Lincontro con i Thranx (Humanx Commonwealth, #9) by Alan Dean Foster

Lincontro con i Thranx (Humanx Commonwealth, #9) Reviews

• 
  Fred D

  This was the first book I ever read by Alan Dean Foster. I had perhaps an unusual reaction to this book. I really, really loved this book. Perhaps he didn't mean to be that powerful, but I was really touched by it. It is the story of the First Contact between two sentient races, the Thranx and the Humans. It is told from the point of view of the Thranx, an insect-like race resembling praying mantises. The main character is a Thranx agricultural engineer named Ryo. I quickly and very strongly identified with him. In that character I found a bit of a soulmate. I passionately cared about what happened to him. Another thing I found very touching in this book was how at the end the Thranx and the Humans, although very different, managed to form a stong alliance, indeed a strong bond with one another. The Humanx Commonwealth is a great example of how people can overcome strong prejudices and differences to live together in harmony. I fell in love with Foster's writing style, and I've gone on to read many of his other books dealing with the Humanx Commonwealth, including the Flinx & Pip Series.
• 
  F.J. Hansen

  My introduction to Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth Universe.
  
  I picked this book up from the giveaway pile at my high school library about 10 years ago, though it wasn't until a few years later that I got around to reading it. When I picked it up, the kid who had picked it up before me dismissed it and said something negative about it (even though he hadn't read it). When I finally read it, I was SO glad I ignored him. I was intrigued by Michael Whelan's cover art--a Human and an insect (two completely different creatures) looking into one another's eyes and touching hands.
  
  Foster's story turned out to be just as engaging as the art work. It was a brilliant and unique idea to write about the first contact between Humans and Thranx from the Thranx's point of view. Experiencing Ryo's world and society and encountering weird fleshy aliens with single-lensed eyes, spongy skin, and half as many limbs through his compound eyes.
  
  I think it also gave me a greater interest in insects and insectoid aliens.
  
  Not many books or even movies quite like it. Definitely recommended to anyone interested in first contact stories and real alien aliens (and insects can be quite alien).
• 
  Craig

  This is an excellent first-contact kind of novel, set early in Foster's Humanx Commonwealth continuity. Ryo is one of Foster's best characters, and answers Campbell's challenge of creating an alien character who thinks as well as a man, but not -like- a man. It's not necessary to have read any of the other books in the group in order to appreciate this one, and is, in fact, a great starting place for Foster's universe. This first edition has a lovely Michael Whelan cover, too.
• 
  Paul

  This is a re-read for me. I read a fair few of Alan Dean Foster's 'Humanx Commonwealth' books when I was knee-high to a Thranx, but in a somewhat haphazard fashion. Having stumbled across the chronology for the series (made up of lots of series-within-series, much like Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' books) on Foster's website, I decided to revisit the Commonwealth but to read all the books in chronological order this time.
  
  'Nor Crystal Tears' was written as a prequel to the entire series, documenting the first contact between the arthropod-like Thranx and humanity. It serves as a rather wonderful prologue to the rest of the series.
  
  The book is fun, often funny, and fills those of us with a prepondency to look at the night sky and wonder with a sense of hope... or a feeling of 'if only'.
  
  It does stretch the realms of credulity at times; personally, I find the speed with which the two alien races pick up each other's languages to be more than a little hard to believe.
  
  My only other gripe with this otherwise fantastic tale is that the character Wuu disappears from the narrative a little too suddenly for my tastes, after spending so long getting to know him.
  
  These minor issues aside, I loved this book as much as I remembered from my first reading all those years ago. I recommend it to anybody who loves science fiction and still has that urge to look up at night and ponder 'what if?'
• 
  Peter Tillman

  I read this one long, long ago. GR says it's #9 in that long-running series. My dim recollection is that it was earlier? Ah, in the internal chronology it was #1. I'm writing this silly "review" after seeing Neil Asher's blog post
  http://theskinner.blogspot.com/2020/0...
  "A classic and still as enjoyable now as the last time I read it, however many years ago that was. Told from thr POV of Ryo (mostly) one of the Thranx - intelligent alien bugs - this is the story of first-contact with the human race. This has to be the first time in a long while that I've sat and read a book cover to cover almost without stopping. Highly recommended."
  
  Well. If I still have a copy, maybe I'll reread. If (more likely) I read a library copy? Well....
  Here's Wiki's article on the series:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_...
• 
  Michelle

  Absolutely amazing book about the problems alien races have with first contact.
• 
  SciFiOne

  Nor Crystal Tears
  by Alan Dean Foster
  
  1983 grade A
  2003 grade A-
  2021 grade A
  
  The first meeting of the insectoid Thranx race with the human race and the prejudices they had to overcome.
  
