KIRKUS REVIEW
Biesele’s second book in the Saeshell series explores the nature of power-hungry forces that seem bent on ruling the universe.
A growing group of Sophistan-humans begins to dominate many planets throughout the universe as its members learn to manage their new-found talents in a hypernatural existence. A Sophistan-human is a new life form created by taking human beings who are disintegrating and regenerating them with some of their old DNA and memories mixed with the life force of other creatures; however, the combination is unpredictable. And the frailty of the human psyche limits the powers of the Sophistan-human. Sophista, both a planet and a life form, learns that another species has also been lurking among the humans, and this presents problems for the future of the Sophistan-humans. The book, which is actually a character itself, challenges the reader and resents the human intrusion into the Sophistan domain. Stefan and Tova2 are back from Book 1, and their love continues to evolve. Each character exists in duplicate or more copies because of a “medical couch” that disintegrates and regenerates, creating countless clones of each human mutated gene resulting in a confusion of characters. In Book 2, there’s still no clear conflict or plot despite the fact that the characters are better developed than in Book 1 and the intricacies of their relationships are more complex. A complicated plot leaves too many unresolved questions, such as why Sophista has an interest in Earth. Many characters and entities appear without sufficient description, making it difficult to remember who they are, much less track their roles in the narrative. Overall, there’s little linearity.
A convoluted installment of Biesele’s sci-fi series returns to some of its unusual characters of the past.
