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Moreau #4
Fearful Symmetries: The Return of Nohar Rajasthan
This is the story of Nohar Rajasthan, a private eye descended from genetically manipulated tiger stock to become a moreau--a second-class humanoid citizen in a human world. Nohar retired from the private eye business ten years ago, and just wants to spend his remaining time in the peace and quiet of his wilderness homestead. Then a human lawyer asks him to take on a missing moreau case--and suddenly all hell breaks loose!
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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98 people want to read
About the author
S. Andrew Swann
39 books118 followersS. Andrew Swann is the primary pseudonym of Steven Swiniarski, who also writes as S.A. Swiniarski, Steven Krane, and S.A. Swann.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 2, 2022
Swann returns to the moreau world with Fearful Symmetries and gives us a story featuring Nohar Rajasthan, the morey tiger PI featured in the first installment. Nohar is old for a morey, pushing 40, and really feeling his age. His human wife kicked him out and now he lives alone out in the mountains outside of LA. Nohar has been 'retired' for a decade when one day a slick LA lawyer comes to his shack looking to hire him to find a missing morey. Nohar passes emphatically, but later that night a hit squad blows up his shack and he is forced to flee for his life, Nohar realizes that the culprits must due to the lawyer's visit, and he resolves to get to the bottom of it...
Much like the other three volumes in the series, Swann gives us a gritty noir tale where Nohar faces one trial and tribulation after another. The aging Nohar still has a little left in him however, and when he finds out that the missing morey is none other than his son things get even crazier. It turns out Marie, a sultry Brazilian jaguar, who left him back in the first installment was pregnant when she did, and had the cub when she got to LA. The cub, however, is a 'mule' as offspring of moreys are tricky given all the genengineering done to make them in the first place.
So, expect some action and the return of Nohar for one last go. Nohar is a good character and this tale has some nice twists and turns, but it did not grab me as much as the first three in the series. Maybe Swann had some bills to pay. 2.5 stars, rounding up.
Much like the other three volumes in the series, Swann gives us a gritty noir tale where Nohar faces one trial and tribulation after another. The aging Nohar still has a little left in him however, and when he finds out that the missing morey is none other than his son things get even crazier. It turns out Marie, a sultry Brazilian jaguar, who left him back in the first installment was pregnant when she did, and had the cub when she got to LA. The cub, however, is a 'mule' as offspring of moreys are tricky given all the genengineering done to make them in the first place.
So, expect some action and the return of Nohar for one last go. Nohar is a good character and this tale has some nice twists and turns, but it did not grab me as much as the first three in the series. Maybe Swann had some bills to pay. 2.5 stars, rounding up.
June 13, 2015
The next sentence can be open to many interpretations, and might be considered a spoiler by some. It is and it isn't.
The book could have been titled The Last Ride of Nohar Rajasthan.
Hard boiled detective, and genetically engineered Siberian Tiger, Nohar was the lead in Swann's first Moreau book, and he made appearances in the next two. Here he returns to the center stage, but because the Moreau's were engineered to be weapons, and not for a long life span, he is, at 40, old. He left civilization behind 10 years ago, but an LA attorney tracks Nohar down at his wilderness cabin. Initially Nohar rejects the case, but when people blow up his cabin and try to kill him he returns to LA.
True, Swann does seem to follow a formula during this part of his future history cycle (there are two other installments after this). There is a large conspiracy that hid behind a curtain, but this time it doesn't involve aliens. Frighteningly enough, the facts behind this conspiracy sounds like something a fanatic, ISIS, Neo-Nazis, Tea Party Republicans, would hatch today. Plus such a thing is a staple for hard boiled investigators in LA whether their names be Marlowe or Gittes.
With Nohar we also get to see how Moreau society has changed during his time away, and not for the better. The separation between human and non-human actually appears to have grown.
The action sequences are kept believable enough, especially when you factor in that your lead is about two meters tall and pushes 250-300 kilograms.
It takes time, but Swann does a good job of world building during these four books, and in this installment does his best job to date of adding some depth to a lead character.
Nohar rocks as far as I'm concerned.
The book could have been titled The Last Ride of Nohar Rajasthan.
