Il Mangiatore d'anime

Birthright #1

by Mike Resnick, Beata della Frattina (translator)

Tra le leggende che si raccontano nei bazar e nelle taverne degli astroporti ce n'è una che riguarda un mostro interstellare detto "il Mangiatore d'Anime" ma chiamato anche in altri modi, come la "Bestia dei Sogni " o "lo Spolveratore dello Spazio" . Gli ingenui non ci credono affatto a questa leggenda, e la gente più seria ci crede solo fino a un certo punto. Ma chi ci tenesse a saperne di più, vada al Tchaka's Bar di Northpoint, un pianeta verso il centro della Galassia, e chieda di un vecchio ubriacone che chiamano l'Antico Marinaio. Lui una volta l'ha intravisto, il Mangiatore d'Anime.

Copertina di: Karel Thole

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy

124 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Metodi Markov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сносна история, от разцвета у нас на джобните книги с фантастика в края на XX век. :)

Резник щрихира далечното бъдеще на нашия вид, в което сме се разселили между звездите и имаме собствена империя.

Историята за ловеца и неговата най-желана плячка е стара като света, но този ѝ нов прочит си струва да се попрелисти. Kнижката е малка като обем, но е доста интригуваща.

"Космическият ловец" е първа книга от поредицата "Право по рождение", втората книга е "Господарите", а част от останалите са издадени на български доста разбъркано, всичките от различни издателства, като най-много са излезли под логото на "Лира принт".

Моята оценка - 3,5*.

P.S. Съжалявам, че не стана ясно, каква точно гад е любителя на живи насекоми Муфти! :)

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat little novel by Resnick, but nothing too exceptional. Set in a rather standard science fiction space, where humanity has been spreading in the stars for 1000s of years, colonizing thousands of worlds and meeting interesting aliens, The Soul Eater features Nicobar Lane, a professional hunter, who travels around the galaxy finding 'specimens' of exotic wildlife for museums and such. Nicobar likes to hang at a frontier world in a rather seedy bar/cathouse/black market establishment between various contracts and one day, conversation in the bar brought up the legend of the Dreamwish Beast. While most of the patrons scoffed, one old fellow said he had seen it.

Anyway, on Nicobar's next adventure to bag some creatures, he too encountered it-- some sort of energy being a several kilometers in diameter that moved in space, but seemed capable of extraordinary maneuvers, etc. Further, when he 'tickled it' with a 'vibrator' (I know, yuck yuck, but it seems to be some sort of energy weapon), he was overcome with strange emotions. Then and there Nicolas became obsessed with killing the thing...

On one level, this is something of a Ahab/Moby Dick tale in space, but on another level, Resnick is trying for something a little more profound, but in the same vein as Melville's tale-- what obsessions will do to people. Enjoyable for sure, but again, nothing terribly profound. I always liked Resnick's work, even though it is largely heroic fantasy in a space opera setting. 3 Soul Eater stars!!

[Иван Величков · Rating 5 out of 5]

Хипнозвяр, Смъртоносец, Слънцетворец, Звездопрах, просто съществото и най-вече Гълтача на души. Същество изградено от енергия и космически прах. Емпат способен да излъчва чувства. Мит, разказван от пияни миньори по периферията, роден от скуката на многомесечните полети на самотни капитани. Никобар Лейн е ловец, убиец на животни. Срещата му с гълтача на души го променя за винаги.

Чичо Майк е един от любимите ми автори. Книгите му спокойно мога да ги нарека космическа митология. Нямат кой знае каква дълбочина, но четенето им е истинско удоволствие, макар и малко горчиво. А тази е една от най-добрите му, превеждани на Български. Препоръчвам

[Martin Doychinov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Тегава малка книжчица излезе 😊. Малко като космически Моби Дик, но не съвсем...
Мотивацията на ловеца да тръгне да преследва съществото с много имена, ми беше неубедителна. В последствие, след първата среща с него - да, но преди това... малко изсмукана от пръстите ми дойде.
Не е най доброто на Резник, което съм чел, но като се има предвид, че го е писал в началото на блестящото си творчество, е обяснимо.
Краят пооправи нещата, и докара положението до малко над 4 звезди, но не и 5.

