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The Caterpillar's Question
A struggling art student on a distant world, trapped in the middle of an intergalactic battle against a tyrannical empire, looks for his salvation in an immortal, immensely powerful spirit called The Imago. Reprint.
264 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1992
3 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
Piers Anthony
441 books4,216 followersThough he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
Piers is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 15, 2020
This was an odd book with lots of fantastical creatures. The plot was truly unique. It is definitely is full of possibilities. The stories that could be based in a world like this are endless. I found the purpose of the Imago to be kind of ironic. The Gaol really don't want to give up their power. I did find the love interest a bit odd. She was a bit young for him but the authors had a unique solution for that also. Overall, a unique fantasy book.
September 28, 2020
Per Goodreads, 2 stars is "ok". And this really wasn't. The first half of the book was the main character thinking about things. Constantly. In a not very interesting way. Just thinking, should I be doing this? Should I being doing that? Now that I'm doing this, what if I had done that? Not good. The 2nd half picked up a bit, but nothing that would make this worth reading. Apparently the two authors, at least mostly, alternated chapters, and not knowing this while reading I didn't notice any abrupt changes in style. So there was that. I guess. You'd do well to find something else to read.
November 11, 2017
Despite the criticisms listed in some of the other reviews for this book, I enjoyed it. The fact that Anthony and Farmer are two favorite authors of mine probably predisposed me to come to that conclusion. I know the world is full of good books and there is not enough time to read them all, but this one is a quick read that your mind can have fun with if you give some leeway.
March 19, 2018
A short novel with no speed in action. Speed did pick up...near the end.
Not a grueling read, but has too many slow spots.
Not a grueling read, but has too many slow spots.
September 8, 2025
Weird story, it doesn't make much sense. I did finish the book, so I guess three stars.
June 8, 2021
The frontispiece for The Caterpillar’s Question is indeed, appropriate, the quotation from Alice in Wonderland where the caterpillar asks the befuddled girl “Who?” she is and she responds (after falling down the rabbit hole and experiencing being both very large and very small) that she can’t explain herself because she isn’t quite herself has an irony in Charles Dodgson’s original story (in that caterpillar would presumably change himself) and a foreshadowing of one character’s destiny in transforming from larva to chrysalis to fulfillment. Also, after reading the author’s note from Piers Anthony (who co-wrote this with Philip Jose Farmer), this entire novel seems to have progressed from the larva of a short story rejected 15+ times to the chrysalis of collaboration with multiple authors to the metamorphosis of the butterfly of this dual collaboration.
The Caterpillar’s Question begins with a mistreated and disfigured (the larva stage) adolescent girl who has been mistreated by her foster parents and been given into the care of Jack, the protagonist and starving artist, who has been paid to drive this unfortunate young woman to a medical clinic in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Along the way, this chauffeur/protagonist treats the young woman with kindness and respect such as she has never had before. And though there are circumstances (one of which would probably keep this novel from being published today) that separate the two characters, the radiance of Tappuah’s (aka “Tappy’s”) personality begins to shine through and Jack begins to question what he is doing (on multiple levels). This portion of the story is the beginning of the Chrysalis stage.
Yet, there is an entire empire in space, wickedly named the Gaol (as in “Reading Gaol” if you follow English Literature) committed to stopping her metamorphosis. For reasons I won’t spoil, they are threatened by her potential change into the metaphysical butterfly they call the “Imago.” So, their intent (in case you didn’t guess by their name) is to imprison Tappy so that the “Imago” cannot reach its fulfillment. One senses here that we may be reaching the end of the chrysalis stage. This threat is as damaging as humans touching the cocoon of a potential butterfly. There is also the threat of what occurs after the metamorphosis. What would the Imago do with her allies once she no longer “needed” them? Farmer articulates this well in his author notes at the end of the volume.
Even after reading the notes from both authors, I’m not exactly sure how their collaboration went, but it was certainly a natural. Only the alien cultures and creatures of Jack Vance would have complemented Anthony’s original story, as well as the work of these authors have blended together to fabricate a fascinating ecology of the unknown, the strange, the awkward, the improbable alien cultures represented in this novel. One of the goals, I’m sure, in making these different cultures was to precipitate a crisis of trust between Jack and any potential allies he might accept on behalf of “Tappy” and himself. If so, it worked very well.