Hard boiled detective, and genetically engineered Siberian Tiger, Nohar was the lead in Swann's first Moreau book, and he made appearances in the next two. Here he returns to the center stage, but because the Moreau's were engineered to be weapons, and not for a long life span, he is, at 40, old. He left civilization behind 10 years ago, but an LA attorney tracks Nohar down at his wilderness cabin. Initially Nohar rejects the case, but when people blow up his cabin and try to kill him he returns to LA.
True, Swann does seem to follow a formula during this part of his future history cycle (there are two other installments after this). There is a large conspiracy that hid behind a curtain, but this time it doesn't involve aliens. Frighteningly enough, the facts behind this conspiracy sounds like something a fanatic, ISIS, Neo-Nazis, Tea Party Republicans, would hatch today. Plus such a thing is a staple for hard boiled investigators in LA whether their names be Marlowe or Gittes.
With Nohar we also get to see how Moreau society has changed during his time away, and not for the better. The separation between human and non-human actually appears to have grown.
The action sequences are kept believable enough, especially when you factor in that your lead is about two meters tall and pushes 250-300 kilograms.
It takes time, but Swann does a good job of world building during these four books, and in this installment does his best job to date of adding some depth to a lead character.
Nohar rocks as far as I'm concerned.
September 25, 2025
Dumb 80s-action-movie style pulp book.
The first book with Nohar, Forests of the Night, was mediocre, but this one is notably worse. The entire thing is basically one long chase sequence. The pacing is fast, which is fine, but nothing gets any genuine development. Things are dark and grim simply for the sake of it, and the dystopian aspect wasn't particularly interesting nor satisfying (there was much more worldbuilding in the first book). The plot is incredibly convoluted for how simple the reveal ultimately is. Also, Nohar spends the entire book referring to "the Bad Guys" which is laughably corny.
I did enjoy the dark, noir tone of the book, but other than that it didn't have much going for it. Nohar is your standard noir detective protagonist: generically stubborn, hard and emotionally stunted with some vague reasoning skills. Nothing endeared me to him in any way and I couldn't care less what happened to him or his family.
The plot is generic and doesn't make much sense. It's one contrived action sequence after another where Nohar barely survives, usually because of some absurd deus ex machina. He sends data off to a news agency and literally 4 seconds later the news choppers arrive with an entire police force. Yes, very believable. The book opens with something about Nohar being old (especially so for his species) which seemed like it might provide a vaguely interesting angle, but once things got going that was forgotten about.
Honestly, I don't understand why the author wrote this. The whole book is supposed to hinge on the weight of Nohar reconnecting with the son he never knew, and to a lesser extent his baby momma Maria (whom I guess he sort of pined for here and there), yet the writing has the emotional intelligence of a brick. Nohar exchanges maybe five lines with his son, one or two with Maria. Nothing longer than a single sentence. At a couple points his calls up his ex-wife whom he ended the first book in love with-- both exchanges are supremely cringe emotional voids. So I ask: Why? What's the point of having these? To show that our supposedly great PI has no idea how to communicate with another person whatsoever? It feels exceeding juvenile, as if it was written by a 15 year old who has never spoken to another human in real life. If a book could have a negative emotional quotient, this is it. Which makes me wonder: why choose this route for the narrative? Why not just write a straight-forward action book where Nohar doesn't need to have an emotional connection to anyone or anything (cause lord knows the author doesn't know how to convey it) and just shoots guns (with fifty cal bullets, clearly, as the author made a point to mention "fifty caliber" apx. 100 times) and runs and breaks down doors and blows up helicopters? It seems like the author would have done a much better job with that.
Other than the fact that we have gene-engineered hybrid animal/humans (that are mostly just re-colored people) there is nothing that sets this apart from anything else, it's merely a dumb "man" action book. Hard pass.
The first book with Nohar, Forests of the Night, was mediocre, but this one is notably worse. The entire thing is basically one long chase sequence. The pacing is fast, which is fine, but nothing gets any genuine development. Things are dark and grim simply for the sake of it, and the dystopian aspect wasn't particularly interesting nor satisfying (there was much more worldbuilding in the first book). The plot is incredibly convoluted for how simple the reveal ultimately is. Also, Nohar spends the entire book referring to "the Bad Guys" which is laughably corny.