[Md0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun book with a cool twist. a solid 7. a little dated maybe

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe that Resnick first found his voice for future space myth and legend in this short novel. Nicobar Lane, the professional killer, plays Captain Ahab in tracking the Dreamwish Beast, Starduster, the Soul Eater... all lyrical names in a galaxy barely big enough to hold them. It's another fine story set in his Birthright Universe with a quietly surprising ending.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, nothing special.

[Nicholas Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Galactic killer! Nicobar Lane, cold-blooded killer, total professional, a man who will - if the price is right - travel wherever the hunt may take him, riding the space lanes from planet to planet to track down any creature a collector could possibly desire. Yet there is one being Lane won't pursue for any fee - the Soul Eater. The Soul Eater, Dreamwish Beast, Starduster - it is known by many different names throughout the galaxy. But who has actually met this living legend? No - as far as Lane is concerned, the Soul Eater is a myth chased after by fools and madmen. Then Lane himself encounters the Soul Eater in the depths of space, and suddenly there is no turning back. For how can the greatest hunter in the galaxy ignore the challenge of overcoming the one creature than no one has ever been able to trap? And so the hunt is on - but before long even Lane can't tell who is the pursued and who the pursuer...

So, what is this book about? Well, imagine if you took Han Solo out of Star Wars and got rid of the rest of the cast, then you give Han Solo a temper! That’s Nicobar Lane! Like the synopsis says, Nicobar Lane is a cold-blooded killer, a lone wolf, and overall kind of a douchebag, but nevertheless a fun character to follow. His only friend is a large, bartending, sex hungry alien that you learn to like more and more as the story unfolds. Other characters you meet in the story are pretty cool as well, but I won’t go through them all, but just know there is a sad scene in this book with a certain character, and man it kind of hit me hard, and out of nowhere! I was like “I was not expecting that!”
So, what is this story really about? Well, let’s review the basic premise, shall we? It's really about a stubborn man who wants to hunt down a creature for past endeavors inflicted onto him. It’s a creature that, at first eludes him, and his drive to kill the beast increases with every sighting. Sound familiar? I'll give you a hint… Moby Freaking Dick! It's Moby Dick but in space! How cool is that! Granted I have never read Moby Dick, but overall, the premise is the same.
As you read the story, you realize how much this Soul Eater is affecting Nicobar Lane. It’s consuming him until the Nicobar Lane you met in the beginning of the book is no more. He pushes everyone away and becomes a shell of his former self, a hermit if you will. It’s not like who he was was all that great in the first place, but you know what I mean.
As he chases his version of the White Whale, he not only changes, but becomes wiser to his own emotions, which is pretty cool to see.
Mike Resnick does an excellent job putting you right into the action. He doesn’t waste too much time with fancy Science Fiction mumbo jumbo that you don’t really need to know, or care about, but at the same time gives you enough to get lost in the story.
The ending was good, and I overall enjoyed the entire book! I give this Sci-fi adaptation of Moby Dick Four Stars!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. Short old school Sci-fi.

[CraftyCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like I was witnessing a train wreck while reading this book, yet I absolutely could not stop reading. The protagonist, Nicobar Lane, is a hunter for hire, which I find deplorable. Most of his clients hire him to seek out insane creatures across the galaxy and kill them so that they may either be displayed in museums or their own private collections. Right off the bat, one of the things I liked about this tale was that all of the creatures are so crazily different. They all have really silly names, but in this universe, I could really see that things were genuinely different, not just copycat Earths placed everywhere. That’s oddly kind of rare in a lot of sci-fi, so I appreciated it. In his spare time, Nicobar hangs out at a bar/brothel place run by hedonist who is also fairly deplorable. This place isn’t central to the storyline, but he does return to it several times later. At any rate, Nicobar eventually runs into a creature composed of pure energy and capable of telepathy called the Dreamwish Beast. At this point, he slowly becomes obsessed with hunting and killing it, a pursuit that eventually takes over his entire life. It’s a sort of Moby Dick in space, I suppose, only told from the view of Captain Ahab, and we sit by, horrified, as his obsession causes him to do more and more atrocious things. It really was like watching someone fall into a drug addiction.