Piers Anthony revealed that the name of the female adolescent was derived from a biblical name, “Tappuah,” meaning apple. Considering that, at one point in the story, Jack and “Tappy” end up in a pleasant garden setting, the fact that so many people think Eve ate from an apple in Genesis 3 (she didn’t) makes it very appropriate. Also appropriate was the authors’ allusion to a week-long creation when Jack muses: “His project was, in some ways, equal to God’s creation of the world. But God took four days just to make the heavens and the earth and divide the waters from the dry land and make plants and then the animals. The work assigned by the AI to one puny Earthman had to be done in three days.” (p. 118) A paragraph later, he thought: “…another difference. Tappy had free will. Assumedly, once God had created humans, He had left the use of their free will entirely up to them. Tappy did not want to see and speak, and God Himself wasn’t going to change her mind.” (p. 118) And since these religious symbols keep popping up, it is no surprise that the potential fulfillment of Tappy’s personhood is called the “Imago,” as in Christian theology where one mediates about the “image of God” or “Imago Dei” that reflects what is unique about humankind period.
The Caterpillar’s Question is not only a satisfying story with plenty of images to pique one’s fascination, emotion to satisfy one’s empathy, and musings to satisfy one’s philosophical curiosity, but it is a narrative that well-defines Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” with enough caveats along the way to give it verisimilitude. If it were not for the uncomfortable “circumstances” to which I alluded earlier in the review, The Caterpillar’s Question would probably have been an unadjusted 5 stars in my rating. As it is, I recommend it despite its problematic element.
The Caterpillar’s Question begins with a mistreated and disfigured (the larva stage) adolescent girl who has been mistreated by her foster parents and been given into the care of Jack, the protagonist and starving artist, who has been paid to drive this unfortunate young woman to a medical clinic in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Along the way, this chauffeur/protagonist treats the young woman with kindness and respect such as she has never had before. And though there are circumstances (one of which would probably keep this novel from being published today) that separate the two characters, the radiance of Tappuah’s (aka “Tappy’s”) personality begins to shine through and Jack begins to question what he is doing (on multiple levels). This portion of the story is the beginning of the Chrysalis stage.
Yet, there is an entire empire in space, wickedly named the Gaol (as in “Reading Gaol” if you follow English Literature) committed to stopping her metamorphosis. For reasons I won’t spoil, they are threatened by her potential change into the metaphysical butterfly they call the “Imago.” So, their intent (in case you didn’t guess by their name) is to imprison Tappy so that the “Imago” cannot reach its fulfillment. One senses here that we may be reaching the end of the chrysalis stage. This threat is as damaging as humans touching the cocoon of a potential butterfly. There is also the threat of what occurs after the metamorphosis. What would the Imago do with her allies once she no longer “needed” them? Farmer articulates this well in his author notes at the end of the volume.
Even after reading the notes from both authors, I’m not exactly sure how their collaboration went, but it was certainly a natural. Only the alien cultures and creatures of Jack Vance would have complemented Anthony’s original story, as well as the work of these authors have blended together to fabricate a fascinating ecology of the unknown, the strange, the awkward, the improbable alien cultures represented in this novel. One of the goals, I’m sure, in making these different cultures was to precipitate a crisis of trust between Jack and any potential allies he might accept on behalf of “Tappy” and himself. If so, it worked very well.
Piers Anthony revealed that the name of the female adolescent was derived from a biblical name, “Tappuah,” meaning apple. Considering that, at one point in the story, Jack and “Tappy” end up in a pleasant garden setting, the fact that so many people think Eve ate from an apple in Genesis 3 (she didn’t) makes it very appropriate. Also appropriate was the authors’ allusion to a week-long creation when Jack muses: “His project was, in some ways, equal to God’s creation of the world. But God took four days just to make the heavens and the earth and divide the waters from the dry land and make plants and then the animals. The work assigned by the AI to one puny Earthman had to be done in three days.” (p. 118) A paragraph later, he thought: “…another difference. Tappy had free will. Assumedly, once God had created humans, He had left the use of their free will entirely up to them. Tappy did not want to see and speak, and God Himself wasn’t going to change her mind.” (p. 118) And since these religious symbols keep popping up, it is no surprise that the potential fulfillment of Tappy’s personhood is called the “Imago,” as in Christian theology where one mediates about the “image of God” or “Imago Dei” that reflects what is unique about humankind period.
