Mirage

Web Shifter's Library #2

by Julie E. Czerneda

The second book in the Web Shifter's Library series returns to the adventures of Esen, a shapeshifting alien who must navigate the perils of a hostile universe.

Relationships get complicated when you don’t know who—or what—you really are. Esen must find a way to rescue a hapless group of chimeras, beings who are a new and unique blend of species she knows, when she can’t become one herself. When Evan Gooseberry tries to help, he is shattered to learn he himself isn’t entirely Human and begins to suspect his new friend Esen isn’t what she seems.

Complicating matters, a mysterious contagion has killed the crew of the ship that brought the chimeras—and Evan—to Botharis. Everyone’s been quarantined inside the All Species’ Library of Linguistics and Culture, including over a hundred disgruntled alien scholars.

The risks climb as Skalet and Lionel continue their quest to solve the disappearance of Paul’s mother’s ship, the Sidereal Pathfinder, only to find themselves caught in a tangle of loyalties as Skalet is betrayed by her own Kraal affiliates, who infiltrate the Library.

All of which would be quite enough for one Web-being’s day, but Paul Ragem hopes to rekindle the romance of his first love. A shame Esen hasn’t told him who’s hiding in their greenhouse.

Genres: Science Fiction, Aliens, Space Opera

431 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 11, 2020

About the author

Having 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 Shift of Time, part of her Night's Edge fantasy series. For more visit czerneda.com Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of Megibow Literary Agency LLC.

Reviews

[Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a mega Czerneda fan, and Beholder’s Eye (the first Esen novel) has long been a go-to scifi recommend. It was my first Czerneda… heck, it was one of my first sci-fi’s, and I’m sure that plays a role in how thoroughly I’m enjoying this revisit, even 15 years later. Since that first read, I’ve read all of the sci-fi trilogy sets she has on the market, and one thing has become abundantly clear: Czerneda is having more fun than ever.

Her writing always had a good bit of situational humor (my favorite kind), but this latest trilogy really amps up that component, making the books an absolute riot. The tone actually fits in nicely with the latest generation of sci-fi that boasts a lighter, feel-good atmosphere (hi Becky Chambers), so she’s on trend, and recommending her just got even easier.

Good humor aside, she includes some of my favorite creature creations (aliens) across the genre, which is still true now that I’ve read a LOT more sci-fi authors. With a background in biology, Czerneda’s aliens are always well thought out and expertly executed. The fun element comes into play here as well – the ways the aliens interact with the main characters is always great for some laughs.

She also has good characters. I like that Esen isn’t written from a human-minded POV. She’s a Web-Being with thought patterns and tendencies different than our own. Thank goodness we have Paul (human) to keep Esen grounded. ;P Czerneda also has excellent perspective immersion… which can sometimes be so well done that it sacrifices clarity for creativity. All of her books include these signature interlude chapters that take away all context and throw you into the depths of an alien perspective. They’re quite ambiguous and I often find myself retreading them to figure out what’s going on (not that reading them over helps much). Even when seriously studying them for the chance to become a beta reader for another Czerneda project, I struggled with these passages (which is probably why I just missed out on the opportunity). These passages also exhibit a clipped, to the point writing style that makes an appearance to a lesser degree in the rest of her works. Her writing is very stylized, and she often seems more interested in the cadence and mood of the delivery than she is in proper sentence structures (a liberty I don’t mind in the least as it makes the books feel more conversational). In recent books, that unique style has gotten more refined, to the point where the pacing of the scenes rockets (not to be confused with the pacing of plot-advancement, which is ironically a bit slow). It makes for an engaging read, just don’t blink or you’ll miss something.

Overall, this was a good bit of blue blob fun, and I can’t wait to see what Czerneda has in store next.

Recommendations: don’t start here! Go back and begin with Beholder’s Eye or even a different great series starting with Survival. Both hold sacred space on my bookshelves.

I’d like to thank DAW Publishing, Julie E. Czerneda, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review an early copy of Mirage!

Via The Obsessive Bookseller at www.NikiHawkes.com

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[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thoroughly entertaining read!