I’ll leave the ending a mystery, but it surprised me a little bit. I wouldn’t say it was satisfying, exactly, because the whole thing made me squeamish, but I had a hard time putting it down and breezed through it. I suppose it’s to the author’s credit that I found the book engaging despite how uncomfortable it made me feel.

This version, the ebook that I got as part of the Adventure Story Bundle, contained an extra short story at the end, that the author said he had written at the behest of a friend who had loved the story and requested a sequel. Resnick had insisted that the story was done, and didn’t need to be continued, but eventually agreed to write a version of it from the Dreamwish Beast’s perspective. I read a few pages into it and then put it down--I think the author was right when he said it didn’t need a sequel, and I found the story more compelling when the thoughts of the beast were alien and unfathomable. Maybe others will enjoy the expansion and I'm sure there's nothing really wrong with it, but I wanted the beast to remain a mystery, and I think that makes me love the original even more.

[Estevam (Impish Reviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good, in it, we follow a man named Nicobar Lane he is a hunter for hire and has quite a reputation, we first meet him on a bar where he is approached by a man that wants to hire him to find and capture a mythical beast only know as Soul Eater or Dreamwish beast, at the beginning, he is reluctant because to him this beast was only a myth that is to be chased by fools and gullible people, but that changes when he has his first meeting with the creature, and that is where the true story begins.
This book has an incredible message, it asks the question of how far would you be willing to go for an obsession, will you stop when it begins to consume you? or when it begins to push those that care about you away? and what happens when you finally achieve that goal? Will you be satisfied or will you let it finally consume you?
Those are questions that Nicobar Lane answer during this amazing story and many of the answers that he provides might not be what you expect and for that, this book is amazing, to me this book set to do a thing and it accomplishes it is an entertaining sci-fi story where we follow this badass hunter across the galaxy and it has this more profound message that can be perceived if you wish to go further on interpretation and for that, it gets the 5-star rating and my high recommendation for anyone to read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the first of Mike Resnick's science fiction books, from 1981. But, already it shows some of Mike's main themes-such as a galaxy-spanning story and unforgettable characters (and I think Mike does some of the best dialogue out there), all told with a strong sense of irony. The story is basically that of "Moby Dick," with Nicobar Lane becoming a Capt. Ahab in his obsession to hunt a great beast. This is the Dreamwish Beast which lives in space. Maybe this is a SPOILER, but don't expect the same ending... Not on the same level as "Ivory" or "Santiago," but I didn't expect it to be!

[Callie S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moby Dick negli anni Trenta

Piacevole riedizione di un grande classico della letteratura.
La "Bestia dei sogni", come la celebre balena bianca, è una metafora per quelle ossessioni che divorano l’uomo sino a consumarlo. È, tuttavia, anche il motore emotivo di un'anima che non si accontenta, ma divora spazio e tempo in un costante anelito di ricerca.

[M.H. Thaung]

I've read a few books by the author previously, but The Soul Eater is a new read for me. I see from the original 1981 publication date that this is one of his early works, but his distinctive style is already there. The major characters are larger than life, if not particularly relatable - more representatives of a type than human (or alien) beings with foibles and quirks. Consequently, the plot has the feel of a fable, or... almost a thought experiment, with a sense of inevitability. This isn't a negative criticism, and it's all very readable.

I didn't feel concerned about Nicobar Lane during his increasingly obsessive pursuit of the Dreamwish Beast, but I was definitely curious as to how far his obsession would take him, and what kind of person he would be when he got there.

Overall, an enjoyable short read, although I probably won't rush into re-reading it.

[Mike Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts slow, ends strong. Obsession turns to addiction, and I couldn’t look away.