The Caterpillar’s Question is not only a satisfying story with plenty of images to pique one’s fascination, emotion to satisfy one’s empathy, and musings to satisfy one’s philosophical curiosity, but it is a narrative that well-defines Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” with enough caveats along the way to give it verisimilitude. If it were not for the uncomfortable “circumstances” to which I alluded earlier in the review, The Caterpillar’s Question would probably have been an unadjusted 5 stars in my rating. As it is, I recommend it despite its problematic element.
September 20, 2016
Jack agreed to a rather odd request—transport a blind, mute girl to a special clinic a few states away. But when he finds out Tappy is much more than he first realized, his journey becomes far longer and more epic than he bargained for! But will the unlikely duo be able to survive long enough to find their destiny and a way home?
A collaborative sci-fi story like none I’ve read. The two protagonists are likable and innocent in their own ways; fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age; young lovers. Perhaps the only discredit is the plot is as mysterious the new world they both discover. Overall, Question deals with some heavy concepts, but I think well. Characterization is good, if fantastical, as is the plot and setting. Not Anthony’s best work, perhaps, but worthy of a read.
A collaborative sci-fi story like none I’ve read. The two protagonists are likable and innocent in their own ways; fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age; young lovers. Perhaps the only discredit is the plot is as mysterious the new world they both discover. Overall, Question deals with some heavy concepts, but I think well. Characterization is good, if fantastical, as is the plot and setting. Not Anthony’s best work, perhaps, but worthy of a read.
August 20, 2014
I picked this up used at The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, which has an extensive used science fiction selection upstairs. Great bookstore, check it out. I had been on a bit of a Philip Jose Farmer binge (Riverworld series), and I recalled reading Piers Anthony in the past, so I was surprised that the two of them had collaborated on this in the 90s. It's a weird book about an empathic being trapped in a teen-age girl, and space empires and what not. It had a very promising start but soon became fairly typical Star Wars-type science fiction. Not really worth seeking out in my opinion.
February 24, 2008
Great title, interesting premise and characters . . . and about then the back-and-forth of two co-writers kicked in. *sigh*
Inconsistent (I repeatedly wondered things like "When did she find that out?); raising many mysteries and intriguing plot points that not only are never resolved, but seem to magically disappear; and with an ending that coalesces out of nowhere, and makes little sense -- this book is absolutely BEGGING for an editor. Or better yet, a third author to do a major rewrite.
And it's too bad. I really liked Tappy.
Inconsistent (I repeatedly wondered things like "When did she find that out?); raising many mysteries and intriguing plot points that not only are never resolved, but seem to magically disappear; and with an ending that coalesces out of nowhere, and makes little sense -- this book is absolutely BEGGING for an editor. Or better yet, a third author to do a major rewrite.
And it's too bad. I really liked Tappy.
May 24, 2009
i was very interested in reading a collaboration of two of my favorite authors. i found the alien world really far out with some of it's crazy plants and animals and environs. sometimes i felt myself bored and other times i was really into it. i think i was able to some of the time kinda tell who wrote which chapter but other ones probably not. though i didn't find the story majorly compelling, i think they did write well together and the story had a lot of imagination. it was cool to read the author's notes telling of their experiences.
September 8, 2013
The world and plot were good but Jack was too slow to figure out things that should have been clear to him. The story was obviously converted from first to third person as Anthony indicates in his notes.
May 29, 2008
Take two really good writers of fantasy and sci-fi , have them write a book together and apparently they will cancel each other out.
Couple good ideas/scenes but mostly very bland and uneven.
Couple good ideas/scenes but mostly very bland and uneven.
May 11, 2014
Piers Anthony with a bit of chaste, inappropriate sex for the Farmer fan. Will probably not reread.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews