Geesh, there's no pleasing some intergalactic alien alliances!
Written: Sep 14 '01 (Updated Nov 24 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Thoroughly entertaining harmless adventure
Cons: Hard-to-swallow picture of what the rest of the galaxy is like physically and socially
The Bottom Line: Read this book for a straightforward "goodies versus baddies" space-alien adventure, well written and witty.
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| snpmurray's Full Review: A Call to Arms |
A race of telepathic invertebrates known as the Amplitur are devoted to spreading their grand vision of a unified universe everywhere they travel. Encountering new planets and races, they enthusiastically invite them to join their grand “Purpose“. Unfortunately, should the new-found races decline the invitation, the Amplitur will, with genuine regret, have to modify the minds and genes of the poor misguided souls until they see the wisdom of becoming “allies” after all. Opposing the Amplitur stands a group of alien species which calls itself The Weave. United only by their common wish to be rid of the menace of the Amplitur, they squabble amongst themselves, and can agree on little. Only the threat of becoming subject races for the Purpose holds them together. Their resistance has lasted thousands of years.
Will Dulac, human, composer and teacher, is enjoying a sabbatical in the warm waters off Belize. Imagine his surprise when an advance scouting party for the Weave drops in on him, here to check out humans as potential allies in their resistance movement. Will is a lover not a fighter, and does his very best to persuade the aliens that the inhabitants of Earth are a peaceable bunch, and that they would have no interest in conflict, for any reason.
The Weave might almost have been persuaded by this argument. But, alas, they turned on the T.V. first.
A few channel flicks reveals everything from John Wayne to WWF wrestling, and the Weave are now convinced that humans are just the kind of sick and wrong soldiers that their physically weak alliance has always needed. Indeed, humans turn out to be faster, stronger, and more versatile and aggressive than all other Weave races.
Will Dulac decides there is only one way to prove mankind is incapable of helping…he gathers a group of regular everyday folk and bribes them into meeting the Weave…surely they will confirm what he is saying. These decent people will tell the Weave to leave Earth alone, and take their war elsewhere. Within a year, this band of recruits returns from alien worlds, where they have obliterated large numbers of Amplitur forces. Seemingly, in the light of such a noble cause, the recruits unanimously considered it their finest hour.
Will Dulac naturally despairs.
And so it goes on, on a larger and larger scale throughout the book….more and more of humanity is gradually involved in the galactic conflict. Always the humans present a dichotomy to the Weave society…humans are fine soldiers, but uncivilized and regressive in almost every other way. They are respected, but nowhere are they liked. Is this a conflict Earth wishes to participate in? Can mankind contribute to Weave warfare only to be excluded from its culture?
In this book, we are presented over and over again with the notion that humans are the biggest paradox in the known universe…..capable of enlightened thinking, but always at war, professing aspirations to altruism, but essentially greedy, etc, etc. Alan Dean Fosters’ alien races are so shocked by the manner in which humanity conducts its business that they come to see humans as useful only as tools in combat, an attitude uncomfortably close to that of the Amplitur.
This is certainly a curious book. Whilst an enjoyable read, a fairly straightforward adventure involving space aliens, starships, and gadgets, its underlying message is the rather unpleasant notion that, to quote the bumper sticker, “people suck”. Alan Dean Foster wants us to see a humanity which rushes readily to war, enjoys slaughter, and bickers constantly with itself. It is an unusual angle in the context used, which actually works quite well. Humanity is the hero of the universe, but at the same time, its’ most notorious pariah.
I found that my suspension of disbelief (as supple faculty in the mind of a frequent scifi reader) was stretched almost to breaking-point by some elements of the plot of this book. The members of the weave swear blind that the planet Earth is the only inhabited planet in the known universe with tectonic plate activity. Humans are the only sentient species that engages in combat with its own kind. No other terrestrial species enjoys swimming? Okay, there, I am afraid I draw the line!
There are quite a few little devices like this. I can only assume that Foster employs them in the hope that they would be useful in explaining why Humans are going to be so unique in this universe he is presenting. Personally, I found such propositions almost ridiculous, and not speculative.
The same is often true of the alien species we encounter. Although the individual characters are well-drawn and interesting, good material which I enjoyed, the species of aliens on the whole are just too homogenous to be believed. Only one other race in the known universe has variations in the height and weight of the members of its’ species! Boy, us humans sure are extra-unique in this book!
On the whole I enjoyed this book. I found it to be good entertainment, and the plot moves along, and it is definitely well written. Its not Earth shattering, and I don’t think I’m going to be buying copies of it as gifts for friends. I read it actually as a kind of mini-vacation from my usual reading list of more classic works. For that purpose it was ideal. Fine (indeed ideal) for an early teen.
Some of my other science fiction book reviews:
Rama Revealed
Prelude to Space
Stand on Zanzibar
The Demolished Man
The Stars my Destination
Cat's Cradle
The Gods Themselves
Watchmen
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Hammer of God
The Left Hand of Darkness
Flowers for Algernon
Lord of Light
Rendevous with Rama
The Tombs of Atuan
The Dispossessed
I am Legend
The Einstein Intersection
Earth Abides
Peace on Earth
The Farthest Shore
Methuselah's Children
A Call to Arms
To your Scattered Bodies Go
The Lion of Comarre / Against the Fall of Night
To Say Nothing of the Dog
The Doomsday Book
Frankenstein Unbound
Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
Imperial Earth
A Case of Conscience
Solaris
The Sands of Mars
The Land of Laughs
Eden
His Masters Voice
Citizen of the Galaxy
King David's Spaceship
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Double Star
The Fabulous Riverboat
Songs of Distant Earth
Way Station
The Fountains of Paradise
The Long Tomorrow
Lincolns Dreams
Alas Babylon
More Than Human
1984
The Forever War
All the Myriad Ways
I Sing the Body Electric
Gateway
Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said
This Immortal
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Recommended:
Yes
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