  It is told mostly from the Thranx point of view and starts with the protagonist as a grub in a communal nursery learning, growing, and waiting for metamorphosis. That part was a little slow and I found myself sort of auto-speed reading. It is more interesting during his early adult years, but there were still a few other slow spots. It picks up immensely when he finally manages to leave the farm. The Thranx are quite human despite the differences.
  
  Once the protagonist finds the humans, the primary story begins and it speeds up with a bang, to the point where I did not want to stop reading. The primary action ends after about a fictional year. At the end there is a gap to allow us to see if the experiment worked. Excellent characters and world building with no confusion about who is speaking, what is happening, and what the motivations are. And always interesting. I'm kind of disappointed it is over now.
  
  Very highly recommended SciFi.
• 
  Banner

  Written from the POV of the alien (humans are the monsters in this story) we learn a great deal about the culture of the Thranx. I love the first chapter which introduces us to Ryo (the protagonist). He is cunning, resourceful and drawn to the humans for some unexplainable reason.
  
  I've not read any other books in the Humanx Commonwealth series and I don't think I missed anything by starting here. I am interested to see where this series goes with the human & Thranx relationship now that contact has been made.
  
  While I found it an entertaining read and recommend it, I just couldn't give it higher than a 3 star. The plot ending just seemed to forced to me, a little rushed even. But it was a satisfying ending (didn't disappoint).
  
• 
  Sarah

  This is a re-read for me, and I still find it just as exciting and readable as I remember it. Ryo leaves his exceedingly ordered life when he hears that intelligent aliens have been discovered. Along with the poet Wuu he tracks down the persistence rumors and rescues the aliens; fleeing with them to try to establish an alliance between them and his species. After a few false starts and amazingly few dead bodies, they unite against a common enemy--the AAnn.
• 
  Timothy Boyd

  Set in his Humanx universe. Great selection of stories of the meeting of the humans and the rest of the universe. Very recommended
• 
  Cameron Scott

  Foster's writing reminded me a little bit of Ursula Le Guin's. Which is a good thing. It is simple and elegantly structured prose through which big ideas and small flit around and gain weight. An easy story to enter and a believable story.
  
  My one qualm was with the pacing of the last twenty pages. Time, which unfolded quite steadily until then, suddenly became a bit unkempt and hurvy turvy. Changing what would have been a five star review to a four.
  
  
• 
  Jadetyger Sevea

  I actually finished this two days ago. I really enjoyed 'Nor Crystal Tears'. I take off half a point because it seemed as if the characters were constantly escaping from somewhere (so much so that the main character, Ryo, comments on it!). Still, that's a minor quibble. I loved Ryo, and found the worldbuilding and character details fascinating. I will be reading more of this series as soon as I can figure out the order to read it in.
• 
  Tina

  Ooh, I loved this. Clearly a novel I bought because the cover is amazing, but the story itself is also so much fun.
  
  I really enjoy world-building novels, novels where there is an alien perspective, and novels when alien cultures encounter us humans and then try to figure out why the hell we do what we do. This novel is full of all three, but it never gets dull or repetitive. Mainly because the aliens aren’t morons. I mean, you sometimes see sci-fi movies where the humans are on an alien ship and see a weird bed and are completely flummoxed by it. This book doesn’t do that stupid crap – it presumes that people (and sentient alien bugs) are smart enough to figure stuff out, like how a damn chair works. Yeah, they had no idea what humans looked like, but they knew the chair was a chair, and etc.
  
  You also identify with and understand Ryo’s motivations and character. His people were clearly defined from ours in terms of ideology (e.g. gender roles) and especially biology/language, but it’s also shown that they aren’t all “the same”; Ryo’s mugging and Wuu’s extravagance are examples here.
  
  There’s so much attention to detail in this novel – it’s impeccable in that regard.
  But it’s also fun and interesting and exciting. Ryo’s rather mundane life sets up the stage for the culture, but the story also moves a good pace – we get to see these different parts of the Thranx culture and learn about how they function, but we also have some human interaction. I wish that part was a little more in-depth, to be honest.
  
  And while I definitely had a wonderful time reading this novel, there are a few things that seemed a bit too convenient, like Wuu and Ryo’s entire relationship for one, and the ending seemed to wrap up a little easier than it would realistically. But overall, a lot of run to read.
  
