A Call to Arms: (#1) (The Damned) [Hardcover]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Damned | Publication Date: March 27, 1991

For eons, the Amplitur had searched space for intelligent species, each of which was joyously welcomed to take part in the fulfillment of the Amplitur Purpose. Whether it wanted to or not. When the Amplitur and their allies stumbled upon the races called the Weave, the Purpose seemed poised for a great leap forward. But the Weave's surprising unity also gave it the ability to fight the Amplitur and their cause. And fight it did -- for thousands of years.

Will Dulac was a New Orleans composer who thought the tiny reef off Belize would be the perfect spot to drop anchor and finish his latest symphony in solitude. What he found instead was a group of alien visitors -- a scouting party for the Weave, looking. for allies among what they believed to be a uniquely warlike race: Humans.

Will tried to convince the aliens that Man was fundamentally peaceful, for he understood that Human involvement would destroy the race. But all too soon, it didn't matter. The Amplitur had discovered Earth...

First Time in Paperback

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Subtitled Book One of the Damned , Foster's ( Glory Lane ) latest novel never achieves credibility. The projectively telepathic race of Ampliturs has conceived of a Purpose, which will be revealed when all the sapient races of the galaxy are united. Using either logic, subversion or, reluctantly, force, they have recruited each new race they have encountered, then used mental persuasion and genetic engineering to turn those races into allies. The Weave, a coalition of peoples that do not want to be assimilated, has been fighting them for centuries when a Weave exploratory ship stumbles across the Earth. Humans are just beginning to learn to be peaceful; how will they react to a request by aliens to fight other aliens? In order to credit this scenario, readers must accept a very skewed future universe: of all the planets with intelligent life, only Earth is tectonically active, with violent weather and more than one land mass; only humans have more than one language, fight within their own species and are, for some reason, immune to the Amplitur telepathy. The writing is crisp, but cannot make up for the burden these contrivances place on the story.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- This promising new series depicts galactic warfare on a grand scale, encompassing untold numbers of races and worlds on both sides, and lasting hundreds of years. The Amplitur, a telepathically manipulative race, attempts to convert to its nebulous purpose all sentient life through the use of persuasion, threats, and genetic manipulation. The Weave, a not-always harmonious coalition of races, has taken up arms in an attempt to pursue its own destinies. Because of the basic aggressive nature of Earthlings, the Weave recruit individuals to use as warriors in their battle against the Amplitur. Will Dulac, New Orleans composer and teacher, is the first. As in Nor Crystal Tears (1985) and Midworld (1987, both Ballantine), Foster has created a believable universe and peopled it with exotic races and memorable characters. A readable, well-crafted science-fiction adventure.
- John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 341 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (March 27, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345358554
• ISBN-13: 978-0345358554
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,185,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooray for Humans!, May 25, 2006

By 

William E. Clark Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Call to Arms (The Damned) (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked this book up off of a desk somewhere during a former job. It was late, I was bored and the cover looked interesting. The book was a bit slow to start, but interesting once the pace increased. I found myself disappointed when I reached the last page because the job's library didn't have books two or three.

What I liked:

The characters were engaging:
The Weave aliens behaved in an unexpected...but entirely understandable way to their new "Allies" the Humans. The "Bad Guys" in many ways mimic many of the loathesome qualities of many fictitious, and real life, antagonisitic forces all the while giving the overall impression of being beneficent.

The struggle was believable and understandable:
The "Bad Guys" seek to assimilate and redirect every species they encounter to the "Purpose". This is a common theme for a reason; humans are, by and large, fiercely individualistic. The Borg, the "Body Snatchers", Vampires, Zombies all have the underlying, if not primary, purpose of "Making you one of Them".

Humans were not portrayed as weak or inferior:
Though not superior in any given area, other than warfare and ferocity, humans were considered better than all of the allied and enemy races in that humans were exceptional, even the aged humans, in all of the desired areas (strength, reaction speed, endurance, eye sight, hearing etc). It was refreshing to not read about "Puny Humans".

What I did not like:

The Main Character:
Though this may seem like a fatal flaw, it really isn't. What I didn't like about the Main character were his seemingly endless crys that humanity wants peace...even when the evidence of our blood thirstiness is staring him in the face. Now, I am all for peace, don't get me wrong, but I accept a few basic things about my brothers and sisters; we only really do two things REALLY well, kill each other and make babies. Were I put in the position of the main character, faced with probable genocide because Humans just couldn't cope with the rest of the universe's outlook on civilized behavior, I am sure that I would cry that we COULD learn to be peaceful, too.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, I have read it at least twice, and recommend it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book in the trilogy, June 2, 2003

By 

S. Rook (New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Call to Arms (The Damned) (Mass Market Paperback)

A very good book, one of my all time favorites. Although, I somewhat disagree with Fosters recurrent theme of humanity's violent tendencies (presented a bit simplistic or naive in a way) it didn't keep me from enjoying this book. It is a great start to the series, and by far the best of the trilogy.

There is also a little twist in the first contact theory. Humans carry some advantages that aren't often represented in most scifi stories. I also enjoyed the switching between POVs during the initial encounters, judgments that are made about each side.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good despite its flaws, April 19, 2004

By 

Cliff Allred (Prescott, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Call to Arms (The Damned) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'll be honest. Some of the ideas in this book are silly, such as Earth being tectonically active alone among thousands of inhabited planets, like one reviewer already pointed out. Never mind how the aliens are completely ignorant of tectonics despite all of their other wonderful science.
The main reason I like the book is because it panders to biased view of humanity as princes among carbon-based lifeforms. I like the vision of humans being the strongest, fastest and most vicious species in the stars, and Foster did a good job of portraying the shock of the other races at this.
I see more and more flaws in the plot as the years go by, but I gave it four stars because it's kept me thinking about the subject for such a long time.