The first part of Soul Eater didn’t exactly blow me away. The space hunting stuff was fine, serviceable even, but not especially gripping. What kept me going were the characters. There aren’t many, but the ones we get are sharp. Tchaka in particular stood out. He was layered, grounded, and a great foil to Lane.

But once Nicobar Lane’s obsession with the Dreamwish Beast kicks into high gear, the book shifts into something darker and more compelling. It’s not just about the hunt anymore, it’s about a man unraveling. You could call it obsession, but honestly, it reads more like addiction. Lane goes from a proud, capable hunter to someone chasing a high he can never quite reach, and it’s both tragic and fascinating to read.

By the end, I was fully locked in. It’s a short book, but it lingers.

[Patrick Stirling · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It started out alright, but the writing is very thin, totally plot driven. That can be fine, but the story just didn't grab me. I'm really not interested in hunters being paid to find and kill animals for collections. That attitude died with the Victorians, thankfully. I thought the MC would have an epiphany and try to grow beyond that, but once he encounters the titular, pure energy, life form, his only thought is how he might kill it. No thanks.

[Karen H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a fun, easy to read little scifi book. A little Moby Dick, Old Man and the Sea and the Ancient Mariner. I was expecting more from it than it actually provided based on the cover reviews. The only NOT despicable character in it might be the soul eater though. It was still a fun read. I will read more of Mike Resnick's work I think this was his first so maybe he gets better from here.

[Chris Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moby Dick in space! Some interesting ideas on masculinity, obsession, and the loss of self, but overall nothing particularly refreshing. As an establishing work for the Birthright universe, however, it did create interest in exploring the other books in this series to learn more.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

will review at www.fantasyliterature.com

[Robert Gilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Odd characters that grow on you.

[Konstantine · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing spectacular but its light fun

[Jeffrey Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mike Resnick. Interstellar hunter chases mythical beast…what’s not to like?

[Federico Mangano · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny little novel about a space hunter, nothing out of this word but the book knows it and it's quite short so that it doesn't end up being boring

[chuck noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Aside from spelling errors, that was a good read. It is not your standard space novel. There is a good storyline, and you can take the tech for granted.

[Jason Wintz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably should be 3.5. it's a fine book but not really a lot there.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are definite shades of Captain Ahab in Nicobar Lane. He becomes obsessed, a mere shell of himself, liquidating all of his resources and then stealing more in order to pay for his food, water, and fuel. All he can think about is destroying this unusual beast, even though he doesn’t understand it at all. Is it a monster? Is it searching him out because it wants something from him?

There are few characters in this story, but the ones there are have been well-drawn. My favorite is a colleague of Lane’s who runs a bar, brothel, and other dubious emporiums.

There isn’t much more I can say without spoiling the story. It’s one of those tales that’s less about the events and more about the character’s inner journey. It isn’t an action-fest. I really enjoyed it, and I’m happy with where it went.

Please note that there is a short story in this book AFTER the “Author’s Note” at the end. Be sure to catch it–it’s easy to miss!


Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/09/r...

[Myridian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always appreciate Resnick's particular brand of lighthearted, cowboy/space opera fiction. This book started out a bit on the heavy side for me. I started out thinking the book was too much on the superficial side, but the growing obsession of the main character, Lane, with the mysterious dream-wish beast made me think mor eand more of the old Freudian idea of thanatos. Lane, a hunter, seemed to be more and more obsessed with mortality as the story progressed. For me, he played more of the role of the antihero throughout much of the story, but the ending still felt satisfying. Definitely not one of my favorite's of Resnick's but worth the read.

[Andrei · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can not obsess you for the moment, can obsess you forever in the future, and you will pay any price for feeding your obsession up to the point that you don't know what your obsession is. I liked many dialogs in this book, although some may not find the end pleasable, I liked the book with the ending as it is.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This being his first book, it's not bad. You can see him working out the basis for this Birthright Universe. The lead character is just not likeable for me...but the last few pages do turn it around.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know how when you're reading science fiction and it's a space adventure and then the author has the spacemen smoking or eating meat? Then you know the naiveté of the author...I thought the same about this book until page 118 then the book sings.