It’s been 15 years since the last Esen novel. I’ve missed her so much! I had no idea that Search Image was coming out until late August. At first I just noticed it was a new novel by Julie E. Czerneda, which makes it a must read. But then I noticed the words Web Shifter on the cover and I freaked out. I jumped up and down and there were wordless noises coming out of my mouth. Excited, does not do how I felt right then justice. Ecstatic might be closer, but still falls short of fully describing the joy I felt in my soul at the realization that there was going to be a new Esen story in my life. Now that I have read it, my joy is still bubbling out of me uncontrollably. I have told all of the readers in my life that they MUST read this book. I love the realization of the Library and what it means to Es (I can call her Es because I think we would be friends), and what it means to Paul. I could have read an entire novel this same length just about them running the library and attempting to reunite Paul with his family. But there’s more! We meet some new characters. Evan (we actually met him in The Only Thing To Fear) is wonderful. I really like him. He’s afraid of everything. Spiders, snakes, fruitcake (let’s be honest, isn’t everyone a little afraid of fruitcake?) but he pushes through those fears and is the bravest character in the whole novel. I also really like Lambo, which I’m picturing looking vaguely crablike. Some of our old favorite characters are back. I love the relationship between Es and Paul, we should all be so lucky to have a friendship like that!
Once I started reading Search Image I could not put it down. I laughed, I cried; I’ll be honest, I hugged and smelled it quite a few times. I couldn’t help myself. I was so happy to have it in my hands. No offense to any other authors, but this was the best book I have read so far this year.

3 stars, <a href="https://reviews.metaphorosis.com/review/search-image-julie-e-czerneda/">Metaphorosis Reviews</a>

<strong>Summary: </strong><span class="revsum">
Paul and Esen (an ancient energy being able to adopt other forms at will) are
semi-retired, dedicated to a universal library of knowledge they hope
will stop conflict between species before they get out of hand. But even
nestled on a quiet planet, the flood of inter-galactic travelers brings
with it trouble out of their past.

<strong>Review: </strong>
I’m a fan of Julie Czerneda’s writing. I even have a rare (for me) fan fiction piece in one of her anthologies. And the <em>Web Shifters</em> series was among the first of her books I read. I was ready, therefore, to be excited by this new, follow-on series. I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t.

I was excited enough at the start – the story returns to the familiar, friendly characters of the earlier series, and does a pretty good job of refreshing the backstory for those of us who have been away for a while. Unfortunately, aside from that, the plot is something of a muddle. There’s too much going on, and too little direction in the story overall. The structure meanders from one theme and sub-plot (of many) to another without much logic or clarity. It’s not so much that it’s hard to follow as that it’s simply not <em>interesting</em>. Which is a shame, because the concept <em>is</em> interesting, as is Esen herself. I’ve no inside knowledge of any kind, but the feeling I got was that Czerneda (for all I admire her) has gotten too big for her britches, and could have used a much stronger editorial hand – someone who could have trimmed the excess and imposed some order on the storyline.

The Library at the nominal heart of the story is ill-defined and mostly just a framework for Esen to have adventures without traveling. Lots of adventures, with aliens of many kinds, and subplots galore, most of them involving one family or another.

Did you notice how I said “I’ve” a few lines back? There are contractions that have largely fallen out of favor in the modern idiom, and it amuses me to uses them from time to time in conversation. They’re correct, but because they’re rare, they <em>feel</em> wrong. Either they’re not so far out of favor in Canada, or Czerneda has a similar amusement. More than that, she’s on a quest to single-handedly wrest them back into common parlance. The book is chock full of phrases such as “I’d the freedom”. There’s no confusion here – it’s clearly “I had the freedom”. And yet, we don’t normally use the contraction this way; we just say “I had”. I approve of Czerneda’s intent here, but the frequency of it is more distracting than interesting.

All in all, a sequel with great potential that it doesn’t live up to. I’ll still pick up the next book in the series (Julie Czerneda, after all), but with less optimism. Here’s hoping that for the second round, she lets the editor have a freer hand.


<strong><span style="color: #990000;">I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</span></strong>

[4.5/5 stars] Can I fanigirl a minute over a new Esen novel?? 😭😭

I have to say, even though I loved how the first trilogy ended, I had a true booknerd freakout when I heard there was another Esen novel in the works. Czerneda has long been my favorite sci-fi author, and amazing, funny, awkward, compassionate characters like Esen are a big part of why I recommend her books so often.

It’s abundantly clear Czerneda loves this character as much as her fans do. Her writing in Search Image showed so much exuberance, it was the most fun I’ve seen her have to date (there’s always an element of fun and humor, but she really leveled up here). It’s obvious she delighted in this project, and her enthusiasm within her writing was infectious (and my favorite overall takeaway from the story). I can’t wait to see what fun she comes up with next!

Admittedly, I didn’t remember a lot from the first trilogy before diving into this one (it has been 10+ years), and so I’m certain I missed a few nuances and details, but that didn’t really limit my enjoyment much. Search Image had one of my favorite settings so far (an all-inclusive alien library), and an abundance of interesting aliens. Czerneda’s world building and attention to biological detail is amazing, and something I always look forward to in her books.

Recommendations: if you’re new to this author, I’d recommend starting with Beholder’s Eye. That trilogy had the perfect blend of story, humor, character, concept, and world-building for me, and I find myself recommending it often. If you love it as much as I did, then you’ll have this gem to look forward to next! :)

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller