Customer Reviews

Psychodrome 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When humans arrived at Draconis 9, the only life on the planet was docile race of mammals. Humans do what they always do when they arrive on a new planet; they begin to kill things. It turns out the mammals were tasty. Little did the colonists know the animals were actually a race of telepathic shapechangers. Faced with being hunted for food, the shapechangers took the form of humans and began to learn how to face their new predator. The race was docile no longer.

Once the colonists realized their mistake, the military moved in to quarantine the planet. Unable to determine human from alien, the military left all the inhabitants stranded on the planet. Only the plan failed. The quarantine was breached. Aliens began to walk among humans, threatening terror if their demand was not met: to be left alone. The natural human response was to destroy the planet, but unable to detect a shapechanger and unable to determine how many have escaped, the humans were stuck. They were unable to destroy the planet for fear of internal attack. The aliens would not attack for fear of losing their home world. Enter the Psychodrome players.

Arkady and Breck were recruited by Coles-the secret military leader behind the scenes pulling all the strings-to find and capture a live alien. Meanwhile, Psychodrome started a new extended campaign: Alien Invasion! The goal being to desensitize humans into thinking the invasion was a new game, hopefully to avoid widespread panic. In the beginning it worked as the aliens only attacked enough to show they were capable. However the game became more dangerous when a shapechanger labeled Chameleon figured out how to attack through Psychodrome's broadcasts. Arkady and Breck must find a specimen quickly or there will be no hope for the human race.

Even though this is a sequel to Psychodrome, it almost shouldn't be. The first book was about the struggles of a down-and-outer being thrown into game of futuristic games which the player was unable do determine whether it was true or an induced hallucination. While this book follows the ending of the first, it heads in a completely different direction, covering primarily the war with aliens. That's not to say it is necessarily a bad thing. This book is more thought provoking than the prequel. It contained several underlying messages such as humanity's proclivity to violence and a desire of humans to "save" savage races, among others. Hawke does a fantastic job mixing a drama and action into a well-written story, if not a bit cheesy in certain areas. This story, while thought provoking, is a little short. I was left wanting much more. The ending is a great intro to a sequel, but since Hawke hasn't written another in the series since the late 80's, it is unlikely there will be closure to the story. I would rate it a three out of five due to the lack of closure and story deviation.

In the first book we learned of the "ambimorphs" and the threat that they pose to humanity. Well in the second book we are introduced a second alien species, this one able to detect the ambimorphs regardless of their physical form. Lots of running around, ambimorphs keep showing up and getting blown away. I think what I liked most about the book is the atmosphere and setting. I mean shapeshifters are common enough, but ones that can ready your mind are a new one to me. The only disapointment from this well written book is the ending, which leaves the ultimate resolution of the conflict unresolved.

I have searched for years to get Psychodrome 2. Both books are generally out of print. It's a great sci-fi story. The characters are "gladiators" in a type of game show that is broadcast over neural links so that audience members can see and feel what the players do. They play games which are really adventures and the sometimes the line between reality and virtual reality is blurred. Whatever happened to Simon Hawke? He needs to write more stuff!