By Michael Bishop

This was a random find at Goodwill for $3.99, hardcover. The first section is from a short Novella called “Death & Designation Among the Asadi.” The Novella described an anthropologist eye view of a truly alien society, the Asadi, as they carried out seemingly nonsensical daily rituals.

The rest of the text that became part two of Transfigurations, describes the anthropologist’s disappearance and the subsequent search for him by his friend and estranged daughter, who bring along a sign language speaking ape who has been surgically altered to appear like an Asadi. The ape blends in and mimics a death and succession ritual first observed by Egan Chaney, the disappeared anthropologist. This leads the rescue party to a hidden temple and even more questions about the strange alien race, and the fate of Egan Chaney.

The Novella is clearly brilliant in the mysteries it presents. After all if there are alien civilizations, or alien forms of life, who is to say that we would recognize anything of ourselves in them? We can’t help but observe from our own subjectively human perspective.

The search for Egan Chaney is less compelling because it seeks to answer many of the questions posed in the first part by presenting new evidence, yet the answers come from personal suppositions by the search team and not from an omniscient observer. The question then is, ‘sure that’s what the character thinks but what is the truth?’ This is a minor critique though. overall the second part is as bizarre and suspenseful as the first part, and I was held in it’s grip until the end.