Transformer

Transformer #2

by M.A. Foster

The Morphodite was a genetically constructed genius who had turned the tables on the police state that had created it. Settled down to a man's quiet life, he contemplated a lifetime of doing good in a liberated world...until a vengeance squad wiped out that hope.

Now, again utilizing that unique talent, the young woman who was now the Morphodite, realized that the job could not be finished until the enemies of that planet's society were tracked to their interstellar lair and blasted.

Across the planet she went and finally into outer space in a city-sized starship to a final showdown somewhere between the worlds.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 5, 1983

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

US writer, former data-systems analyst and sequentially a Russian linguist and ICBM launch-crew commander to the US Air Force; he is also a semiprofessional photographer. After some poetry, released privately as Shards from Byzantium (coll 1969 chap) and The Vaseline Dreams of Hundifer Jones (coll 1970 chap), he began to publish sf with the ambitious Ler trilogy about a race of Supermen created by Genetic Engineering whose social structure is built around a form of line marriage here called a braid.

The Gameplayers of Zan (1977), a very long novel formally constructed on the model of an Elizabethan tragedy, describes a period of climactic tension between the ler and the rest of humanity, and is set on Earth. The Warriors of Dawn (1975), published first but set later, is a more conventional Space Opera in which a human male and a ler female are forced to team up to try to solve a complexly ramifying problem of interstellar piracy. The Day of the Klesh (1979) brings the ler and the eponymous race of humans together on a planet where they must solve their differences.

The Morphodite/Transformer sequence which followed comprises The Morphodite (1981), Transformer (1983) and Preserver (1985), all three assembled as The Transformer Trilogy (omni 2006), and similarly uses forms of meditative Shapeshifting to buttress complex plots, though in this case the alternately male or female, revolution-fomenting, protagonist dominates the tale as assassin, trickster and Superman.

Waves (1980) rather recalls Stanisław Lem's Solaris (1961) in a tale of political intrigue on a planet whose ocean is intelligent. The four novellas collected in Owl Time (coll 1985) are told in challengingly various modes, and derive strength from their mutual contrast.

More recently, the author has been involved with the writing of storylines for Acme comics http://www.acmecomics.com/node/69.

Reviews

[Road Worrier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas, sympathetic characters if a little bit cardboard. Curious how the plot played out, the ending wasn't what I'd suspected. I liked the commentaries on "just following orders."

The quotes at the beginnings and ends of chapters were interesting too, for example here are three credited to H.C., Atropine: “The virtue of the Tarot, the I Ching, and the Sabean Symbols, and acts of divination using these schemata, is not that they reveal a future which was hidden from us, but that they remind us of the understandings we already possessed, but did not openly acknowledge.”

“Power is always relative-appropriate. In the conventional sense, one who is a power in one environment loses that power in changing to a different surround. Few change willingly; they are usually changed by others who arrange shifts to make this lessening possible. Is it any wonder change is a fearsome thing?”

“The real evil in the world (never never never doubt for an instant that it exists) does not reside in the dark towers of sorcerers nor in the black hearts of thaumaturges, nor yet in the schemes of dictators, kings, or chairmen, but simply in the petty crimes, evasions, petit-betrayals, arrogances and insults we all take on the hubris to practice on one another, imagining that each of us is the center of the universe, that it was created expressly for us.”

“If you stop planting trees because you think you won’t be around to see them grow up, then you are already dead.”

“Some say the evil of our days is love of machines over people, or of money; others speak of drugs, or of debauchery, but I disagree: it is nothing more than love of authority without responsibility. There is a remedy, but few choose it even for themselves, and fewer still for all.”

I find I'm having a hard time explaining why I liked this book so much, my own description doesn't make me want to read it.

Note: Although one of the quotes is associated with the real person:
“Even paranoids sometimes have real enemies.”
—Remark attributed to Spiro T. Agnew

I can't find who H.C.,Atroipine is. A Bing AI chat gives me:
The search results indicate that “Atropine H.C.” does not refer to a person, but rather to a combination of two medications: Atropine and Hydrocortisone (H.C.). This combination is used in a medical context. Atropine is an anticholinergic drug that can treat various conditions, such as bradycardia and organophosphate poisoning. Hydrocortisone is a corticosteroid used to treat inflammation and allergic reactions.

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read some 30 years later. I recently found a beat-up copy in a used book store. It is still a good story.
(M.A. Foster was (is?) a talented writer. Too bad he stopped. I suppose the return on time invested was insufficient.)

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 2005-ish review for the series is here,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Metaphorosis · Rating 2 out of 5]

reviews.metaphorosis.com

2.5 stars

After bringing down the government of lonely Oerlikon, Phaedrus attempted to settle into a peaceful life. But when agents are sent to collect or kill him, he transforms yet again and leaves the planet to seek out those who created him.

Transformer is mostly a better book than its predecessor. With a far narrower physical scope than the elaborate worldbuilding of The Morphodite, it takes place largely in lonely regions of Oerlikon and on an interstellar transport. Perhaps as a result, the plot is much more focused and effective, centered on the Morphodite's goal of discovering who created him, and ensuring he can live his own life, free of impediment. Unfortunately, the book falls apart at the ending, which claims an ex machina solution based on no evidence at all. Essentially, it boils down to the protagonist saying 'and then it all works out.' It's unsatisfying, to say the least.

It's a shame, because most of Transformer is a solid and credible extension of the series, which could have stopped successfully at a single book. The prose is solid, if not particularly graceful, the characters interesting, if not inspiring, the plot straightforward, if not greatly original. All in all, a decent B-grade book - until it falls apart at the end, when we're asked to simply rely on what might as well be magic to make it all work out.

This might have worked, if Foster had worked harder at empathy with his characters. He does show us what they're doing, and to a limited extent what they're feeling, but it's not enough to build a real interest. The characters are distant, and their emotions interesting from a technical point of view. Again, it's a shame, because the plot provides quite a lot to work with, and Foster could have brought us much more deeply in. But there's a constant barrier between us and the characters, which means that the character-focused ending simply doesn't work.

If you really liked The Morphodite, and want to see more of it, pick up Transformer, by all means. If you were reasonably satisfied by the end of that book, there's no need to go further. This book doesn't provide anywhere near the level of closure that that one does.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 2nd volume in The Morphodite series vastly outshines the previous book.

Contains considerably more action and the main character of the tale is now well established and positively defined as not just the Anti-Hero, but a rational being and quite justified for its plight against the private faction who are attempting to control and/or destroy it once and for all.

Great storyline. A major plot twist at the end is an utter surprise and a half.

Well worth the FIVE STARS.

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1991 grade B-

Series book T2