. Not a single question that is raised is answered, side people are fleshed out who I believe wont be involved until the next book if at all? On the whole an entirely skippable book.
The book builds some interesting concepts with the "melds", body modifications that can be pretty extreme, but these are just so much window dressing. People look different but it doesn't mean anything since it has no tangible effect on the plot. Moving into the plot, every single conflict that arises is resolved by either the female leads money or the male leads "street smarts". No deviations, nothing happens ever that isn't solved by those two possibilities. Not a single question that is raised is answered, side people are fleshed out who I believe wont be involved until the next book if at all? On the whole an entirely skippable book.
April 4, 2020
Meh....I feel like this trilogy could have been one book. It's starting to feel drawn out and unnecessarily long winded. I'll finish the third, because, 'why not'? These were library rentals. I would not recommend buying these books.
December 18, 2023
In general, I really love the complexity of Alan Dean Fosters writing, his world building in particular (and I love that this book is copywrite to Thranx Inc, a reference that anyone who enjoyed the Flinx books will get). It sucked me in and I couldn't NOT read it...
There are so many small concepts that mesh into a vibrant story background and flesh out the reading experience in this book, one feels like a tourist, who is constantly looking around at all the exciting stuff... Which is in fact what our two protagonists are at the start of the story: Whispr, and Dr Ingrid Seastrom, both 'Namericans' have just landed in the air post of South Africa. They are on the run with a piece of futuristic technology but with slightly different aims regarding it. The doctor wants to figure out what it does, Whispr wants money (or 'subsis' in the slang of the day) he also wouldn't mind getting the Dr, but she is not cooperating with that goal.
The two have an established relationship from the previous book, but Foster has the knack of writing a book that holds together as a single, even when it is a # in a sereis so that deos not matter as much as it could do. And, to be honest, the plot of the device became secondary to the tourism, for me, as I loved the world Foster had built and wated to see more of it.
This future is far enough away that the Greenland ice cap has melted (goodness knows what is happening in antarctica) and so large tracts of land, currently inhabited, are underwater and the geographical redefining of the countries and the geopolitical, socioeconomic themes was lightly but very well done.
A key concept of this world is 'melds' versus 'natural'. Whispr, a theif, street person, living by his wits in a very cyberpunk-ish scenario is a meld, he has had so much body work done that he is think and his skull is a different shape.... it all sounds very cyberpunk. Other characters have weaponised their bodies, turned them into animal replicas, increased, decreased or changed their limbs... it is all wild and wonderful. Dr Ingrid Seastrom is a 'natural' who has never had any? much? work done. It does sound like the world of medicine is completely different as well, I guess, obviously.
Our first introduction to the concept of 'melds' comes right at the beginning, at the airport where two black panthers which are 'maniped' are part of the security team.
The bit players are excellent a great one is the Sangoma, the 'traditional healer' woman who lives on a house on legs, which is constantly moving to stay stable on the slope and who uses technology though melded fingertips as well as traditional methods.
Then we got to go on safari, where nature reserves as well as having lions and elephants have species brought back from extinction such species as the Smilodon or the Megatherium, the extinct giant sloth who becomes a plot element when an assassin from the first book catches up with out heroes who are on the way to find out what their bit of tech does.
Not a perfect book; by page 140 I was a bit over the antagonism between the two main characters, which was clearly established in the first book and I just had to ride it out. The incredibly rich panoply of futuristic, cyberpunk, travel through future Africa meant that I was never bored however. At times the plot seemed secondary to the sight seeing, but I was there for it.
Also, that is not an ending... As this one is a middle book in a trilogy, which I did not know when I bought it and had to google to find out. *sigh* my bad.... but I enjoyed reading it a lot, so it did not really matter, I just won't know the begging or the end of the story unless I can pick up the other books. They are from 2012, so there is a chance.
There are so many small concepts that mesh into a vibrant story background and flesh out the reading experience in this book, one feels like a tourist, who is constantly looking around at all the exciting stuff... Which is in fact what our two protagonists are at the start of the story: Whispr, and Dr Ingrid Seastrom, both 'Namericans' have just landed in the air post of South Africa. They are on the run with a piece of futuristic technology but with slightly different aims regarding it. The doctor wants to figure out what it does, Whispr wants money (or 'subsis' in the slang of the day) he also wouldn't mind getting the Dr, but she is not cooperating with that goal.
The two have an established relationship from the previous book, but Foster has the knack of writing a book that holds together as a single, even when it is a # in a sereis so that deos not matter as much as it could do. And, to be honest, the plot of the device became secondary to the tourism, for me, as I loved the world Foster had built and wated to see more of it.
This future is far enough away that the Greenland ice cap has melted (goodness knows what is happening in antarctica) and so large tracts of land, currently inhabited, are underwater and the geographical redefining of the countries and the geopolitical, socioeconomic themes was lightly but very well done.
A key concept of this world is 'melds' versus 'natural'. Whispr, a theif, street person, living by his wits in a very cyberpunk-ish scenario is a meld, he has had so much body work done that he is think and his skull is a different shape.... it all sounds very cyberpunk. Other characters have weaponised their bodies, turned them into animal replicas, increased, decreased or changed their limbs... it is all wild and wonderful. Dr Ingrid Seastrom is a 'natural' who has never had any? much? work done. It does sound like the world of medicine is completely different as well, I guess, obviously.
Our first introduction to the concept of 'melds' comes right at the beginning, at the airport where two black panthers which are 'maniped' are part of the security team.
The bit players are excellent a great one is the Sangoma, the 'traditional healer' woman who lives on a house on legs, which is constantly moving to stay stable on the slope and who uses technology though melded fingertips as well as traditional methods.
Then we got to go on safari, where nature reserves as well as having lions and elephants have species brought back from extinction such species as the Smilodon or the Megatherium, the extinct giant sloth who becomes a plot element when an assassin from the first book catches up with out heroes who are on the way to find out what their bit of tech does.
Not a perfect book; by page 140 I was a bit over the antagonism between the two main characters, which was clearly established in the first book and I just had to ride it out. The incredibly rich panoply of futuristic, cyberpunk, travel through future Africa meant that I was never bored however. At times the plot seemed secondary to the sight seeing, but I was there for it.
Also, that is not an ending... As this one is a middle book in a trilogy, which I did not know when I bought it and had to google to find out. *sigh* my bad.... but I enjoyed reading it a lot, so it did not really matter, I just won't know the begging or the end of the story unless I can pick up the other books. They are from 2012, so there is a chance.
July 9, 2024
Foster is such an excellent scene setter. His environments are always fresh and well thought out. This one is a future world where physical and biological body manipulation is commonplace.
Unfortunately, I find his stories hit or miss. This one is just ok. Interesting, but there is so much really good literature out there, I’m not sure I’d pick this one. He definitely has better.
Unfortunately, I find his stories hit or miss. This one is just ok. Interesting, but there is so much really good literature out there, I’m not sure I’d pick this one. He definitely has better.
November 20, 2025
After not caring for the first book in this trilogy, this one was a bit more of the same, but more fun to read since there were new locations and animals to explore. Plus, I rather liked the introduction of the poacher and his family. Hopefully, the third book will explain everything in a dramatic satisfying conclusion.
February 15, 2021
A fun book, much better than expected. Cool glimpse at the future and possibilities of body modifications. Interesting places the main characters visit.
April 24, 2021
Chased around the globe, danger behind every shadow.
August 14, 2015
My review of the first book in this series was pretty scathing, but I bulldozed my way through it to get to this one and carried on.
I should have listened to myself. The second book in the series was marginally better, but "I did not like it" still describes it correctly so it still only gets one star from me. Whispr and Ingrid ended the first book carrying a mysterious MacGuffin and being chased by psychopathic hitman Molé, and they end the second book in exactly the same situation. But in Africa this time instead of "Namerica".
The sum total of what they learn in this book: the MacGuffin is called a "distributor". That's the big "reveal" at the end of the book.
We don't learn anything about the things that it distributes, the organization that is distributing them, or anything really. This book was just a bunch of repetitive scenes strung together to pad the series out into a trilogy, IMO. The characters themselves seem to feel that way; they've stopped even trying to decode the information that's supposedly stored inside the MacGuffin, and don't even really have much of a plan for what to do with their time.
They go to Africa just because that's where the big megacorp they suspect is behind all this has a major research facility but they have no plan to actually get answers about it when they arrive. So they just sort of wander around playing tourist while occasionally bumping into more colourful underworld characters for Molé to torture and murder shortly afterward.
