Die Masken des Alien

by Gregory Benford, Gordon Eklund, Rainer Schmidt (Translator)

Der Änderling, ein Gestaltwandler, hat menschliche Ahnen, ist aber längst zu einem Alien geworden, dessen Motive für den Mensch nicht mehr verständlich sind. Er kann jede beliebige Tier- und Menschengestalt annehmen und auch den engsten Vertrauten seiner Opfer eine falsche Identität vorgaukeln. Er kennt nur ein Ziel: die Welt in ein Chaos zu stürzen. Die anderen Zivilisationen halten seinesgleichen von ihren Welten fern. Einem gelingt es jedoch, seinen Verfolgern zu entwischen und den Planeten Alvea zu erreichen. Die Jäger von der Erde folgen ihm, aber auf Alvea sind sie selber Gejagte. Die genetisch instabilen und von Epidemien heimgesuchten AIveaner machen die Terraner für ihr Schicksal verantwortlich. Sie hassen sie. Dem Änderling ist dies nur recht. Er will die labile Kultur des Planeten zerstören, denn er haßt jede Ordnung. Und er hat einen Vorteil: Er kennt seine Jäger. Sie kennen ihn nicht. Er hat tausend Masken. Er kann überall sein. Irgendwo am anderen Ende der Welt - oder in nächster Nähe. Und er liebt es, mit seinen Verfolgern zu spielen. Wie eine Katze, die weiß, daß ihre Beute nicht mehr entkommen kann . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Ebooks

228 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1980

About the author

Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.

Reviews

[Keith W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final score 3.5

For a random book I picked up at a thrift store mainly for the cool Ken Kelly cover, this turned out to be reasonably enjoyable. The tone is dark and bleak and it has a sleazy feeling about it that I appreciated. World-building leads to some pretty funny things like the protagonists spending the majority of their mission undercover in fat suits to blend in with the genetically altered human colonizers of the planet the changeling has fled to, and the males of these colonizers have all eventually become chubby for some reason, but it was an enjoyable thriller with some good ultra-violence and messed up scenes. I was a bit worried the changeling stuff wouldn’t really work for me when starting this book, but the changeling was actually a fairly interestingly written creature with some good creepy scenes. Probably not for everybody, but I had a surprisingly good time reading this one.

Recommended if you enjoy sleazy pulp scifi-fi.

[EmBe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nach meinen Aufzeichnungen habe ich den Roman recht gerne gelesen, ich fand ihn spannend und anschaulich und gebe deshalb mal vier Sterne, auch wenn ich das Fantasy-Cover einfach nicht passte.
Die Figuren, die teilweise in der Beschreibung schon erwähnt werden, waren glaubwürdig angelegt. Die Fähigkeiten des Änderlings, aus dessen Perspektive der Roman auch erzählt wird, fand ich beängstigend geschildert. Das war wohl auch der Sinn des Autorenduos.
Es ist ein klassischer Thriller-Plot, zu dem noch eine Frau gehört. Diese reife und selbstbewusste Person bringt nicht nur Erotik mit in den Plot, sondern sorgt auch für interessante Dialoge.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Find the Changeling by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund is a science fiction novel set in the far future where mankind has expanded to the stars. The premise sounded good but, alas, it turned out not so much.
In this one, a group is dedicated to stopping changelings from spreading throughout human space by using hired killers to hunt them down. This is an occupation that has a pretty high fatality rate. This is a fairly bleak book, as neither the hunter nor the hunted are people that you really would want to be acquainted with. Both of these parties are morally grey, to say the least. This book is fairly short, and a quick read, but not really worth the time even so.

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two men and a genetically enhanced talking dog called Scorpio, land on the planet Alvea, in pursuit of a fleeing Changeling. The Changelings spread chaos and disorder wherever they go, and are extremely hard to catch since they can transform themselves into an exact copy of any person or creature they like. The dog can recognise them by their smell, but unfortunately there are no dogs on Alvea, and due to the political situation two Earthmen and a dog going about the streets openly would cause a riot, so they have to be more circumspect.

Another book with genetically enhanced dogs! Scorpio has only been enhanced enough to speak basic English and follow spoken orders; his role is still to hunt by scent. Perhaps that's why he doesn't seem as unhappy as the enhanced dogs in other books.

[2Due]

It had a promising setting, but 80ish pages in I gave up, I unfortunately found it boring...
I found only one of the two main characters likable, the other was a complete dick, too fixated on the hunt of the changeling and not giving a square shit about his companion, who honestly tried his best from the start. I didn't stick around to see if they got better.
There was also the changeling who seemed quite intriguing, although in the little I read there wasn't much about it, just a couple of chapters with a completely shifted tone from the rest of the narrative with an odd sexual-ethereal note.
Pity this book didn't keep my attention, I wanted to like it.