This series has what I enjoy most in science fiction: plenty of believable aliens with their own cultures, biology, motivations, etc. etc.!

Can't wait for the next installment in this series!

Highly recommended for series readers, hard sf fans, and fans of this Web Shifters series!

[Jerold Farver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten how good a writer this woman is, as soon I write this review I have to buy every title I don't own!
...BUY, buy

[Ernest]

Mirage (Web Shifter’s Library) by Julie E. Czerneda | Aug 11, | DAW

Julie E. Czerneda’s second novel about the All Species’ Library of Linguistics and Culture brings back a cast of characters that readers of her work will enjoy spending time with. These include Esen, the shapeshifting web being, and Evan Gooseberry, the alien ambassador with anxiety issues around aliens, who has chosen to spend his vacation at the library rather than facing family wondering when he’s going to provide more Gooseberrys. Since Esen, who’s a close friend, can morph into any known alien, it’s a good thing that her talent is kept secret from him and he only knows her in her favored form as a “canid-like” Lanivarian, though he actually knows her in several other forms…just not that they’re all her.

There’s a fair amount going on at the library. Esen is busy keeping a web being she’s resurrected from scattered DNA hidden until she’s herself again, so there are more secrets than usual floating around. A crisis Esen doesn’t actually cause arrises when the library is forced into lockdown as a possible pandemic site after the crew of the ship that Evan arrived on is found dead, and a group of gene-spliced aliens who’ve come to the library to research a place where their race can live sets of a whole new level of galactic intrigue. And much, much, more.

More: https://amazingstories.com/2020/07/sc...

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic addition to the web shifter's universe.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this has more of a story line than previous volume, I am somewhat going off this series. I quite liked Esen in the previous volume, at least her adventures growing up on Picco's Moon, but now I'm beginning to find her a bit irritating, and Mr. Gooseberry is just too silly for words.
I also have problems in this volume with the language, and often have to reread a passage two or three times to understand it or to work out who is actually speaking.
Julie Czerneda is still up there among my favourite authors, but I'm not mad on this book, as can be seen when I tell you Skalet is my favourite character here.

[Darceylaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful and uplifting read during these difficult pandemic times. SO great to have characters with personal integrity and conscience. Also great to have so many fantastical examples into how cultural misunderstandings and communication happen.
I gave the book only 3 stars because I've seen all these themes and tropes from Czerneda before. Also because sometimes her sentences are a bit convoluted and her references to previous books oblique and unnecessary.
I will absolutely keep reading the series and any other books she writes. Her books are comfort food to me.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is probably my own fault for allowing too much time to elapse between volumes of Czerneda’s Web series, but at times there were just too many plots and back references to keep me engaged. I enjoy the humor and the imaginative array of species, which serve to illuminate the foibles that trouble all relationships. Of course, just when I was on the verge of letting go of this series, Czerneda hooked me at the end; I guess I will be reading the final volume, sooner rather than later.

[Bonnie McDaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the latest in a series started more than twenty years ago (in mass market paperback, no less! I miss MMPs) about a fascinating alien race. Esen-alit-Quar is a Web-being, a (to use a memorable phrase from this book) "bright blue blobbie that eats tree trunks." Web-beings evolved in vacuum and can survive and travel in it, can take the form of any species whose DNA they assimilate, communicate with each other by exchanging hunks of Web-flesh containing specially sorted memories, and are damn near immortal (though they can be killed and kind of resurrected, as this book reveals). Esen is the Youngest of her Web, and this series tells the story of a bright, inquisitive, impulsive, curious, loyal, and good-hearted Web-being who strikes up a friendship with a Human, Paul Ragem. This relationship is the heart of the series.

