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Shadowrun Novels #5
Shadowrun Legends: Changeling
OUT ON THE STREETS… By 2053, the return of magic to the world has filled the streets of Chicago with beings and creatures from mythology. For those in the politically dominant mega-corporations, the underworld, and everywhere in between, it is a time of chaos and wonder—and incredible opportunities ripe for the taking. For fifteen-year-old Peter Clarris, transformed by his Awakened genes from a human into a troll, the forces of magic are a curse to be broken with science. Torn from the comfortable biotech fast-track of his childhood, he becomes an pariah, shunned by friends and strangers alike. Now, living among the outcasts—the underclass of orks and trolls, the criminal societies of gangsters and shadowrunners—he grows up pursuing the elusive means of controlling his own genes, and ultimately his own destiny. But the Windy City’s shadows are dark and deep, and when Peter comes across a real chance to fulfill his dream of reversing the change that was forced upon him, it may cost more than he’s willing to pay—before he’s through, it may cost him his life…
330 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1992
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236 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 20, 2012
I read some of the reviews of other readers and frankly I can understand their beef with the book but me being me, I loved it. I first read this back in the 90's after Shadowrun first came out and like some of the other write ups have pointed out, this is not a sword, sorcery and cybernetics story in this book. It is a story of someone who has become a troll thanks to the Shadowrun world settings device of reintroducing magical creatures and people into a high tech world thanks to magic activating certain junk DNA. I think it is a very good introduction to the Shadowrun setting as it is told from someone who is pretty much an innocent thrust into a harsh world very different from what he is familiar with and very much against his will. Kubasik does a good job of framing Peter's perception first as a son who becomes a monster in his fathers eyes and then as a runaway who becomes a hitman and thief to support his own "cure" for his "condition". There are plenty of Shadowrun stories with action, adventure and intrigue but this was my favorite. If you have never read any other Shadowrun fiction before (or the role playing books) then this is a good starter before you get into the nitty gritty and cyber noir the other books encompass.
February 2, 2014
What a great trip down memory lane. This book captures the world of Shadowrun so well, without just being a plain action novel. It tackles the great science-fiction question of, "What does it mean to be human?," from an interesting direction. I recommend it to everyone.
March 9, 2022
Very different from the previous Shadowrun books. In "Changeling", the plot revolves around a gifted human turning troll (goblinization). Rather than discussing the Shadowrun setting or sci-fi in general, the author examines issues like identity, acceptance, and other biology-related topics. The development of the supporting characters is not done well, and is often quite fast-paced with sudden abandonment. The first 03 Charette books also contained issues related to metahumanity and goblinization, but they provided a better feel of the Shadowrun universe, while "Changling" has a more literary approach.
January 23, 2018
First off this is not a great book, I'm not even sure if I would classify it as a good book. That being said I love the Shadowrun setting and the ideas of identity in this book. I also got a refresher on HS biology so it had that going for it as well. if you like the setting give it a go I not I'd pass. I enjoyed it however.
April 10, 2025
Yet another really good Shadowrun book. I read this when it came out and it was just as good all these decades later. Absolutely a book I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves turning into a troll.
December 6, 2011
Changeling was one of the early Shadowrun novels, full of generic science-fiction ideas (or, more accurately, cyberpunk ideas) and bizarre post-modern fantasy. In a delightful faux-genetic explanation for human transformations in meta-humans (almost as convincing as the midi-chlorians in Star Wars--chuckle), readers are invited into the transformation of a “pure” human into a meta-human (specifically a “troll”). Indeed, one may gather from references to “pure” humans and the atrocities perpetrated against various “breeds” of meta-human that the latter are ciphers for various minorities in our own age. That shouldn’t, of course, be a surprise. Star Trek: The Original Series had that memorable episode where the left-side green/right-side white and left-side white/right-side green people were having a civil war. Of course, that was a bit more daring because it was aired about the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination.
So, it is easy to see Changeling as both a warning against intolerance and racial discrimination, as well as, at times, a celebration of diversity (somewhat ahead of the game for a ‘90s-era novel). On one level, the protagonist of Changeling, the son of a medical researcher who transforms into a troll, is a lot like one of the guys in my face-to-face role-playing group (which, interestingly enough, is currently playing through a Shadowrun campaign). No matter what the game system, he always tries to create a character that is at odds with the “racial” or “character” stereotype. One things of big, strong, violent, and mentally slow trolls and my gamer buddy tries to create a smart, pacifist troll character—essentially a “medic,” for Pete’s sake (an ironic observation since the protagonist in Changeling is named Peter).
While my gaming buddy’s character is simply bizarre, the troll-boy in Changeling acts both to overcome his “trollness” and to embrace it—the former via his attempt to find a cure (requiring a sort of re-education via computer “chips” to go this direction) and the latter via his attempt to survive and, in so doing, move up the food chain of “runners.” In so doing, he encounters a clever, street-smart, and neuro-wired hustler named, appropriately enough, Fast Eddy.
Unfortunately for the hustler, he tends to short out and stutter (as well as freeze and stumble?) whenever he gets nervous. But since he isn’t nervous around our heroic (and sometimes, not-so-heroic) green giant, the dystopic duo make quite a team. Of course, all good things must come to an end and the way this occurs in the duo’s relationship is both credible and regrettable. The ultimate result, however, is both intriguing and enlightening.
I found the settings in Changeling to be dark and true to the game universe. They are gritty, frightening, and all too possible even without the introduction of the magical element in the universe. Of course, the one area where some readers won’t like this novel has to be the amount of damage characters tend to soak up in combat.
Meta-humans can take a lot of damage in the Shadowrun game system and one can almost hear the dice roll when lead slugs are pounding into the back of our protagonist during one or more fight scenes. I would warn people who don’t play the game to be careful with this book because I think the combat scenes—as well-written and fast-paced as they are—stretch one’s capacity for disbelief. Gee, who would have thought I would ever be pretentious enough to criticize a novel set in a game universe that contains magic and pseudo-science fiction for a lack of “realism?” What can I say? I enjoyed the novel even more than I expected to enjoy it and was somewhat surprised to find myself jerked out of my disbelief on at least three occasions. I’m curious as to whether anyone else experienced this cerebral whiplash.
So, it is easy to see Changeling as both a warning against intolerance and racial discrimination, as well as, at times, a celebration of diversity (somewhat ahead of the game for a ‘90s-era novel). On one level, the protagonist of Changeling, the son of a medical researcher who transforms into a troll, is a lot like one of the guys in my face-to-face role-playing group (which, interestingly enough, is currently playing through a Shadowrun campaign). No matter what the game system, he always tries to create a character that is at odds with the “racial” or “character” stereotype. One things of big, strong, violent, and mentally slow trolls and my gamer buddy tries to create a smart, pacifist troll character—essentially a “medic,” for Pete’s sake (an ironic observation since the protagonist in Changeling is named Peter).
While my gaming buddy’s character is simply bizarre, the troll-boy in Changeling acts both to overcome his “trollness” and to embrace it—the former via his attempt to find a cure (requiring a sort of re-education via computer “chips” to go this direction) and the latter via his attempt to survive and, in so doing, move up the food chain of “runners.” In so doing, he encounters a clever, street-smart, and neuro-wired hustler named, appropriately enough, Fast Eddy.
Unfortunately for the hustler, he tends to short out and stutter (as well as freeze and stumble?) whenever he gets nervous. But since he isn’t nervous around our heroic (and sometimes, not-so-heroic) green giant, the dystopic duo make quite a team. Of course, all good things must come to an end and the way this occurs in the duo’s relationship is both credible and regrettable. The ultimate result, however, is both intriguing and enlightening.
I found the settings in Changeling to be dark and true to the game universe. They are gritty, frightening, and all too possible even without the introduction of the magical element in the universe. Of course, the one area where some readers won’t like this novel has to be the amount of damage characters tend to soak up in combat.
Meta-humans can take a lot of damage in the Shadowrun game system and one can almost hear the dice roll when lead slugs are pounding into the back of our protagonist during one or more fight scenes. I would warn people who don’t play the game to be careful with this book because I think the combat scenes—as well-written and fast-paced as they are—stretch one’s capacity for disbelief. Gee, who would have thought I would ever be pretentious enough to criticize a novel set in a game universe that contains magic and pseudo-science fiction for a lack of “realism?” What can I say? I enjoyed the novel even more than I expected to enjoy it and was somewhat surprised to find myself jerked out of my disbelief on at least three occasions. I’m curious as to whether anyone else experienced this cerebral whiplash.
November 8, 2022
This book packs a shadowrun story with a tale about growing up and accepting oneself. And it works... A nice plot, set in the shadowrun universe, but with more in depth character development than usual.
Never judge a book by it's cover, was never truer than this one...
Never judge a book by it's cover, was never truer than this one...
November 11, 2023
TL;DR: Anti-bigotry lecture wrapped up in an intellectual infodump-esque introduction to the Shadowrun universe.
TL: Peter Clarris is the fifteen-year-old son to a well-off, if somewhat sociopathic and potentially nihilistic, professor of medicine. The year is 2039, the place is Chicago and the Night of Rage is just about to happen. The book opens with Peter coming to consciousness and discovering that he's undergone a somewhat surprising "goblinization", or, as this book puts it, "ingetisization". There's a lot of pseudo-medical jargon in Changeling. Well, I think that it's pseudo-medical. The deal is that Peter and his father are both very, very clever people and Peter was well on his way to following in his father's biological-medical footsteps when he was flipped into a troll. The book's conceit is to hold onto that thread and really try to tell the story of why things happened the way they did. So, "ingetisization" (I guess from the Latin ingens) is the process by which homo sapiens sapiens ("pure" humans) transforms into homo sapiens ingentis (trolls). We also learn the terms homo sapiens pumillonis (dwarves) and homo sapiens nobilis (elves) (the precursor metahumans in the Shadowrun world - with examples of both being born to human-parents as part of the Unexplained Genetic Expression starting in 2011) as well as homo sapiens robustus (orcs) and homo sapiens ingentis (trolls), of which the latter two only started appearing in 2021 when 10% of the human population suddenly "goblinized". Peter's goblinization-case, in 2039, is quite odd, and isn't explained.
The entire book is basically couched around Peter's desire to "cure" himself of his trollishness and it involves several detours into plausible (to me, but I'm no geneticist 🙂) explanations around genotypes, phenotypes, operator, repressor and pleiotropic genes and of exactly how "goblinization" came to occur and what one might conceivably do to reverse such an event
The whole book is also pretty clearly telegraphed from chapter 2 - there's no big surprise about what happens at the end, but that's not to say that the ride there isn't fun! I found Changeling to be a more "Disneyfied" version of the Shadowrun universe, it's a lot less dark and gritty than all of the previous novels and it spends a lot of time making moral points, nearly all the characters have some kind of input (from drawn-out point-of-view alterations, to straight up polemics, blasted at the readers second-hand as one character lays into another) on why bigotry is bad, and I can't say that I disagree with anything that gets said, and although it's blatant, it's not out of place. The vigour with which some of the characters provide their opinion is mostly explicable.
I really enjoyed the background that Changeling provides on exactly what happened, when, and why, and I appreciate the effort to also explain why any of the things that make up the Shadowrun universe happened at all. I also enjoyed riding along with Peter and seeing how he coped with his sudden turn of fortune and efforts to survive.
The characters here are not particularly three-dimensional and, like the earlier Shadowrun books, there's a pretty healthy scoop of "and then they got the help they needed" (looking at you Zoze...), especially toward the latter third of the book - stuff just miraculously works out when resources get tight. Fast Eddy has a fun story, and apart from Peter, he's about the most "expanded" character we get to meet. Everyone else are pretty much NPCs (although we do have a fire-brand NPC, a heroine NPC, a good bad-guy NPC, etc).
Unlike 2XS, there is more magic involved and decking does show up although to be fair, it's pretty peripheral (hah!) and in fact the Matrix side of things is significantly lighter and fluffier than it was there, with most of the action being literal action as Peter lives on the edge of the Runner-world. This is still Shadowrun, so people do die, quite nastily, and there's no shortage of pretty imaginative combat scenes, the definitely edge out of Disneyesque territory (although it's probably still in new-Disney Rogue One-style "graphic death" territory).
Overall, I enjoyed this book and ended up finishing it in a couple of days. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it tells a good story (although the editing is shot to hell - at some stage a whole bunch of "th"'s got turned into "m"'s so there's a lot of weird instances of "me" and "mere", and a few other "typos" of that nature.)
TL: Peter Clarris is the fifteen-year-old son to a well-off, if somewhat sociopathic and potentially nihilistic, professor of medicine. The year is 2039, the place is Chicago and the Night of Rage is just about to happen. The book opens with Peter coming to consciousness and discovering that he's undergone a somewhat surprising "goblinization", or, as this book puts it, "ingetisization". There's a lot of pseudo-medical jargon in Changeling. Well, I think that it's pseudo-medical. The deal is that Peter and his father are both very, very clever people and Peter was well on his way to following in his father's biological-medical footsteps when he was flipped into a troll. The book's conceit is to hold onto that thread and really try to tell the story of why things happened the way they did. So, "ingetisization" (I guess from the Latin ingens) is the process by which homo sapiens sapiens ("pure" humans) transforms into homo sapiens ingentis (trolls). We also learn the terms homo sapiens pumillonis (dwarves) and homo sapiens nobilis (elves) (the precursor metahumans in the Shadowrun world - with examples of both being born to human-parents as part of the Unexplained Genetic Expression starting in 2011) as well as homo sapiens robustus (orcs) and homo sapiens ingentis (trolls), of which the latter two only started appearing in 2021 when 10% of the human population suddenly "goblinized". Peter's goblinization-case, in 2039, is quite odd, and isn't explained.
The entire book is basically couched around Peter's desire to "cure" himself of his trollishness and it involves several detours into plausible (to me, but I'm no geneticist 🙂) explanations around genotypes, phenotypes, operator, repressor and pleiotropic genes and of exactly how "goblinization" came to occur and what one might conceivably do to reverse such an event
The whole book is also pretty clearly telegraphed from chapter 2 - there's no big surprise about what happens at the end, but that's not to say that the ride there isn't fun! I found Changeling to be a more "Disneyfied" version of the Shadowrun universe, it's a lot less dark and gritty than all of the previous novels and it spends a lot of time making moral points, nearly all the characters have some kind of input (from drawn-out point-of-view alterations, to straight up polemics, blasted at the readers second-hand as one character lays into another) on why bigotry is bad, and I can't say that I disagree with anything that gets said, and although it's blatant, it's not out of place. The vigour with which some of the characters provide their opinion is mostly explicable.
I really enjoyed the background that Changeling provides on exactly what happened, when, and why, and I appreciate the effort to also explain why any of the things that make up the Shadowrun universe happened at all. I also enjoyed riding along with Peter and seeing how he coped with his sudden turn of fortune and efforts to survive.
The characters here are not particularly three-dimensional and, like the earlier Shadowrun books, there's a pretty healthy scoop of "and then they got the help they needed" (looking at you Zoze...), especially toward the latter third of the book - stuff just miraculously works out when resources get tight. Fast Eddy has a fun story, and apart from Peter, he's about the most "expanded" character we get to meet. Everyone else are pretty much NPCs (although we do have a fire-brand NPC, a heroine NPC, a good bad-guy NPC, etc).
Unlike 2XS, there is more magic involved and decking does show up although to be fair, it's pretty peripheral (hah!) and in fact the Matrix side of things is significantly lighter and fluffier than it was there, with most of the action being literal action as Peter lives on the edge of the Runner-world. This is still Shadowrun, so people do die, quite nastily, and there's no shortage of pretty imaginative combat scenes, the definitely edge out of Disneyesque territory (although it's probably still in new-Disney Rogue One-style "graphic death" territory).
Overall, I enjoyed this book and ended up finishing it in a couple of days. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it tells a good story (although the editing is shot to hell - at some stage a whole bunch of "th"'s got turned into "m"'s so there's a lot of weird instances of "me" and "mere", and a few other "typos" of that nature.)
June 15, 2021
This was an interesting book. Very different from the other Shadowrun books I’ve read. I’ve only read Charette & Findley’ stuff. This has a very different tone.
First, I’m a sucker for the Shadowrun setting. It’s just so absurd. Everything and the kitchen sink people in the 80s liked about sci-fi and fantasy thrown together in one absurd dystopic future.
However, even in campy schlock like Shadowrun, there was way too much cyberpunk got right. Two things really stuck out in this book to me. The first, was the phrase “iconerate.” A term to use for people who can’t read, and can only communicate through emojis and interact with (not read) computer interfaces. Aka Gen Z? The second was the bombing of the IBM tower was disturbingly similar to 9-11.
This book starts out with a kid who turns into a troll. It deals with his identity issues around that. Teenagers and issues of acceptance, or romance, or just generally teen anything is a big turn off for me. However, it’s not bad. I just have no interest in the subject. The protagonist then goes on to become part of the mob. It reminded me a lot of classic mob movies, or the show the Wire. I would say the Wire is the most accurate, given how much this book deals with race and class issues.
Then it gets going, and when it does get going it’s very flimsy but also fun, and has a great pace to it.
Shadowrun flirts with very serious topics, but it does it in a way that’s usually so absurd its fun. This book is much heavier. It really lays it on thick. Sometimes, like the character Breena and all of her dialogue its just too much. She’s very much just the author lecturing you, which I can’t really stand.
That being said, I gotta give the story an A for effort. It took Shadowrun, something inherently absurd, and pushed it to the boundaries of the games ideas. It’s more literally than the other Shadowrun books I’ve read. This has it’s merits and downfalls.
Idk, if you dig Shadowrun check it out, but be prepared for a not good time?
Also, I’m guessing your mileage may vary depending on how much you’ve struggled with identity issues your life. It was good book, I’m probably being overly critical. I liked it, I just found my experience reading it very uneven.
Also, idk if this is true in the original ROC paperback, I have the Topps reprint, there are really an unprofessional amount of Typos. I usually don’t mind that stuff, I read a ton of Indie content, but this was kinda sloppy.
First, I’m a sucker for the Shadowrun setting. It’s just so absurd. Everything and the kitchen sink people in the 80s liked about sci-fi and fantasy thrown together in one absurd dystopic future.
However, even in campy schlock like Shadowrun, there was way too much cyberpunk got right. Two things really stuck out in this book to me. The first, was the phrase “iconerate.” A term to use for people who can’t read, and can only communicate through emojis and interact with (not read) computer interfaces. Aka Gen Z? The second was the bombing of the IBM tower was disturbingly similar to 9-11.
This book starts out with a kid who turns into a troll. It deals with his identity issues around that. Teenagers and issues of acceptance, or romance, or just generally teen anything is a big turn off for me. However, it’s not bad. I just have no interest in the subject. The protagonist then goes on to become part of the mob. It reminded me a lot of classic mob movies, or the show the Wire. I would say the Wire is the most accurate, given how much this book deals with race and class issues.
Then it gets going, and when it does get going it’s very flimsy but also fun, and has a great pace to it.
Shadowrun flirts with very serious topics, but it does it in a way that’s usually so absurd its fun. This book is much heavier. It really lays it on thick. Sometimes, like the character Breena and all of her dialogue its just too much. She’s very much just the author lecturing you, which I can’t really stand.
That being said, I gotta give the story an A for effort. It took Shadowrun, something inherently absurd, and pushed it to the boundaries of the games ideas. It’s more literally than the other Shadowrun books I’ve read. This has it’s merits and downfalls.
Idk, if you dig Shadowrun check it out, but be prepared for a not good time?
Also, I’m guessing your mileage may vary depending on how much you’ve struggled with identity issues your life. It was good book, I’m probably being overly critical. I liked it, I just found my experience reading it very uneven.
Also, idk if this is true in the original ROC paperback, I have the Topps reprint, there are really an unprofessional amount of Typos. I usually don’t mind that stuff, I read a ton of Indie content, but this was kinda sloppy.
October 29, 2021
This novel was very difficult for me to both finish, and rate. It sets up interesting ideas and themes about one's identity, humanity, and the like, to try and explore from the viewpoint of both our real world, and the world of Shadowrun. And it does have a few gripping sections in it.
Unfortunately as a whole the novel's marred by poor writing, bad pacing, and not really taking those ideas it sets up anywhere. I love cyberpunk and its many aspects, from transhumanism to social decay to film noir etc., and I've been a big fan of the world of Shadowrun for nearly 30 years. Yet I had to force myself to finish this book after over a year of struggling to get through it.
Can't recommend this to anyone, unless you just want more Shadowrun no matter the quality.
Unfortunately as a whole the novel's marred by poor writing, bad pacing, and not really taking those ideas it sets up anywhere. I love cyberpunk and its many aspects, from transhumanism to social decay to film noir etc., and I've been a big fan of the world of Shadowrun for nearly 30 years. Yet I had to force myself to finish this book after over a year of struggling to get through it.
Can't recommend this to anyone, unless you just want more Shadowrun no matter the quality.
June 20, 2020
Very exciting & fast paces. Ending was very anticlimactic.
Remember, this was written in 1992. A lot changed between then & now. But racism still exists...
So, I loved the idea of playing Shadowrun & then no longer hung out with gamers. I bought a bunch of Shadowrun books to enjoy the world. Slowly going threw them. This one, I almost didn’t start. The cover was a huge turn off. No, there are no vampires. Which’s good. That would have ruined it...
I loved the science & explaining about the genes. Then there was a lot of action as Peter grew up. Disappointed with Fast Eddy.
Remember, this was written in 1992. A lot changed between then & now. But racism still exists...
So, I loved the idea of playing Shadowrun & then no longer hung out with gamers. I bought a bunch of Shadowrun books to enjoy the world. Slowly going threw them. This one, I almost didn’t start. The cover was a huge turn off. No, there are no vampires. Which’s good. That would have ruined it...
I loved the science & explaining about the genes. Then there was a lot of action as Peter grew up. Disappointed with Fast Eddy.
July 22, 2023
It started off very slow. I was becoming worried I wouldn't like this book. But it starts to get better and better, none stop to the end. I recommend this book to get to know how Trolls are. I suspect this Troll is perhaps the best and smarted Troll there is. Made me respect Trolls :)
April 22, 2025
Prejudice is bad m'kay?
January 6, 2026
I liked the book very much. I do enjoy the Shadowrun world.
May 1, 2014
Thoughts on racism and cyberware
8 February 2012
Well, in the previous books I have looked at the concept of Mega-Corporations and touched on the idea of cyberware, so with this particular book I will probably continue my discussion on cyberware, though I will like to have a few words about the book first. I guess this novel would primarily be concerned about racism, and some have suggested that the concepts in this book are before their time: I disagree most heartily. The issue of racism has been around for quite a while, and, at least in the United States, began really boiling over in the 60s during the civil rights movement.
The protagonist is a young man named Peter, however when he reaches puberty he suddenly metamorphoses into a troll. In the Shadowrun world (like a lot of other worlds that are not related to Dungeons and Dragons) trolls are very big, very strong, and very tough. In fact in Shadowrun, the troll's skin is considered so tough that it counts as armour. However, being a walking, talking, smashing machine does have its draw backs - one of them being that you are pretty ugly and you are probably nowhere near as intelligent as others. However Peter is actually not that stupid as he is a doctor.
