HIDDEN SHIFTERS

A young shape-shifter faces off against an alien threat in Dann’s debut SF/fantasy novel.  

Planet A7 in solar system A was a planet populated by humans who, many years ago, welcomed the shape-shifters from the dying planet A5 with open arms. Now, A7 is dominated by hybrids—beings who look like animals, such as cats, bears, or sheep, but who stand erect—alongside shape-shifters who can turn into any creature at will. Now, aliens from solar system B have arrived on A7; they start with good intentions but eventually become oppressive invaders who regard shape-shifters as a major threat. Adrian Walker is a shape-shifter who’s remained in a sheep-hybrid form for as long as he can remember, hiding in plain sight as he works at a prison under the watch of an alien leader. But when his shape-shifter girlfriend, Anna, is taken prisoner and Adrian meets members of an underground resistance movement, he realizes he must choose between conforming or fighting back. As the resistance leader reminds him, “this is the reality of our world. None of us get to run away. We don’t get to pretend it isn’t happening.” Like its hybrid protagonists, Dann's novel’s identity combines multiple elements. It’s written partly in prose and partly in graphic-novel format, featuring Lively’s neat black-and-white illustrations. Despite its 20-something main characters’ ages and the adult situations they find themselves in, Adrian’s voice seems youthful and often naïve in tone. The novel is full of SF trappings, including alien people and planets as well as intelligent robots, and its fantasy elements include dragon hybrids; it’s a combination that readers may find to be reminiscent of the Madeleine L’Engle classic A Wrinkle in Time (1962). To the author’s credit, these disparate elements mesh well together in a hopeful, optimistic story, although its nearly nonsensical denouement is the one off note in an otherwise charming work.

An appealingly fanciful and ultimately hopeful interplanetary tale.