  I guess I have to go and buy the entire Humanx Commonwealth series now, I suppose.
• 
  Orca_de_wils

  Das war nun mein erster Reread eines "das hat mir gefallen, aber ich weiß echt nicht mehr richtig worum es ging"-Bücher, die ich dafür in englisch nachgekauft habe. Eine wirklich interessante Erfahrung. So hatte ich mir gedacht die Erinnerung würde beim Lesen schon noch kommen, aber Pustekuchen! Ja, wie ich feststellen musste hatte ich nicht mal mehr das grobe Gerüst korrekt parat und durch eine, wohl vom Klappentext gestützte, Scheinerinnerung ersetzt. Mal wieder ein Beleg, das das menschliche Erinnerungsvermögen ein Trottel ist :-)
  Worum es nun geht: der Erstkontakt zwischen Menschen und einer Insektenkultur aus der Perspektive letzterer -- so weit so richtig -- doch ich dachte das Treffen würde im Weltall und gleich zu Beginn stattfinden. Stattdessen trifft Ryo erst zur Mitte des Buches wirklich auf die "Aliens" und das auf seiner Ursprungsheimatwelt in deren Äquivalent zu "Area 51". Und es ist auch nicht sein Auftrag diesen Kontakt herzustellen, er selbst hat es sich, fast als fixe Idee, selbst auferlegt.
  Aber fangen wir am Anfang an. Alles beginnt mit Ryos Zeit als Larve, in der seine Rasse alles für das spätere Leben lernt auch wenn ihre Wahrnehmung und Bewegungsfreiheit in dieser Entwicklungsphase noch sehr eingeschränkt ist. Nach dem Verpuppen und der Umwandlung in den erwachsenen Körper sind die Thranx bereit in der von ihnen zuvor gewählten Stellung in die Gesellschaft integriert zu werden. Nur Ryo fühlt sich nicht so bestimmt wie alle anderen, er wählt seinen Beruf, anders als seine "Kinderstationsgenossen" und Geschwister, mehr aus Notwendigkeit als aus echter Überzeugung. Dennoch lebt er ein erfolgreiches Leben bis eine Nachricht an seine Partnerin ihn aus seiner eingeschlagenen Bahn katapultiert. Die Schilderung fremdartige Monster in einem havarierten Schiff ist es, die der Raumschiff Kapitän an seine Kindheitsfreundin sendet und diese an ihren Partner Ryo weiterträgt. Schon bald wird dieser Bericht revidiert und als Psychose deklariert, doch Ryo sieht darin endlich seine Bestimmung. Er muss herausfinden was das für Wesen sind und macht sich gegen den Widerstand seines Klans auf die Suche nach der Wahrheit. Dank Beharrlichkeit und einiger günstiger Zufälle landet er schließlich tatsächlich in einer geheimen Forschungseinrichtung just als es zwei jener furchterregenden Aliens, die ihr Skelett von außen nach innen gekehrt tragen, gelingt zu fliehen. Zuerst wird Ryo von ihnen als Geisel genommen doch schon bald gelingt es ihm sich mit jenen Menschen zu verständigen und den Plan einer Allianz zu formen um gegen die Spezies der AAnn, einer aggressiven Echsenrasse, die immer wieder auf Welten der Thranx einfällt und auch für den Angriff auf das Erdenschiff verantwortlich ist, bestehen zu können. Doch damit steht er zunächst ganz alleine.
  Okay, ist der Roman nun so gut, wie ich mich glaube zu erinnern es als Jugendliche geglaubt zu haben? Vielleicht nicht ganz :-) Aber ein Fall von "wie kann ich das je gut gefunden haben?!" ist er bei weitem auch nicht.
  Der Beginn ist ohne Frage faszinierend. Die Alien-POV einer wirklich fremden Art und Weise "aufzuwachen". Was ich später etwas vermisst habe ist, dies auch in der erwachsenen Kultur widergespiegelt zu sehen. Es wird kurz erwähnt, dass die evolutionäre Änderung, dass alle Thranx-Frauen fortpflanzungsfähig sind ihre Entwicklung zur dominanten Rasse ihres Planeten begünstigt hat und so ergibt es schon Sinn, dass die „Stock-bezogene" Lebensweise nur mehr rudimentär vorhanden ist, aber dennoch ist mir die geschilderte Gesellschaft, für so signifikant anders sozialisierte Wesen, uns Menschen doch einen Tick zu ähnlich.
  Was mich auch ein wenig stört ist, daß der Plot zu viele Zufälle braucht um seinen Weg zu gehen:
  -Ausgerechnet die Frau, deren Partner der (zumindest scheinbar) einzige Thrax ist, der sich nach einer neuen Aufgabe sehnt erhält die ansonsten geheimgehaltene Nachricht über die Fremden, weil sie zufällig bekannt mit genau dem Raumschiffkapitän ist, der den Erstkontakt erlebt hat und sich ihr, gegen das Protokoll, mitteilte, auch wenn sie als Larvenpflegerin ganz außerhalb der Materie steht.
  - Ausgerechnet der Mann den Ryo verloren in der Hauptstadt und dem Hungertod nahe, beschließt zu überfallen entpuppt sich nach misslungenem Raub als weltoffener Poet, der dem unglücklichen Ryo nicht nur Kost und Logis, sondern auch Hilfe bei seiner Mission anbietet.
  -Der Soldat, auf den Ryo und der Poet bei ihren Recherchen zufällig stoßen entscheidet sich dafür ihnen einzig deswegen weiterführende Informationen zu geben, weil genau er ein großer Fan des Poeten ist.
  -Ryo braucht eine ganze Weile um schließlich in der abgelegenen Forschungsbasis anzukommen in der die Menschen gefangen gehalten werden, aber just in jener Minute in der er ankommt brechen diese gerade aus.
  Einen (bis zwei) passende Zufälle gebe ich jedem Autor, danach aber muss ich es als "lazy writing" abrechnen :-)
  Und einmal kann ich auch Ryos Motivation nicht verstehen. Später mit den Menschen geflohen und auf einer ihrer Basen, muss er erfahren, dass er womöglich doch nicht als Diplomat angesehen wird, sondern die Obduktion von ihm geplant wird. Seine menschlichen Freunde (jene zwei, die er als erstes kennengelernt hat) sind entsetzt, aber er will ganz einmütig für die Wissenschaft sterben.
  Durchaus okay, dass sich sein Gemüt hier stark unterscheidet und er ein solches Opfer ansich auch unbekümmert angenommen hätte, wenn es der Vermehrung von Wissen dient, aber bedeutet das nicht auch sein hohes Ziel Menschen und Thrax zu vereinen ist gescheitert? Dagegen muss er doch Sturm laufen! Das Ziel für das er alles aufgegeben hat kann doch so nicht erreicht werden, oder? Wenn doch wird es mir auf jeden Fall nicht richtig vermittelt.
  Das Ende der Geschichte kommt dann schnell indem Ryo zu einer drastischen Lösung greift. Seine These: Menschen und Thrax müssen zusammen aufwachsen um gegenseitige Ablehnung gar nicht erst aufkommen zu lassen. Anstatt aber eine langsame Annäherung auf diese Weise zu planen entführt er flux eine Gruppe Larven aus ihrer Kinderstube um sie mit mitgebrachten Kindern in einem geheimen Lager im Dschungel seiner Welt "anzufreunden". Ein Glück das seine Artgenossen das am Schluss lockerer sehen als unsereins das würde :-)
  Wirklich zuende ist die Geschichte über die Thrax/Menschen-Allianz mit diesem Buch aber natürlich nicht. Alan Dean Foster hat viele Romane geschrieben, die in diesem Universum angesiedelt sind und bestimmt werden da noch weitere Aspekte behandelt werden, die hier vielleicht noch nicht ganz ausgebaut sind.
  Fazit: Vielleicht nicht so ein großer Wurf, wie ich mal dachte, aber dennoch ein unterhaltsamer Blick auf eine interessante Alien-Rasse durch einen clever umgekehrten Erstkontakt.
• 
  Bradley