They literally play tourist. Whispr gets obsessed with seeing wild animals, so they end up taking a trip out into the African wilds to visit a "Pliocene park" where recently extinct megafauna has been revived and is wandering around. The extinct megafauna is mostly North American in origin, I should note, and adapted to Ice Age conditions. I don't know why they set this up in Africa in a world gripped by global warming.
I was actually rooting for Molé in this one. He's pretty terrible at his job though - at one point this supposedly top-notch coldly professional assassin is questioning a restauranteur who had seen his quarry but then decides to brutally murder him in public and then blow up his establishment (killing two bystanders in the process) because the guy called Molé "old". So it's disappointing but not surprising that the skinny street thug and the sheltered family doctor from Namerica manage to out-maneuver Molé in both the African underworld and the African wilderness.
I'm still not sure if the villains are really villainous, by the way. Sure, Molé murders people at the drop of a hat, but some of the people the "heroes" go to for help are just as trigger happy when it comes to killing people for the barest of reasons. Since we still have zero clue as to what the big secret plot is about, who knows.
I should have listened to myself. The second book in the series was marginally better, but "I did not like it" still describes it correctly so it still only gets one star from me. Whispr and Ingrid ended the first book carrying a mysterious MacGuffin and being chased by psychopathic hitman Molé, and they end the second book in exactly the same situation. But in Africa this time instead of "Namerica".
The sum total of what they learn in this book: the MacGuffin is called a "distributor". That's the big "reveal" at the end of the book.
We don't learn anything about the things that it distributes, the organization that is distributing them, or anything really. This book was just a bunch of repetitive scenes strung together to pad the series out into a trilogy, IMO. The characters themselves seem to feel that way; they've stopped even trying to decode the information that's supposedly stored inside the MacGuffin, and don't even really have much of a plan for what to do with their time.
They go to Africa just because that's where the big megacorp they suspect is behind all this has a major research facility but they have no plan to actually get answers about it when they arrive. So they just sort of wander around playing tourist while occasionally bumping into more colourful underworld characters for Molé to torture and murder shortly afterward.
They literally play tourist. Whispr gets obsessed with seeing wild animals, so they end up taking a trip out into the African wilds to visit a "Pliocene park" where recently extinct megafauna has been revived and is wandering around. The extinct megafauna is mostly North American in origin, I should note, and adapted to Ice Age conditions. I don't know why they set this up in Africa in a world gripped by global warming.
I was actually rooting for Molé in this one. He's pretty terrible at his job though - at one point this supposedly top-notch coldly professional assassin is questioning a restauranteur who had seen his quarry but then decides to brutally murder him in public and then blow up his establishment (killing two bystanders in the process) because the guy called Molé "old". So it's disappointing but not surprising that the skinny street thug and the sheltered family doctor from Namerica manage to out-maneuver Molé in both the African underworld and the African wilderness.
I'm still not sure if the villains are really villainous, by the way. Sure, Molé murders people at the drop of a hat, but some of the people the "heroes" go to for help are just as trigger happy when it comes to killing people for the barest of reasons. Since we still have zero clue as to what the big secret plot is about, who knows.
June 9, 2013
This is an amazingly bad book. It's got a bare bones plot without any resolution. (being part of a series is not an excuse) The characterizations have a ten-year-old's maturity level. And the descriptions are just... scifi technobla porn. I mean, good for the people in the book to have self-cooling glasses, but if it doesn't support the plot, I don't much care to know.
The worst part, though, is that it's ever so slightly misogynist. It's subtle, because usually scifi writers are criticized for being unable to write good female characters. ADF's female protagonist works just fine; it's the male one who gave me trouble. Whispr, see, is lusting after Ingrid and strongly confusing that with love. He gives me a strong feeling that ADF himself has trouble keeping these two things apart, too. We are supposed to feel for Whispr when Ingrid doesn't answer his feelings (tough luck, I'd say; it happens), but it's hard to feel for a guy who keeps expressing his love by staring at the surgically enhanced boobs of a woman who didn't even want them altered. At the point when she tells him again that she's not interested (good for her!) and resolves to ease her mind by paying him more money, the narration pitifully informs us that "she doesn't understand him at all." What would be the appropriate reaction to a guy professing to loving you while really just wanting your body? Saying "no" doesn't seem to be anywhere near the correct answer. In a morbidly curious way, I would be tempted to read the last part of the trilogy to find out if Ingrid will eventually sexually submit to the man she doesn't feel attracted to, like a proper woman should - if it wasn't such a spectacularly bad book.
