| Title | : | Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0345311221 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780345311221 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 243 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1981 |
Robots were infiltrating the Federation. Someone was kidnapping people and substituting indetectable, synthetic imitations. Somewhere, aliens were studying the Federation, using techniques beyond human developments. The trail led back to Cerberus and the Lord who ruled that planet.
Cerberus, however, was one of the Warden Worlds - and those Worlds were the untouchables of space. There a strange microscopic life-form invaded all matter, and anyone so infected died on leaving those Worlds. Men could go there, but never return.
But the Federation had its own techniques. They took a criminal named Qwin Zhang and stripped her mind of all memory and personality. Then they poured into that empty receptacle the full mind of the Federation's best operative. They exiled her to the prison world of Cerberus. The mission: Find the Lord who ruled, kill him, and take over. Too bad there were things about Cerberus they couldn't know!
Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #2) Reviews
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The second volume in Chalker's The Four Lords of the Diamond explores the second copy of the secret agent/assassin as he navigates the world of Cerberus. This one kicks off slow, with lots of recap/repeat from the first volume in setting the stage, but also assumes a more Chalker-like tale, with plenty of 'body swapping' and so forth.
The basic sitrep was covered in my review of Lilith; in brief, a large human space Confederacy spans thousands of worlds, but it ruled in a rather totalitarian fashion, with people being 'bred' for certain occupations and really a highly controlled society from the top down. Agents, like our main protagonist, are secret police, who either kill 'rebels' or send them to the Diamond Worlds, basically prison planets. The key thing about the prison planets of the Diamond, of which there are four, is that once there, you are infected with a microorganism/parasite that may grant superior healing power and prevent disease, but you can never leave the solar system as the parasite dies if you do, and it kills you in the process.
In these prison planets are the criminal masterminds of the Confederacy and their descendants. Each of the worlds is ruled by one person, the Lord, and the Confederacy knows that some strange alien race has been infiltrating the Confederacy and that these aliens are also in communication with the Diamond Lords. Cerberus, in particular, is a technical world (unlike Lilith), and it seems advanced androids that can mimic humans are being 'conditioned' there before they infiltrate other worlds.
They key thing regarding Cerberus is that the alien microorganism works differently on each world; on Cerberus, they facilitate mind transfer between people. Basically, if you go to sleep next to someone, you will wake up in their body and vice-versa. So, the agent lands on Cerberus as a woman, but swaps into a man's body during orientation.
This series reminds me of Vance's Demon Princes novels, where the protagonist, acting on revenge, had to kill five of these princes, all underworld figures who were almost impossible to track down. Here, the agent is tasked with killing all four Diamond Lords to disrupt their agreement with the aliens threatening the Confederacy. Each Lord, however, is very wary of assassins and foul play, as they got the top of the heap using any means possible and aim to stay on top. The added difficulty with Cerberus is that the Lord can change bodies all the time, so trying to track down the guy is neigh impossible, let alone knock him off.
Enjoyable story, but a bit heavy on the tacky romance tossed in along the way. Good stuff, but a notch down from Vance. 3 body swapping stars!! -
Втората книга от четирилогията се развива успоредно с първата, но на друга планета. Там е възможна размяната на тела, което е и ефекта от тамошните микроби. Агентът пристига в женско тяло, което разменя бързичко. Главната сюжетна нишка за поредицата - разплитането на плановете на пришълците е застъпена във втората половина, особено в края на романа.
Първите две глави са почти еднакви с тези от първия роман - вероятно нарочно, но все пак беше трудно и досадно за четене. Всъщност - романът е много подобен на "Лилит...", като повечето разлики са резултат от различния свят, в който се развива действието. Има логика да е така, но не знам дали ще понеса още две итерации, ако са толкова еднакви. -
This is a fantastic book. My favorite of this series, and one of my favorite of all time. This book does something that is rare in mainstream or fantasy, and not very common even in mysteries or science fiction. This is about about thinking, analyzing, and deducing. What does the character know for sure? What does he suspect? What can he deduce from what he does know? How can he, though completely impotent and at the bottom level of society, impose his will on the situation and achieve results? Those are the issues that this book deals with brilliantly.
The story is a simple continuation of themes from the first one: humanity is a loose confederacy of worlds covering about 1/3 of the galaxy, we've never met any aliens we couldn't subjugate or exterminate. And now, suddenly, we have. Not only are they are technological equals, but maybe our superiors. More over, they have been waging a secret war against humanity for decades. But they couldn't do that without human traitors, and they've traced the leak to the worlds of the diamond, this book focusing on the 'Lord' of the planet Cerberus - one of the top traitors. The protagonist, a Confederacy Assassin, is dropped on this world as a prisoner and his mission is to learn what he can of the aliens, and to snip one of the main sources of information for them: the Lord of Cerberus himself. The book begins with they assassin dropped on the planet, literally naked, with no friends, contacts or tools... and work his way up to killing the most powerful man on the world. Does he succeed? Well, I won't tell, but you won't be disappointed by the ultimate solution.
His MO (and this is what is so great about this book) was to look at his location. Deduce what he can, and learn where he needs to go to learn more. He then executes a stealthy plan (he calls them 'scams') that moves him to the next step in his quest. He never attacks directly (I'm trying to think of so much as a single gun shot or act of violence in the whole book, and the only ones I can come up with are NOT from him.) Though dealing with science and technology that borders on magical, this is far more realistic than any James Bond movie. When you are one man against a world, the dumbest thing you can do is go in with guns blazing. He is a genius and his opponent is a genius. And he has to overcome the enemy one step at a time, always knowing that any slip will mean death, and that your prey is more paranoid and brilliant that you are likely to be.