I guess the novel also explores the idea of accepting one self as one is. Peter became a troll, and as a medical practitioner, immediately began looking for ways to 'cure' himself of his condition. However, it technically is not a disease per-se (though the author does go into details of how one changes into a troll) but rather a change that naturally comes about (like puberty). It is suggested that until the awakening (that is when magic returned to Earth) we all had the dormant genes in our body and when magic was reawakened these genes were activated causing some to metamorphose into something else.
As well as accepting one's own self there is also the idea of how one is rejected because one is different. It is like trolls are only used, pretty much, for their strength, and the racial stereotyping that occurs pretty much suggests that trolls are all stupid. Obviously this is not the case with Peter as he is not only a medical practitioner but also a researcher. However he could probably still flatten Mike Tyson in the boxing ring.
The concept of cyberware is interesting (I know I am dramatically changing the subject, but I wanted to at least write about cyberware) as it is augmenting the human body. When my Mum got her pacemaker I noticed that she we from needing 12 hours of sleep a night to only 4 hours. When I discovered this I seriously wanted a pacemaker. Now, pacemakers are for fixing an abnormality in your heart, however I did not view it as such but rather a means of being able to augment one's physical characteristics, but I suspect that there will also be draw backs. In the Shadowrun world this is called essence.
Essence defines how human you are. The more metal that you put into your body, the less human you become, to the point where once you no longer have any essence you pretty much cease to be human and become little more than a rampaging monster. The type of cyberware available is everything from arms and legs to retrofitted eyes which allow split vision, zoom, as well as data matching (the eyes can have a Heads Up Display). However for every augmentation you take you lose some of your humanity.
As for the real world, I suspect that augmentation does not simply drain your humanity, but can have some serious negative effects upon your body. Taking the heart example above, because I do not need a pacemaker, installing a pacemaker so that I may have more productive hours in a day could end up being disastrous. It is like pushing a car beyond what the car is capable off. Cars, for instance, have a maximum amount that they can tow, and if they are forced to tow more than the car's capacity allows, you might be lucky and discover that the tow-bar has been ripped off the underside carriage, or you could be unlucky and discover that your entire engine has been fried.
I suspect that it will be the same with bodily augmentation. Drugs have a similar effect, particularly some restricted anti-depressants (MDMA for example). These drugs have the ability to convince you that everything is find, and that you can almost do anything and succeed. However the catch is that the drugs are causing you to delude yourself. I have seen people on such drugs that have what they believe to be a fool proof plan, but when they put it into action, it suddenly comes apart, but because the drug has deluded them to the point that they can only accept success, the result is pretty much a mental breakdown. The same goes for other augmentations. I believe that if I were to get a pacemaker when I do not need a pacemaker then it could result in my heart being forced to work overtime, and as a result, will radically increase my chances of having a heart attack.
8 February 2012
Well, in the previous books I have looked at the concept of Mega-Corporations and touched on the idea of cyberware, so with this particular book I will probably continue my discussion on cyberware, though I will like to have a few words about the book first. I guess this novel would primarily be concerned about racism, and some have suggested that the concepts in this book are before their time: I disagree most heartily. The issue of racism has been around for quite a while, and, at least in the United States, began really boiling over in the 60s during the civil rights movement.
The protagonist is a young man named Peter, however when he reaches puberty he suddenly metamorphoses into a troll. In the Shadowrun world (like a lot of other worlds that are not related to Dungeons and Dragons) trolls are very big, very strong, and very tough. In fact in Shadowrun, the troll's skin is considered so tough that it counts as armour. However, being a walking, talking, smashing machine does have its draw backs - one of them being that you are pretty ugly and you are probably nowhere near as intelligent as others. However Peter is actually not that stupid as he is a doctor.
I guess the novel also explores the idea of accepting one self as one is. Peter became a troll, and as a medical practitioner, immediately began looking for ways to 'cure' himself of his condition. However, it technically is not a disease per-se (though the author does go into details of how one changes into a troll) but rather a change that naturally comes about (like puberty). It is suggested that until the awakening (that is when magic returned to Earth) we all had the dormant genes in our body and when magic was reawakened these genes were activated causing some to metamorphose into something else.