The worst part, though, is that it's ever so slightly misogynist. It's subtle, because usually scifi writers are criticized for being unable to write good female characters. ADF's female protagonist works just fine; it's the male one who gave me trouble. Whispr, see, is lusting after Ingrid and strongly confusing that with love. He gives me a strong feeling that ADF himself has trouble keeping these two things apart, too. We are supposed to feel for Whispr when Ingrid doesn't answer his feelings (tough luck, I'd say; it happens), but it's hard to feel for a guy who keeps expressing his love by staring at the surgically enhanced boobs of a woman who didn't even want them altered. At the point when she tells him again that she's not interested (good for her!) and resolves to ease her mind by paying him more money, the narration pitifully informs us that "she doesn't understand him at all." What would be the appropriate reaction to a guy professing to loving you while really just wanting your body? Saying "no" doesn't seem to be anywhere near the correct answer. In a morbidly curious way, I would be tempted to read the last part of the trilogy to find out if Ingrid will eventually sexually submit to the man she doesn't feel attracted to, like a proper woman should - if it wasn't such a spectacularly bad book.
Read
May 21, 2012“Body, Inc.” is an exciting futuristic science fiction novel set in a future where the polar ice caps have melted, changing climates and topography. Africa is now in only three regional sections: North, Central, South-and South is ruled by the South African Economic Combine (SAEC-or “SICK”). Both humans and animals are routinely “melded,” or genetically enhanced and manipulated. For example, enhanced versions of the traditional Great White shark are utilized to patrol coastal waters and to remove illegal immigration.
Whispr, a meld who is so thin as to be almost invisible, and his business partner, brilliant but factually naïve Dr. Ingrid Seastrom, are tracking suspicious, possibly illegal, nanoimplants, and also trying to determine the meaning of a data storage thread Whispr had discovered. In this sequel to “The Human Blend,” former street criminal Whispr and medical doctor Ingrid travel from Savannah and South Florida to South Africa, both on the trail of information, and also to avoid SICK’s genetically modified and boosted assassin, Napun Mole.
“Body, Inc.” is Book 2 in “The Tipping Point” series.
Whispr, a meld who is so thin as to be almost invisible, and his business partner, brilliant but factually naïve Dr. Ingrid Seastrom, are tracking suspicious, possibly illegal, nanoimplants, and also trying to determine the meaning of a data storage thread Whispr had discovered. In this sequel to “The Human Blend,” former street criminal Whispr and medical doctor Ingrid travel from Savannah and South Florida to South Africa, both on the trail of information, and also to avoid SICK’s genetically modified and boosted assassin, Napun Mole.
“Body, Inc.” is Book 2 in “The Tipping Point” series.
August 11, 2012
The fact this is the second in a series wasn't immediately obvious when I picked up the book. I'm a big fan of Alan Dean Foster -- I probably own more books by him than by any other writer except Asimov or Bendis. I also recently visited South Africa, the setting of this novel. So this seemed right up my alley.
Boy was I wrong.
I'm wondering if this was written by Foster or by an intern finishing his thoughts. The first few pages are quite good and snap right along, but they start stumbling immediately with clumsy slang like "credcard." I can't imagine anyone saying that. Words tend to get shorter over time, and we already say "Put it on the card." Hard to believe people would add a syllable back into it.
After that it feels like one long series of infodumps that I eventually just started skimming. I didn't hate the book, but I just thought it was terribly dull.
Boy was I wrong.
I'm wondering if this was written by Foster or by an intern finishing his thoughts. The first few pages are quite good and snap right along, but they start stumbling immediately with clumsy slang like "credcard." I can't imagine anyone saying that. Words tend to get shorter over time, and we already say "Put it on the card." Hard to believe people would add a syllable back into it.
After that it feels like one long series of infodumps that I eventually just started skimming. I didn't hate the book, but I just thought it was terribly dull.
December 19, 2014
I wouldn't go as far as saying it is awful but I don't think it is worth investing any more time in it.
