The False Mirror

The Damned #2

by Alan Dean Foster

As war rages on between the Amplitur and the union of races known as the Weave, Ranji--an Ashregan warrior trained from birth to battle humans--is captured, and he soon learns of the Amplitur's vile genetic manipulations.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Aliens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Philosophy, Military Science Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The False Mirror is the middle book in Foster's trilogy The Damned. It's a bit different than traditional trilogies in that we have a whole new set of individuals; we're thankfully through with the unlikable protagonist of A Call to Arms, but we get a somewhat boring man named Ranji in exchange. The book is a good suspenseful continuation of the events in conflict between the Weave and the Amplitur, with the ethics of genetic manipulation taking the spotlight. Foster builds fascinating alien cultures, and this is another good one.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept behind this trilogy is the most interesting part about it. I’ve explained the concept to a few people because the entire Weave/Purpose war and humanity’s place in it is intruiging. Unfortunately, the last book had a terribly annoying protagonist and this novel’s was rather dull. In truth, this entire novel was tedious. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t any compelling characters or storyline, because I really liked the concepts (genetically altered humans for once); the plot was slow, the characters lackluster, and I wasn’t emotionally invested in any of it. I own the third book and I’ll be giving it a try, but unless it turns out to be amazing, this “The Damned” trilogy isn’t one I’m going to be recommending to anyone.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easier to read than A Call to Arms and the plot was much more gripping, but still, there is a certain blandness. When you have a story about humans fighting an intergalactic war, shouldn't you be more excited?

Also, I thought it was interesting that so far no characters have overlapped from book to book.

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book in January. Because of my husband's death, I was suddenly unable to read it. For some reason I couldn't handle the premise so sent it back to the library. I mention this because it was obvious to me when I picked it back up. The central character was the Enemy of Humanity; one of the soldiers of the Weave. He hated humans and wanted to kill them all... I was unable to sympathize with him, then, because I felt betrayed by my husband. Now that I have made peace with myself over that; I was able to distance myself a little and could get into the story. Mr. Foster made this character believable and, when the first surprise was revealed to Ranjii, I felt his pain. I couldn't stop reading; I had to find out how it was resolved. It is believable and has parallels to our current society that make it a must-read. (Can hardly wait to read the third book in this trilogy!) Recommended.

[H.J. Swinford · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I enjoy the world here and Ranji was a compelling main character. But the heavy plot-focused narrative and the omniscient-third POV (head-hopping) makes me unable to rate this much higher.

Still, it's a fun and quick read.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a better book than A Call To Arms, but unfortunately, you'll have to read that one to understand this one. You really can't just start here.

As I said before, this series has an interesting premise: humans are effectively the scariest thing in the galaxy. We're uniquely violent and uniquely capable of wielding that violence. It makes for an interesting world for characters to operate in and not one we find often in science fiction.

I feel the need to give it four stars as it's better than the first book of the trilogy. The story is more involved, and the characters seem more real. It's interesting to find the Amplitur have found a way to fight against the humans and there's a neat twist that seems perfectly aligned with human nature and duplicity. The characters are much more believable than in the first book.

Still, I hesitate to give it four stars. I want to give it three. There's a great world to explore and there's a great story waiting to be told. It's just that Foster isn't the writer that can deliver it. Don't get me wrong, it's better than pulp science fiction, and it's structurally sound, but it's not the kind of story that's really going to move you. I kept thinking about all the things happening outside the story that was being told rather than worrying about the characters I was currently reading about.

I feel this series is like furniture from Ikea. It's functionally sound with some style and there's nothing really wrong with it, but when you put it next to something made by a master craftsman, you realize how it's really just a simple piece of furniture with none of the loving touches that make something special.

[Mike Milligan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just didn’t find this as entertaining as the first book. This one never really grabbed me enough to make me want to read it for much reason other than I wanted to finish it.

Some of my problem was that Foster wasn’t clear about how much time had passed between the first book and this one, obviously enough for at least a few generations of humans to have been born on other planets. Also, I find the other species in the Weave horribly annoying. Only the Massood and humans actually fight, the others get hysterical or go into catatonic fits at the mere notion of combat. The Wais are particularly annoying because the mere sight of a human is traumatic for them, yet they don’t seem to have problem with humans fighting and dying for them.

I enjoyed it enough to finish it and it did start off a little quicker than A Call to Arms but I didn’t love it by any means.

[Al Philipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foster is obviously trading on the popularity of Book 1. Although the story line is a fairly good one, I suspect it could have been told with about half as many words, but then it wouldn’t have been long enough to publish in paper form.

Not up to the first book.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it more than the first book. It's an interesting premise, and a decent story, but I get tired of the constant "Humans are psychotic barbarians and being civilized means being incapable of violence" vibes

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a dull, tedious slog. I'm not going to bother finishing the trilogy.

[Amanda Nunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was less fun for me than the first book - and didn't so much leave me contemplating philosophical questions such as the nature of humanity, though I feel as if the book intended me to come away with such questions.

One of the things that appealed to me most about the previous book was getting into the heads of the alien characters and their own cultures and thought processes, seeing the radically different ways they approached warfare and social structures. But in this book the whole point is that the protagonist really lacks an identity and thus is searching for those cultural ties and where he fits in. So I felt a bit let down in that respect.

The narrative continues to take a detached historic sort of tone which tends to keep the reader at arms length, and I was a little disappointed that this takes place far in the future from the first book so I couldn't revisit any of the previous characters.

Still, not a bad read and I am now moving on to the third and final book of the series.

[Leftenant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kindle/Audible

The Audible reader is pretty good/better than the Pip & Flinx guy. Anyway…like others, I dig the concept that Humans are the true warriors of the Universe (or whatever); join the Weave & fight the evil Ampliturs, who mind control conquered races to join their cause.
I almost outright hated book #1 - the annoying protag just simply sucked…normally I’d have bailed, but I bought the trilogy and feel compelled to plow thru.
This is full of philosophical arguments over the Amplitur genetically modifying a race similar to humans to become super soldiers. The chatter goes on and on…reading & listening, my mind would wonder.
Like the first book, the book picks up when it’s the Ampliture point of view…and suffers when the humans & Massood are the focus.
The modified Ashregan, Ranji was - man, I hate this word in reviews, but - boring. I basically tuned out the 100 pages.
I’ll get to the last book eventually…but this series is a slog.
Read the Humanx Commonwealth books - read Icerigger!

[Phillip Murrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel was better than the first. I cared more about Ranji than Will. It took a generational leap, versus following the established characters. Book three has also done this. It tells the story of an event (the war) versus the lives of characters. There really isn't any crossover. What I loved was seeing Ranji's world be turned upside down. His beliefs take a significant blow and we get to see how he adapts to these new revelations. All-in-all, I enjoyed the path and believed it to be rational (something lacking in many SFF tales). This was a solid story and a solid series, but each story is longer than necessary.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the concept of this book and the world-building, which is the main reason it gets four stars instead of three (and the protagonist in this one isn’t as annoying as the one in the first book). The writing itself isn’t great, but serviceable—not quite pulp, but definitely suffering from a lot of the complaints you hear re: genre fiction. For the most part, characters of each species are essentially interchangeable, which is disappointing. This book would make a fantastic blockbuster/popcorn movie, but in this form, it’s just okay.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I just love this series. It takes a little bit to get into the second book ONLY BECAUSE I thought it would follow the characters from the first one. Each book seems to be set in different, forward spots in time; I haven't started the 3rd one yet but that seems to be how these are working.

I LOVE THIS SERIES.

[Chris Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read the first of this trilogy many years ago and finally got around to reading the rest. Definitely an interesting take on a trilogy as this was set in a far distant future from the first book. I also enjoyed seeing the point of view of the Purpose in the early chapters. A fun read and one I’ve suggested to a number of my friends.

[Steve Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not highbrow. Fairly straightforward military sci-fi with some internal growth and conflict in the protagonist, the occasionally surprise, but nothing genre-bending. I plan on reading the 3rd book in the trilogy

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as HFY as the first book in the trilogy. There's minimal human involvement in the book (depends I guess on how you look at that!). This entry was much more introspective, and focused a lot on the nature vs nurture argument.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good series.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book in the series takes off in a different direction, but an enjoyable one.

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun read, not as food as the first, but entertaining if not thought provoking.