As well as accepting one's own self there is also the idea of how one is rejected because one is different. It is like trolls are only used, pretty much, for their strength, and the racial stereotyping that occurs pretty much suggests that trolls are all stupid. Obviously this is not the case with Peter as he is not only a medical practitioner but also a researcher. However he could probably still flatten Mike Tyson in the boxing ring.
The concept of cyberware is interesting (I know I am dramatically changing the subject, but I wanted to at least write about cyberware) as it is augmenting the human body. When my Mum got her pacemaker I noticed that she we from needing 12 hours of sleep a night to only 4 hours. When I discovered this I seriously wanted a pacemaker. Now, pacemakers are for fixing an abnormality in your heart, however I did not view it as such but rather a means of being able to augment one's physical characteristics, but I suspect that there will also be draw backs. In the Shadowrun world this is called essence.
Essence defines how human you are. The more metal that you put into your body, the less human you become, to the point where once you no longer have any essence you pretty much cease to be human and become little more than a rampaging monster. The type of cyberware available is everything from arms and legs to retrofitted eyes which allow split vision, zoom, as well as data matching (the eyes can have a Heads Up Display). However for every augmentation you take you lose some of your humanity.
As for the real world, I suspect that augmentation does not simply drain your humanity, but can have some serious negative effects upon your body. Taking the heart example above, because I do not need a pacemaker, installing a pacemaker so that I may have more productive hours in a day could end up being disastrous. It is like pushing a car beyond what the car is capable off. Cars, for instance, have a maximum amount that they can tow, and if they are forced to tow more than the car's capacity allows, you might be lucky and discover that the tow-bar has been ripped off the underside carriage, or you could be unlucky and discover that your entire engine has been fried.
I suspect that it will be the same with bodily augmentation. Drugs have a similar effect, particularly some restricted anti-depressants (MDMA for example). These drugs have the ability to convince you that everything is find, and that you can almost do anything and succeed. However the catch is that the drugs are causing you to delude yourself. I have seen people on such drugs that have what they believe to be a fool proof plan, but when they put it into action, it suddenly comes apart, but because the drug has deluded them to the point that they can only accept success, the result is pretty much a mental breakdown. The same goes for other augmentations. I believe that if I were to get a pacemaker when I do not need a pacemaker then it could result in my heart being forced to work overtime, and as a result, will radically increase my chances of having a heart attack.
June 24, 2025
Starts out slow. A good read. I like when Peter started being a Bodyguard.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 25, 2009
This book is pretty poor. The story follows the life of a newly transformed Troll in the Chicago Shadows. While this story takes place in the Shadowrun world (or at least it has some SR themes) it isn't about shadowrunning as much as how Peter (the main character) comes to terms with being a Troll. The author often alludes to literature, maybe because he read it, but not because the writing is anything special. The book builds for a powerful ending where the author could have delved in to the feelings of this tormented character but instead it ends in a quick blaze of glory.
Here is what is redeeming about the book. It has something to do with Shadowrun. That is the one and only reason I choked through this book. The story looks at Chicago but does little to develop it as a scene. A supplement book probably has more info on Chi-Town. But it also looks at what it might have been like from one perspective to experience Goblinization.
Don't waste your time with this book even if you are a SR fan.
Here is what is redeeming about the book. It has something to do with Shadowrun. That is the one and only reason I choked through this book. The story looks at Chicago but does little to develop it as a scene. A supplement book probably has more info on Chi-Town. But it also looks at what it might have been like from one perspective to experience Goblinization.
Don't waste your time with this book even if you are a SR fan.
December 11, 2016
Solo dire que los que piensen que los trolls en Shadowrun son grandes y estupidos es por que nunca han visto a un Troll mago o uno que sea Decker... D:
November 7, 2020
there is a good review in the link I've pasted below - I've not read it for ages but the TLDR version of the review : The hero gets changed by magic from human to Troll and this book is about how they (do/don't) come to terms with it.
https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Sou...
https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Sou...
November 22, 2011
okay book. Alot of shifts in plot but it was okay.
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