Julie E. Czerneda is a biologist, and her endlessly inventive aliens and alien cultures are a highlight of the series. This is a good thing, at least as far as this book is concerned, because the plot comes in a bit of a distant second. That's not to say things don't happen. The All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, established by Esen and Paul in the final book of the first trilogy as a repository of information about alien species, is prominent in this book. There is a new mystery and some progression of the overarching plot. It's just reeeealllllly slooooooowww. There are lots of short chapters dealing with three separate storylines, and it seems to take forever to define the conflict in this book and advance the plot. I could deal with the slow pace, and for me the delightful secondary characters (especially Lambo the huffy, shouty Carasian and the Human Duggs Pouncey, who sees Esen in her native form dissolving huge sections of tree trunk and doesn't bat an eye) carried the book along when the storyline was dragging. Your mileage will definitely vary on this.

(One thing I did not like was this book's cover. It depicts Esen and one of the secondary characters, Evan Gooseberry, but...gah. That needed to be sent back for another take.)

A great deal of this book seemed to be setup for the concluding book in the trilogy. I certainly hope there's more plot movement and faster pacing. But this was good enough for me to pick up the final book.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Mirage” is the second volume in the Web Shifter’s Library Series by Julie E. Czerneda, and the middle of the second trilogy of novels. These books feature Esen-alit-Quar, Esen or Es for short. Esen is a most unique being, thought to be one of the last of her kind. She is a web-being, a shapeshifter that can assume the forms of other beings.

In the Web Shifter’s Library Series, Esen and her human partner Paul Ragem have founded the All Species’ Library of Linguistics and Culture on Botharis (Paul’s backwater home planet). This institution aims to help various alien species understand each other (and sometimes themselves) to prevent tragedies that can occur when misunderstandings happen. Esen has a unique perspective on these matters since she can become any type of alien herself, so long as she can assimilate some of their genetic material. In this volume the Diplomat Evan Gooseberry returns to visit at the same time that a trio of odd members of a normally cautious species, the Sacrissee, visit to ask a personal question. These unusual Sacrissee are very different, and their presence soon becomes a major event.

Julie E. Czerneda was a Biologist before she became an author, and this clearly shows in her world-building. There are so many amazing aliens in her works. These well-thought-out beings range from mineral to aquatic, and include interesting human cultures that have diverged from the standard as mankind expanded into a galaxy that was already teeming with life. This is an amazing old-school space opera with a vast scope. It’s also a pretty positive read, where even carnivorous giant crab-like species can be understood and reasoned with if one can only try to think like they do.

The cover art was done by the artist Adam Auerbach. This amazing artwork actually summarizes the main theme of the novel! The Web Shifters Library Series concludes with the next novel called “Spectrum.” I’ve already put it on my “Want to Read” List.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books seems to have a plot - the Library is at the center of an interstellar intrigue - but the book is primarily a cross-species comedy of manners. Scholars from numerous species meet peacefully at the Library, but you never know when one will mistake another for lunch. At the center is Esen, who is a centuries-old expert on other species, but who is also an impulsive child who is constantly getting into trouble.

The book is good, but not outstanding. I had a hard time pushing through the middle, which was a bit too full of chaos, and a bit too dependent on the triumph of good intentions.

[Lorelei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Czerneda’s stylistic quirks continue to be a little too much IMO, but the characters and story are still a lot of fun, so I stick with it.

I’ll say also that my usual complaint about aliens in SF is that they’re not alien enough, psychologically, and that’s kind of true here too. The Kraal are human, and yet more culturally difficult to understand than the web-beings, for me. But Czerneda is a biologist and the sheer biological creativity among the many aliens makes up for it, since that’s clearly what she’s focused on writing.

[Brian Gaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very strong addition to "The Web Shifter's Library" series. The familiar characters are well done and the plot strong. If I were to nit pick, the flashbacks to develop characters sometimes took away from the flow of the narrative.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Web Shifter's Library adventure is another entertaining romp starring the charming adolescent Blob and her likeable coterie of pals confronted by militaristic machinations.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a strong second book in a series but that could be a result of knowing the characters and realizing where they "belonged" within the storyline.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting aliens and Esen makes a charming narrator, but I found the first half a little slow pacing-wise. I am very curious as to what's going on with Evan...

[Sheila Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got to see Essen in some more forms this time. Love her alternate thought processes for each biology.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure what happened to all my ratings and reviews for these books. Love this series so much. excited for more