[Micah Roland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me of that Coldplay song.

Are we human? Or are we Ashregan?
My signs are vital, My brain might be bugged
And I'm on my knees, Looking for the answer

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets deeper into the concepts behind the series, but drags a little.

[Lirio Dendron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the highlight of the trilogy

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of “brainwashing” is one that is so deeply imbedded in our cultural zeitgeist. It is a concept that has helped to explain the ease with which humanity succumbs to everything including totalitarian regimes, religious dogma, and mass consumerism. It is, by definition, the subtle re-wiring of our cognition to be more compliant to suggestion.

Alan Dean Foster published “The False Mirror”, the second book in his three-book The Damned series, in 1992. It is a science fiction series about intergalactic warfare in the far future, but it is purposefully light on action and heavy on philosophy. This is not even close to Star Wars or David Drake. This is more Hannah Arendt if she wrote thoughtful science fiction.

The story: Set nearly a thousand years after the events of the first book, “The False Mirror” follows a young soldier named Ranji as he works himself up the ranks as an Ashregan soldier fighting for the Amplitur to fulfill their great (if vague) Purpose. He is intent on killing as many Humans and other alien species that make up the alliance of worlds known as the Weave, the Amplitur’s enemy.

During a battle off-world, Ranji is captured by Weave soldiers. During routine health scans, Weave scientists discover unnatural anomalies in Ranji’s brain. What they discover makes him suddenly question everything about himself and about the Amplitur’s Purpose.

The Amplitur is Foster’s clever stand-in for many things, as interpretations by readers will surely vary. For some, the Amplitur is a Cold War-era stand-in for communists, the so-called “evil empire”. For others, the Amplitur could be viewed as evangelical Christianity and their idea of bringing salvation to the people, by any means necessary. Some may even see it as a stand-in for powerful corporations like Amazon, Apple, Google, etc. who seem to want to own the world. Today, the Amplitur could be viewed as either Trump Republicans or the Far Left, depending on one’s political views.

It is any, all, and none of these, of course. It is a brilliant invention by Foster to illustrate the philosophical point that neither the political Right nor the political Left nor any particular religion and organization has a monopoly on brain-washing. Any attempt to manipulate or choreograph the thought processes of the masses to satisfy an individual’s or group’s self-interests is wrong. Free will is supposed to be free, not bought or sold or programmed.

Foster’s The Damned series is thought-provoking science fiction at its best, and it’s a series that, in my opinion, has been somewhat underrated.

[Tomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the second installment of this series, we see the Amplitur answer to humans: Trying to manufacture their own duplicate humans. They already had a humanoid soldier-race, the Ashregan, so there's a point to start with.

Much of this book follows one of these "special-issue" Ashregan, who begins in service to the Amplitur, providing an perspective on the "bad guys" of the series - and along the way engaging us in an examination of what it means to be human. A certain way through the book we learn exactly what the Amplitur did to try to duplicate the excessively violent humans - and what their mistake was.

It has to have been over ten years since I last read the book, and I remember it and the others in the series with unusual clarity; it's a very memorable series.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1992.

Rangi-aar was a Ashregan, a killing machine, groomed by his foster parents (with his brother) to fight monsters. He hated Humans. Well, halfway thru the book he finds out he has been bred by the Amplitaur to beget more Ashregans in their plan to conquer the galaxy. It takes quite a bit of convincing. Eventually, so are 25 others, to start with, which are re-programmed; this is halfway thru the book. Ampliaturs have something to say about this, (or suggest, at least).

It's interesting how many non-human peoples abound in this book; I lost track of them.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story became more "just a story" here. We've already seen the pacifist become a professional soldier and humans go to war basically as the WEAVE's mercenaries, so now we need to finish the war.

It's still a good read with the Amplitur trying to come up with a way to counter the human immunity to their power. Not quite as good or as original as the first volume in the series, but "fun".

I enjoyed this series, unapologetically.

[Bryan Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is better than the first installment; it's a much more coherent story. I'll probably read the next one just to see how the story turns out, even though I have to put up with the race of creatures that talk like Yoda. You'd think at their level of tech the translators would clean up the grammar.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters, and their world and hope I get the chance to read the story again and/or to read more within the series.

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.