Phylogenesis (novel)

Phylogenesis
Author Alan Dean Foster
Cover artist Mark Harrison
Country United States
Language English
Genre Science fiction novel
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
1999
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 289 pp
ISBN 0-345-41861-1
OCLC 44704949
Followed by Dirge

Phylogenesis (1999) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It is the first novel in Foster's Founding of the Commonwealth Trilogy.

In Phylogenesis Foster begins to further expand the history of the founding of the Humanx Commonwealth which began in his 1982 novel Nor Crystal Tears. While Nor Crystal Tears was a first contact novel between human and thranx, and set the foundation for the eventual Humanx Commonwealth, starting with Phylogenesis, Foster's trilogy set out to detail the events that led to the union between the two races.

Plot

Desvendapur is an anti-social Thranx poet native to the colony on Willow-Wane who believes he can find new inspiration for his poetry by coming in contact with the physically repulsive humans, an intelligent mammal race that is unlike the insectoid thranx. Desvendapur's aspirations lead him to a secret thranx colony in the Amazon Basin on Terra where he meets a petty human thief turned murderer, Cheelo Montoya. Desvendapur is fascinated by the first native human he comes across so, with great resistance on the part of Montoya, chooses to follow the human, using him as the basis of a series of poems. The mismatched pair flee from the authorities, a pair of poachers who wish sell Desvendapur to a private zoo, and ultimately demonstrate how the two races can get along and work together on common challenges.

By the end, the unlikely pair find a mutual understanding. The Thranx colony in the Amazon Basin is revealed to the Earth community and the diplomatic beginnings of the Humanx Commonwealth are greatly accelerated. Montoya becomes a celebrity despite his unwillingness to be in the spotlight and Desvendapur's poems he composed during his time on Earth become wildly popular amongst the Thranx.

Characters

Reception

Phylogenesis received positive reviews from several separate sources. Most commonly praise was given for Foster's likable characters, and the vivid descriptions, and clear understanding of Latin American culture given in his descriptions of the Amazon rain forest.

Publishers Weekly gave the novel a positive review, stating "The novel will be a treat for those who have followed Foster's tales of the Humanx Commonwealth, to which this is a kind of prelude and which began way back in 1972 with The Tar-Aiym Krang, and can also serve as a splendid introduction to both the Commonwealth and its creator." [2]

References

  1. Foster, Alan Dean. Nor Crystal Tears. Del Rey Books: New York. 1982.
  2. http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-345-41862-3
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