Reviews

Beholder's Eye by Julie E. Czerneda

beccalynnfrank's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Great exploration of different species

mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

4.0

This book was exactly what I wanted: imaginative, compelling science fiction with likable characters and a strong friendship. Spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

The book is narrated by Esen, a shapeshifting alien, very young for her kind at a mere 500 years or so. There's a strong plot in which Esen finds herself in frequent peril. There's a succession of varied and fascinating alien species. There's an unusual and well-done riff on shapeshifting. And, best of all, there's the friendship that Esen forms with the human, Paul Ragem.

Happily, this is the first book in a trilogy, and I will proceed straight to book two.

Four out of five shifting stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

atarbett's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

steveab's review against another edition

4.0

started this several years ago, and stopped because I generally find "shape shifters" and endless partly drawn aliens off-putting. came back to it and enjoyed it. definitely traditional hard sci-fi with ships, battles, fate-of-the-galaxy stuff. The portrayal of the central character, including around her shape shifting, intersection with other species, and relationship to the main human (or should I say, Human), most interesting. For those who have read the book, makes me want to, well, consume more. Good book to have finished on eve of Halloween.

bowienerd_82's review against another edition

4.0

Czerneda's first book of her second series is quite as wonderful as A Thousand Words for Stranger, but completely different in it's style, characterization, and overall feel. She definitely matured in her writing style, and as per usual, continues to have creative ideas and executes them well.

vasha's review against another edition

3.0

This was quite an enjoyable read. The first couple chapters are awkwardly crammed with exposition, telling us what our hero Esen-alit-Quar is and how the mechanics of her shape-changing work, but after that it settles into a lively adventure story, with an appealingly warm interspecies friendship at its center. Czerneda's taken a bit of trouble over coming up with interesting alien species, too, including the herd-thinking Ganthor and the touch-oriented Ket. Whatever shape she's in, Esen is a sensuist, reveling in the impressions of her senses, and Czerneda enjoys describing things that humans wouldn't be able to experience.

lkeipp's review against another edition

5.0

I liked it more when I thought the main character embodied a male personna, but it was still a very good book. Since it appears there are more - or will be more - making this a series, I'll read them.

fatsopandah's review

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

For the most part, Beholder's Eye was a competent sci-fi about a shapeshifting alien and her trials in space. There were interesting ideas of alien physiology, and how such a shapeshifting race may conduct themselves for the best chance at survival, but that was somewhat left behind in favor of a mediocre plot and a lot of okay worldbuilding (or galaxy building, as it were). There were some excellent moments of genuine connection between Esen and Ragem, but so often the dialogue felt like it was in service of moving forward. Connections with Esen were few and usually poorly executed. It was hard to read at times. 

I think one of my biggest problems was that the nonlinear style of storytelling made understanding difficult, and didn't really draw me in. Besides that, characters being killed off is generally supposed to be more impactful, and that impact comes from spending time with the characters left behind, or in building up that character beforehand. As a result, despite an effort to make Esen alone, the emotional hit behind this just didn't really occur.

That being said, I think that near the end, there was sufficient stakes to be exciting, and the book ended in a way that made me satisfied. It felt deserved, even if the book spent too much time in the weeds of mostly wasted exposition. On the whole, I doubt I'll read it again, but it was worth a read once.

frothy's review against another edition

4.0

This is good solid stuff. Each book in the series is better than the previous one.

Great characters, good world building and good strong plots.

frothy's review against another edition

4.0

Slow going. I will check out the sequel though.