I did enjoy the dark, noir tone of the book, but other than that it didn't have much going for it. Nohar is your standard noir detective protagonist: generically stubborn, hard and emotionally stunted with some vague reasoning skills. Nothing endeared me to him in any way and I couldn't care less what happened to him or his family.
The plot is generic and doesn't make much sense. It's one contrived action sequence after another where Nohar barely survives, usually because of some absurd deus ex machina. He sends data off to a news agency and literally 4 seconds later the news choppers arrive with an entire police force. Yes, very believable. The book opens with something about Nohar being old (especially so for his species) which seemed like it might provide a vaguely interesting angle, but once things got going that was forgotten about.
Honestly, I don't understand why the author wrote this. The whole book is supposed to hinge on the weight of Nohar reconnecting with the son he never knew, and to a lesser extent his baby momma Maria (whom I guess he sort of pined for here and there), yet the writing has the emotional intelligence of a brick. Nohar exchanges maybe five lines with his son, one or two with Maria. Nothing longer than a single sentence. At a couple points his calls up his ex-wife whom he ended the first book in love with-- both exchanges are supremely cringe emotional voids. So I ask: Why? What's the point of having these? To show that our supposedly great PI has no idea how to communicate with another person whatsoever? It feels exceeding juvenile, as if it was written by a 15 year old who has never spoken to another human in real life. If a book could have a negative emotional quotient, this is it. Which makes me wonder: why choose this route for the narrative? Why not just write a straight-forward action book where Nohar doesn't need to have an emotional connection to anyone or anything (cause lord knows the author doesn't know how to convey it) and just shoots guns (with fifty cal bullets, clearly, as the author made a point to mention "fifty caliber" apx. 100 times) and runs and breaks down doors and blows up helicopters? It seems like the author would have done a much better job with that.
Other than the fact that we have gene-engineered hybrid animal/humans (that are mostly just re-colored people) there is nothing that sets this apart from anything else, it's merely a dumb "man" action book. Hard pass.
September 25, 2024
Near future noir mystery urban science fiction. The return of Nohar Rajasthan, a retired private eye descended from genetically manipulated tiger stock to become a moreau -- a second-class humanoid citizen in a human world. He is asked by a human lawyer to find a missing moreau. Then all hell breaks loose. I read the first three books in this series back to back in February 2018. Nohar was the MC in the first one and made appearances in the other two. They are not literature at all, but they are all fast-paced action thrillers and this one made a nice break from more demanding novels.
(Reddit Fantasy 2024 Bingo squares that it would fit: Under the Surface; Published in the 1990s (HM); Survival).
(Reddit Fantasy 2024 Bingo squares that it would fit: Under the Surface; Published in the 1990s (HM); Survival).
May 18, 2020
Тигърът се завръща за финала на тази поредица, а с него и качествата й. Само финалът не беше толкова щур колкото предната част, та затова четири звезди.
Подробно ревю на линка:
https://citadelata.com/fearful-symmet...
Подробно ревю на линка:
https://citadelata.com/fearful-symmet...
July 2, 2022
Well this is just really kind of bleak. I'm reminded of why I don't normally like noir fiction.
March 15, 2017
I enjoyed Fearful Symmetries more than I did Forests of the Night. I liked the plot of this book better and it felt more epic than the last one. Nohar is retired and older than he was but he still kicks butt and gets stuff done. I was not surprised by the first twist of the story
The action was great and I enjoyed the little details that made the story even better. The action was written well and it was easy to envision the action sequences like in a movie. I enjoyed seeing many different moreys, especially the dogs that lived near the reservoir. I would have loved to know more about them, but seeing them help Nohar was very cool. It was also nice to see characters that we have seen in the previous books.
Overall 3.5 out of 5 stars. A good solid action book spiced with sci-fi and mystery as well as great characters and story telling.
The action was great and I enjoyed the little details that made the story even better. The action was written well and it was easy to envision the action sequences like in a movie. I enjoyed seeing many different moreys, especially the dogs that lived near the reservoir. I would have loved to know more about them, but seeing them help Nohar was very cool. It was also nice to see characters that we have seen in the previous books.
