Rating: 
Summary: ADF - Please try to remember what has gone before??
Review: After the wonderful "Nor Crystal Tears", this book is a huge disappointment. You cannot get into the headspace of either character, neither one is agreeable to the reader, and it contradicts a lot of elements in Thranx society that "Crystal Tears" introduced.And since **WHEN** did the Thranx become vegetarian??? In "Crystal Tears", Ryozenzuzex eats some meat his human captors/friends provide him, and his only comment was it wasn't in a "proper stew or soup". There's a few other scenes in the book where he eats meat as a normal part of thranx culture. Yet in this book, the poet character gets sick at the mere thought of eating meat, and gives the impression that the thranx are natural vegetarians. Come on!! This was just the most glaring error in a batch of them.
Rating:
Summary: ADF - Please try to remember what has gone before??
Review: After the wonderful "Nor Crystal Tears", this book is a huge disappointment. You cannot get into the headspace of either character, neither one is agreeable to the reader, and it contradicts a lot of elements in Thranx society that "Crystal Tears" introduced. And since **WHEN** did the Thranx become vegetarian??? In "Crystal Tears", Ryozenzuzex eats some meat his human captors/friends provide him, and his only comment was it wasn't in a "proper stew or soup". There's a few other scenes in the book where he eats meat as a normal part of thranx culture. Yet in this book, the poet character gets sick at the mere thought of eating meat, and gives the impression that the thranx are natural vegetarians. Come on!! This was just the most glaring error in a batch of them.
Rating: 
Summary: The Founding: Book One
Review: Alan Dean Foster has been knocking his varied future narratives around the Humanx (Human/Thranx) Commonwealth for decades, so it should come as no surprise that the prolific pulp writer would eventually roll up his sleeves and dig out the dark and dirty tale of just how the Commonwealth was formed... Phylogenesis is predominantly the tale of the slightly mad and very driven Thranx poet Desvendapur, who aspires to create beautiful art that will surpass all around him. His ferocious drive to contact and glean inspiration from the recently discovered humans leads Desvendapur to commit several transgressions, including an accidental murder. What Desvendapur does not know is that his almost ruthless drive to acheive something more than what he is is mirrored by the Human Cheelo Montoya, who likewise commits a crime and accidently kills someone to further his own goals. With a sure hand, ADF crafts two very different and yet quite similar characters that are destined to meet and, in an even more unlikely yet completely logical twist, become friends of a sort. That this unlikely and illegal meeting and befriending of two iconoclastic criminals of different species should mark an important step in a larger scheme shows that the Human and Thranx have a lot more in common than they like to think. Several reviews of this book point out its weak story (and sometimes it does read like a travelogue), so potential readers should understand that Phylogenesis is the first part of a trilogy. Plot points and schemes are introduced but not completely resolved for they play integral parts in the remaining two chapters. Taken as a part of a much bigger whole, Phylogenesis is a satisfying opening chapter. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Alan Dean Foster really did a great job with this book. The the first book of the founding of the Humanx Commanwelth trilogy makes me wait in anticipation for the next two books. I hope they will be just as good as Phylogenesis.
Rating:
Summary: Back to his and homanx' roots
Review: Having read nearly all books of ADF, I am very glad about his return to the Homanx area, where ADF really has his most intensive moments. The story is tough, sometimes moving, even thrilling and leaves me curious for the sequels. Des and Cheelo are interesting characters, especially the always enjoying way of getting to know a thranx personality (well done, ADF !). My best moments: seeing Amazonian nature (as I have already seen live) through the eyes of Cheelo (kind of alter ego of Alan, I presume) and even more through the multiple eyes of Desvendapur. I don't want to tell too much, it's just a little bit sad, never to hear again of Cheelo & Des... Keep on, Alan !
Rating: 
Summary: it's no JC...
Review: i started reading ADF with Journey of the Catechist, and since i've red several of his books which have all been great, but here i just couldn't get into either one of the main chracters. As charecter's being one of the main backings for how i enjoy books, it really lost something in it for me. Still a good plot, and as an epic history it's wonderful... if only he'd done more character dev!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as hoped
Review: I'd been hoping ADF would one day continue the early days of the Commonwealth. Nor Crystal Tears is still my favorite first contact novel and my favorite Humanx universe book besides Tar-Aiym Krang and The End of the Matter. Sadly, Phylogenesis was only so-so. The plot meandered along and somehow I couldn't care as much about either Montoya or Desvendapur as I did about Ryozenzuzex from NCT or the early, young Flinx. Phylogenesis was very obviously intended as "part one" of a series, trilogy, whatever. If so, it was a strange set-up, without wanting to give too much away.
Rating: 
Summary: Substandard
Review: I've read a great many of the works of Alan Dean Foster, and this particular novel is a major disappointment. The book is clumsily structured and annoyingly cuts back and forth to multiple viewpoints for little benefit. The authorial voice itself, with its omniscient point of view and knowledge of future events, is also irritating and serves only to dispel whatever minimal suspense exists. There's very much a sense that Mr. Foster is not even too terribly interested in his own story here. It ends very abruptly and the conclusion lacks any satisfying emotional payoff of any kind. The Thranx character, Desvandepur, is vividly depicted and could have easily carried a better book. The human protagonist, Cheelo, is just another indistinguishable grifter, and his own tales adds nothing to the action. Mr. Foster is quite talented and has written many novels, set in his Humanx Commonwealth and elsewhere, that offer rich and involving stories. This is definitely not one of them. It adds nothing to his own Commonwealth setting and generally is just quite poor. I'm at a loss to explain why he even bothered to write this.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi version of the odd couple
Review: It's not a book I'd put on a list of great science fiction, but it's nonetheless an entertaining read. It's a story of two characters, one a poet named Desvendapur from an insect like alien race known as the Thranx, and the other a human thief named Cheelo Montoya, who through a series of events become unlikely traveling partners. There's no high drama at play in the story. No planets about to be destroyed or alien swarms about to invade. It brought to mind any number of buddy movies I've seen, only with a science fiction twist. I haven't read any of the other books in the commonwealth series, so I can't comment on how the book compares with the others, but if you're looking for some light entertainment, this book fits the bill.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: My only other contact with the commonwealth was "Nor Crystal Tears", which was also great. The 2 main characters feel very real, and the story builds to a satisfying conclusion considering this is a series. Easily a stand alone book, although I look forward to the next one.
| 