I was looking for a Sci-Fi book for a reading challenge, this one was on the pile of books. I even read nearly half of it at the airport and on a flight. But the style is full of meant-to-be-futuristic word inventions who all sound weird in the German translation. I'm sure something was lost there in the process. The story didn't really get me and I didn't like the future Foster invents here. I sometimes thought I'd missed something - and oh I had!, because this is the second part of a trilogy. So I missed the beginning and as I found out there will be a cliffhanger... So I can stop right here and find myself another, a better Sci-Fi novel. Any recommendations? :)
I was looking for a Sci-Fi book for a reading challenge, this one was on the pile of books. I even read nearly half of it at the airport and on a flight. But the style is full of meant-to-be-futuristic word inventions who all sound weird in the German translation. I'm sure something was lost there in the process. The story didn't really get me and I didn't like the future Foster invents here. I sometimes thought I'd missed something - and oh I had!, because this is the second part of a trilogy. So I missed the beginning and as I found out there will be a cliffhanger... So I can stop right here and find myself another, a better Sci-Fi novel. Any recommendations? :)
April 18, 2012
Meh. It was engaging in places, but I found myself annoyed at the "futuristic" slang. It really detracted so much from the overall experience that I almost didn't finish it. Be warned, it is a total cliffhanger. It doesn't even end at a reasonable point. It feels like he just got tired of writing and stopped. Honestly, I probably won't even look for the next installment.
On the plus side, the characters were interesting and wel-written. Other than the annoying slang, the world building was well composed and felt well thought out.
On the plus side, the characters were interesting and wel-written. Other than the annoying slang, the world building was well composed and felt well thought out.
July 10, 2024
Could not get into this. The main character's narration about his female coworker quickly progressed from annoying to insulting. Maybe he's supposed to be a flawed character; if so, this isn't my preferred flavor and if it isn't supposed his redeemable focal trait, it's disgusting. Readers with respect for women can pass.
approved for the eARC from NetGalley but didn't get to it in time; read courtesy of my local public library (and I'm so, so glad I didn't have to pay for it).
approved for the eARC from NetGalley but didn't get to it in time; read courtesy of my local public library (and I'm so, so glad I didn't have to pay for it).
February 22, 2014
I read the middle book of a trilogy first. That, combined with Foster's immersive approach to introducing terminology and mores of his fictional world, made the beginning a bit confusing, but I got caught up in the story quickly. Nice techco-thriller. Now I have to decide if I want to read the 1st or the 3rd book next.
September 27, 2016
I dislike the changes in the characters personalities from the Human Blend. Whispr has been somewhat dumbed-down, damaging the balance of the relationship. Further, the publication of this story as a trilogy is purely mercenary. There is no plot-driven necessity for any break in the telling of the story, and each of the first two end flat.
July 13, 2012
Ugh, gave up before finishing chapter 1. Didn't realize this was the second in a series. I think I could have still been interested except it's so much info dump/exposition fairy of all this future tech and societal norms. It's clunky and annoying.
August 10, 2012
Sequel to Human Blend. In the middle of this story, the characters roam around Africa looking at animals created by gene splicing, for no apparent reason, for a long time. Apart from that, good action, very interesting view of the near future.
March 7, 2013
this is book 2 of a three book series and whike I have enjoyed the firdg tow and will read the third book --it could have been done in one book. the story is interesting and the main characters likable and it would have been a great book if wriiten. turning it into three books just pulls it down
October 12, 2015
I started this book not knowing it was the second in a trilogy, and I don't think I missed anything by not reading the first. The characters and envisioned world are good, but the plot feels like repetition of similar situations.
May 10, 2016
I liked the first book of the trilogy, but this one seems to be there just because there were supposed to be three books. The story doesn't advance enough. Alan Dean Foster can write cute and rather outre prose in his sleep - and I think he did that with this one. I had to drag myself through it.
May 28, 2012
Not hard scifi by any means, Body, Inc. is a serious slog through B-movie fodder.
July 2, 2012
normally love ADF - just couldn't get into this one. I will try again at some future point.
January 18, 2013
It didn't get very far, and it took a long time to do so
April 29, 2013
Hahahah! One sentence epilogues sure have impact; even if they concern something somewhat suspected and mundane. I would love to see more authors use those for their revelatory epilogues :D
June 12, 2013
Not as good as the first. the usual middle book of a trilogy where it seems it is all a set up for the third. But Lindsay and whispr still an interesting duo.
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