Overall 3.5 out of 5 stars. A good solid action book spiced with sci-fi and mystery as well as great characters and story telling.
May 13, 2013
Fearful Symmetries is written like an action movie turned into a book. Think Die Hard when Bruce Willis is older and isn’t as flexible as he used to be. Nohar is like that. He’s a retired detective who is also a moreau: a sentient race formed by a genetic experiment that fused animal genes with human genes, of which there are many species. They call humans “pinks” since they lack fur. Naturally, there is great division between these two.
Nohar is called in out of retirement to work on a case. He refuses, but his cabin in the woods is set aflame and he’s forced to fight for his life to solve a mystery. Bodies pile up everywhere, and Nohar uses every resource he has—old friends, his wits, and the adrenaline-fed Beast—and it may still not be enough.
Overall, Fearful Symmetries gets 3.5 stars from me. I liked it more than I expected to, but I wasn’t overly excited by the story. It read well enough as a stand-alone (even though it is the fourth in the series), so it wasn’t because of that. I wasn’t fond of the writing style. The sentence structure was shorter and a bit repetitive. (There were many places were sentences could easily have been combined, for example.) The plot also lacked some originality, especially regarding , but it tied in quite well with the overall culture established in the story. I got a very good sense of this world: it’s dirty, gritty, and full of prejudice. Although sometimes it was hard to take the book seriously when Nohar calls the villains the “Bad Guys” (although I’m not sure what I would have labelled them, had I been in their situation).
Nohar is called in out of retirement to work on a case. He refuses, but his cabin in the woods is set aflame and he’s forced to fight for his life to solve a mystery. Bodies pile up everywhere, and Nohar uses every resource he has—old friends, his wits, and the adrenaline-fed Beast—and it may still not be enough.
Overall, Fearful Symmetries gets 3.5 stars from me. I liked it more than I expected to, but I wasn’t overly excited by the story. It read well enough as a stand-alone (even though it is the fourth in the series), so it wasn’t because of that. I wasn’t fond of the writing style. The sentence structure was shorter and a bit repetitive. (There were many places were sentences could easily have been combined, for example.) The plot also lacked some originality, especially regarding , but it tied in quite well with the overall culture established in the story. I got a very good sense of this world: it’s dirty, gritty, and full of prejudice. Although sometimes it was hard to take the book seriously when Nohar calls the villains the “Bad Guys” (although I’m not sure what I would have labelled them, had I been in their situation).
April 25, 2008
This book and its prequels were a lot of fun. Take cyberpunk, keep the punk-noir attitude, but swap the cyber for genetic engineering, and you get these books. Scenario is a grim future following several global wars. To provide enhanced soldiers for these wars, various nations resorted to genetic engineering, mixing human and animal DNA, creating hybrids of humans with various animals: dog, rat, tiger, etc. In the wake of the wars, the soldiers did not integrate well with human society back home (shades of Viet Nam). Now they live in unofficially segrated areas, and are the n*gg*rs of their day. They are called "moreaus" (referencing H.G. Wells' "Island of Dr. Moreau") or "moreys," their part of the city being called "moreytown." Sharing the lower echelons of society with the moreaus is another group called "franks," short for "frankensteins," which are synthetic humanoids.
Each of the first three books featured a different protagonist, though they all crossed paths with each other briefly. One of those protagonists, Nohar Rajasthan, comes front & center again in this book. He is a tiger-human hybrid, and worked as a private eye, but has retired to a cabin in the woods at the beginning of this book. Predictably, something forces him out of retirement. The plot is pretty standard noir, but the action is well written and Nohar is a wonderful SF noir hero. His world is definitely rigged against him. These books are supremely readable, they flash by.
Each of the first three books featured a different protagonist, though they all crossed paths with each other briefly. One of those protagonists, Nohar Rajasthan, comes front & center again in this book. He is a tiger-human hybrid, and worked as a private eye, but has retired to a cabin in the woods at the beginning of this book. Predictably, something forces him out of retirement. The plot is pretty standard noir, but the action is well written and Nohar is a wonderful SF noir hero. His world is definitely rigged against him. These books are supremely readable, they flash by.