Long story short, if you like 'thinking' stories, you'll love this book. If you think science fiction is about Wookies and light-sabers then you might want to give this one a pass. (But read the predecessor to this book -- It's good too, and more about 'mystic-powers' than this one). -
I've been revisiting the science fiction of my youth, trying to see how my tastes and attitudes have evolved since then. Jack L. Chalker is near the top of the list.
I remember loving this series as a early teen, although I didn't really remember why. Certainly there is enough action and some interesting ideas.
However, it is clear that either my tastes have changed or this series didn't age well. While they are competently written with a few twists that I didn't remember, this series in particular, reads like an extended male adolescent wish fulfillment.
Some of Chalker's more interesting thoughts on bodily transformation (a theme which runs through at least all of three Chalker I've read) is subsumed by what now reads as teen sexual fantasy. Although it's not quite as prevalent in this series as it is in some of his other works, the pubescent male objectification of women is in full force.
Despite my complaints, this series, and Chalker's other work are worth the time to read. They are an unique example of 1980s mainstream science fiction. They are also written to a level where younger readers (teens) we'll find the concepts and prose challenging but not overwhelming. Competently written with enough action and intrigue to keep the reader engaged, but lacking the qualities that better science fiction writers were producing even in its time.
The Jack L. Chalker re-read continues with Spirits of Flux and Anchor, book 1 of The Soul Rider series also by Jack Chalker. -
The second volume of the Four Lords of the Diamond quadrology. In this book, Warden organism affects minds of the colonists, allowing them to shift bodies. This of course makes the goal to find and kill the Lord of the planet a bit harder.
The style of the book is similar to the first book,
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass, i.e. it is a loose diary of the protagonist. Sometimes it is a bit too detailed compared to modern novels but overall it is an easy reading. -
The story grows and expands in this second of the series. A little slower than the first but interesting and more clues given.
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Jack L. Chalker's "Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold" holds no surprises (assuming you've read the first book, "Lilith: A Snake in the Grass"). For all intents and purposes, the writing is the same. The interesting thing here is the comparison of how the protagonist's character changes against his baseline in a technological world (Cerberus) vs in a pastoral world (Lilith). Just like the first book, it's a nice, easy, fast-paced read. I rate the book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.
The books in Jack L. Chalker's "Four Lords of the Diamond" series are:
1. Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (The Four Lords of the Diamond Book 1)
2. Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (The Four Lord of the Diamond Book 2)
3. Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (The Four Lord of the Diamond Book 3)
4. Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (The Four Lord of the Diamond Book 4) -
Typical Chalker; more typical of what I've read by him than the previous volume 'Lilith' which treads the fantasy-sf border with slightly more interesting results. 'Cerberus' could easily be a Well-World novel with few changes, which makes for familiar pleasures but also some tedium -- there isn't much in the resolution that I didn't or couldn't have guessed from the first couple of chapters; and the big plot device of body-switching is oh so ordinary given Chalker's penchant for this in virtually all of his work. Still, it moves along and as always you're never quite sure if all of the heroes will make it through alive, which is more than you can say for a lot of Chalker's other pulpish contemporaries.
Not bad, but I'm in no real rush to finish the series. -
Having grabbed off the Audible shelf the first of this series, LILITH: A SNAKE IN THE GRASS, I had to go right on to the next book - this time in print. An assassin's mind has been planted into a body destined for a convict planet. Cerberus is a totally water world, with trees growing up from the ocean bottom so big that cities are built in their branches. The assignment of the assassin is to kill the Lord who controls the planet. Once he is stranded on Cerberus, he gets his own ideas.
Between mind-swapping and computer scams, the plot is so complicated one has to pay close attention; but the development of humans and worlds makes it well worth while. -
Good Sci-Fi with poor characters. The individual books in the series are decent in their own right but each book doesn't really shine until you read the whole series. Then the overall effect and intent of the author shines through. A case in point of the whole out shinning the individual pieces. This would be a problem on longer books but these are on the smallish side so it diminishes the negatives.
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Excellent book. I like this book more than the first, which i 'only' gave 4 stars. This one had a similar premise of having a spy implanted into a body sent to a criminal world\prison, but while the first was more a physical adventure this one was more spy based. The main character is involved in 'thinking' plots, subterfuge, mind game with mind games.
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Not so good. Lilith seemed way better. This one felt rushed and some things I didn't understand even while reading it twice. So in the end - I'm full of questions and not a drop of interest to go on. But I will.
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I enjoyed The Four Lords of the Diamond books. I thought it was a different approach to "clone" the main character and have a book for each of the clones, each taking place on a different world with a different set of "unique" rules.
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These and the original Well World Series are not only my favorite Chalker books, but among my favorite scifi/fantasy books. And I'm not big on "favorites". Someday, I'll set aside some time to delve into more of the imagination of Chalker.
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Excellent SiFi series. Humans colonize 4 worlds around a new star and discover they can't ever leave due to microbes that can only live there that have invaded their bodies. Then the fun begins on each world the microbes alter the humans in different ways. Very recommended
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Second book of 4. The character is once again thrown into a new world and has to solve not only a difficult political situation, but also is held between two women.
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Read in order! See first book's review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -
A great series.
Time to read it again. -
It would have been better to publish the four books in one volume - but I guess they had to make money. And by the end of this book, I had the 'big secret' figured out.
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[update September 2021 - when I need a reader’s block unblock, Chalker, Simon Hawke, and PJF are the ones I turn to]
Chalker's imagination was amazing... -
1983 grade B
2009 grade B+
Series book W2 -
A tour of force on Cerberus, the main body switching planet, and the unique quirks that can arise from it.
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Mine was an audiobook masterfully narrated by Kirby Heyborne. Not as good as the first one but I am still looking forward to part 3.
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10