  This is one of those books which opens its arms and welcomes you home. So much more than a page-turner, this book is a prime example of why I love science fiction and fantasy. I lost myself in this world and read it all in one sitting in the middle of the night. This is one of those rare books that is a must-have. I wildly recommend it. My dreams after reading were almost as good. My imagination raged about how *I* would have continued the story. Great book. All I have is sleepy and determined praise for it. =)
• 
  B. Zedan

  This is one of the books I totally stole from my mom when I moved out because I couldn't imagine not having it around. Fascinating insectoid space-faring race! They smell like flowers! First contact with humans!
  
  And, as usual, Foster is kind of a bio nerd, which is endlessly enjoyable when applied to world building.
• 
  Deirdre

  This book has, in my mind, the best starting line ever...
  
  "It's hard to be a larva." Beyond that I don't think it's the strongest book in Foster's Commonwealth series, but it sets the perfect tone.
• 
  Brent

  An amazing novel of first contact; I've read it at least 3 times and plan to do so again. The Thranx are fascinating and Alan Dean Foster has done a great job of creating them; their thoughts, society, and worlds.
• 
  Stephanie

  This was a great story about first contact between humans and an alien race from the viewpoint of the aliens. I highly recommend giving this one a read!
• 
  Kylie

  Yeah...yeah...I know. It's not a surprise I rated this five stars. I mean, I'm a fan of Alan Dean Foster, and I love Pip and Flinx AND I love the Commonwealth Alan Dean Foster built up in his books. SOOOO, when I found this Book that I DIDN'T OWN in a second hand bookshop I SQUEALED in happiness and added it to the ten book high pile I already had and presented that pile to my mother with a huge grin.
  Tah dahhh...
  