April 18, 2011
S. Andrew Swann returns to the world of the Moreau trilogy with a novel set about Nohar, a tiger/human hybrid bred to fight wars but until recently a private investigator. The book opens with him living a quiet life in retirement when a mysterious lawyer offers him a lot of money to take a missing person's case. He is soon swept up in a conspiracy and murder, and has to reconnect with people from his past.
The book is breathlessly paced, and the world Swann creates is unique: a cynical, crumbling, noirish world focused in the slums and barrios of the city. Like the Moreau Trilogy, it feels very "lived-in." Nojar is a great character, although the supporting cast is one dimensional. My only problem with the book is that the big reveal of what the conspiracy is feels weak. However, it's a good action packed read.
The book is breathlessly paced, and the world Swann creates is unique: a cynical, crumbling, noirish world focused in the slums and barrios of the city. Like the Moreau Trilogy, it feels very "lived-in." Nojar is a great character, although the supporting cast is one dimensional. My only problem with the book is that the big reveal of what the conspiracy is feels weak. However, it's a good action packed read.
August 25, 2011
Featuring the return of Swann's character, Nohar, who has long since retired from his life as a private investigator and is living alone in an isolated cabin. But when a lawyer tracks him down and asks Nohar to find a missing moreau, his whole world suddenly gets turned upside down. Nohar refuses the case, and is barely able to escape with his life after the cabin is assaulted by a squad of paramilitary commandos. Now Nohar finds himself on the run, and he has to figure out why this missing moreau is so important, all while facing demons from his own past and uncovering a secret that threatens to destroy the entire moreau population. A very good book, but I was slightly disappointed because they failed to continue the best part of "Forests of the Night", which was the interaction between Nohar and his human love interest. Still, an excellent read.
March 4, 2025
The last book of the Moreau series (so far) features our favorite tiger private eye Nohar Rajasthan once again thrust into a case that turns out to be bigger than he ever imagined.
The are gone this time, and now it’s all about the moreaus, and everything that has changed since the close of the last book.
This book probably has the least confusing mystery, and thus the easiest to understand. In fact, I guessed it, which isn’t a bad thing, but the clues were fairly obvious as to the origin of the disease and what it was trying to do.
The action is well-written, and the book reads like a breeze. Satisfying to revisit this world again and watch it evolve and grow, and to see one rogue tiger change it for the better.
The are gone this time, and now it’s all about the moreaus, and everything that has changed since the close of the last book.
This book probably has the least confusing mystery, and thus the easiest to understand. In fact, I guessed it, which isn’t a bad thing, but the clues were fairly obvious as to the origin of the disease and what it was trying to do.
The action is well-written, and the book reads like a breeze. Satisfying to revisit this world again and watch it evolve and grow, and to see one rogue tiger change it for the better.
March 10, 2013
Fun private eye story, in the body of a tiger. Noha is a humanoid tiger with beautiful fur, weighs around 600 lbs, and is very very strong. So he's one up on Sam Spade, at least one. This is action-packed, with enemies all around, murders, missing persons, brawls and explosions. I'd like to read Swann's other books, having read this one. He knows how to tell a lively, entertaining story.
May 9, 2014
Amazing book, a vast improvement in writing over the first book in the series (which was a good book in its own right). A near-perfect sequel for Forests of the Night, and leaves me wanting more-- of both Nohar and Manuel.
August 27, 2015
The return of Noha! Finally! A great conclusion to this fascinating series.
July 7, 2013
A fun sci-fi detective story. With great action and unique characters.
June 20, 2017
More action packed then previous books of the series and might not be as good on the sci-fi part, but I've enjoyed it, maybe even more, if nothing else then for being a known and liked series. It's always easier to read the characters and plot lines you are familiar with, but in a new story.
Too bad it's the end of the series, but it is a fitting one.
One point that jumped to mind while reading was how in the first book (to which this book was being "symmetrical") the communication tech was described as fax and here it is "comm" which is described like the internet. The time gap between when the book were written shows clearly.
Too bad it's the end of the series, but it is a fitting one.
One point that jumped to mind while reading was how in the first book (to which this book was being "symmetrical") the communication tech was described as fax and here it is "comm" which is described like the internet. The time gap between when the book were written shows clearly.
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