  This book though. Wonderful. From the first page I adored it. It's from the point of view of Ryo the Thranx (do not ask me to spell his entire Thranx name...) and I just adore Ryo so much. It's wonderful to have a book from the perspective of aliens meeting humans and its so much fun. Alan does a masterful job building up the Thranx, their society, their customs, their worlds so that when the "Human Monsters" are introduced the reader can - well - I could at least - understand everyone's point of view on the matter.
  
  Ryo as a characters is terribly relatable - maybe it's just due to where I am in life at the moment, searching for who I am, where I belong, and why I exist, but I found his quest, his desires, to really be very personal. I highly enjoyed his wit and sarcasm as well - though I don't know if sarcasm was what Alan Dean Foster was going for but Thranx being as "logical" as they tend to be, sarcastic is how he came across.
  
  I think my only jarring compliant is how quickly the Humans learnt how to speak, understand Thranx, being just how complicated it seems as not just a language, but a whole, physical body form of communication. But...hey...Science Fiction. It didn't take away from my immense enjoyment of seeing these two species interact.
  If you're a fan of Alan Dean Fosters works, then I do recommend picking it up - if you're a fan of the older sci-fi era, then I also recommend giving it a read - if you want something a bit different, also pick it up.
  But it will NOT be for everyone.
  That's why there are so many wonderful books out there.
  Surely there is something out there you'll enjoy. ^_^
• 
  Phil Bailey

  When I ordered the Kindle version of Nor Crystal Tears, Amazon required me to wait a few days before the product could be "shipped". This implied that the e-book version was brand new and was close to completion. When I received and read the book, the numerous typographical and spelling errors seemed to indicate that I was correct. The e-book was rife with errors - mostly missing periods for some reason. There were also lots of spelling errors that spell-check would not pick up (e.g. "dining" instead of "lining"). I'm guessing that there were no surviving electronic manuscripts from the original book, so the story had to be hand-typed.
  
  Hopefully, the errors were pointed out to the publisher and revisions have been made. I received my copy on July 27, 2021.
  
  Apart from the distraction of the many errors, the underlying story was solid, the characters were relatable, and the plot kept my interest throughout. I especially enjoyed reading the story as told from the non-humans' perspective, where humans are the strange new species.
• 
  Bookbear

  I would never have heard of this Author if I wouldn't have bought the Alien books by him years ago. Since I am always looking for new books, I thought I try his Humanx saga, starting with this book.
  
  I liked it a lot (4.5 stars), the POV is interesting (the story is told not by humans exploring space, but by an alien race bumping into really ugly monsters - us).
  
  The story was well developed and interesting, the characters relatable. When finishing I immediately bought the next book (in chronological order).
• 
  Raymond Ford

  I can think of few first contact novels that really do justice to “alienness” - I mean intelligent, peaceful bugs that smell good - who would have thought... Written from the point of view of the aliens made this engrossing from the start. Foster drew upon enough (human) biological references to make the alienness real. I was a bit disappointed with the ending - wrapped up, spanked on the bottom, and sent on its way. But I am encouraged to find out this is part of a series (I did not know that). Totally looking forward to exploration.
• 
  Matt Shaw

  Slick and entertaining, this is a fun read but doesn't rise much above Storytime. The key asset is that the narrator is an alien; telling a First Contact story through an alien p-o-v is a great idea. There are plot holes and the aliens aren't that alien in psychology or social structure, however. This is a fine popcorn-movie kind of book, but don't mistake it for weighty.
• 
  Ben Clohesy

  I picked this up for a read again after... 20 years? And found it a great read - I'm really glad I read it again. Foster has all the elements that make up a great rollicking sci-fi read. I especially like the point of view from the Thranx - it's done very well.
• 
  Jessica

  I really enjoyed this book. My boyfriend is a huge sci-fi fan and he has been getting me to read more of the genre. This is the first book I have read by Alan Dean Foster and I enjoyed it immensely. I found myself absorbed and turning each page, not wanting to wait to see what would happen next.
• 
  Kevin

  Typically enjoyable ADF but not exactly amazing. Good likable characters but a tad bit too anthropomorphic for me. The sheer amount of luck and suspension of disbelief is really what kept this from being 4 stars. No matter how likeable the character, he succeeds far too easily.