Phylogenesis is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...

. 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

Humanx Commonwealth

The Humanx Commonwealth is a fictional interstellar ethical/political entity featured in the science fiction novels of Alan Dean Foster. The Commonwealth takes its name from its two major sapient species, who jointly inhabit Commonwealth planets and administer both the political and...

 which began in his 1982 novel Nor Crystal Tears

Nor Crystal Tears

Nor Crystal Tears is a first contact novel written by Alan Dean Foster about the meeting of the insectoid Thranx and Man. This sets in motion the creation of the Humanx Commonwealth; the political body that is the union of human and thranx society which forms the foundation for many of Foster's...

. 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 lead 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

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...

 on Terra

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 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

• Desvendapur - The primary thranx protagonist of the novel. Desvendapur (or simply "Des" when in very relaxed situation) is a young, anti-social, unmated, reclusive thranx poet who is both rejected and pitied by his peers despite his intelligence. When he hears word that there may be a small human settlement on his homeworld of Willow-Wane he eagerly seeks entry, feeling that the monstrous humans will provide an untapped source of poetic inspiration that will lead to his masterpiece. In his enthusiasm he unintentionally leads to the death of a thranx pilot and takes the job of assistant food preparator for the human colony under the name Desvenbapur. Under his new identification he comes is invited to take-part in what he believes to be a journey to the human colony on Hivehom, but turns out to be an assignment on a secret Thranx colony on Terra meant as a plan to integrate thranx and human cultures. Des is the student of infamous Willow-Wane thranx poet Wuuzelansem, who was a primary character in Alan Dean Foster's human-thranx first contact
  First contact (anthropology)
  First contact is a term describing the first meeting of two cultures previously unaware of one another. One notable example of first contact is that between the Spanish and the Arawak in 1492....
  
   novel Nor Crystal Tears
  Nor Crystal Tears
  Nor Crystal Tears is a first contact novel written by Alan Dean Foster about the meeting of the insectoid Thranx and Man. This sets in motion the creation of the Humanx Commonwealth; the political body that is the union of human and thranx society which forms the foundation for many of Foster's...
  
  . Much like his teacher, Desvendapur is willing to go to extremes in order to find inspiration for his poetry.
• Cheelo Montoya - A common thief who dreams big, Cheelo flees deep into the Amazon Rainforest after a mugging goes sour and he becomes wanted for murder. By chance he stumbles upon the curious Thranx poet Desvendapur and the two eventually form a friendship. Unwittingly, by the end of the novel he becomes an infamous figure in the founding of the Humanx Commonwealth, becoming somewhat of a mockery of fame.

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

Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

 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

The Tar-Aiym Krang

The Tar-Aiym Krang is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It is Foster’s first published novel and started both his Humanx Commonwealth universe and his two most popular recurring characters, Pip and Philip Lynx...

, and can also serve as a splendid introduction to both the Commonwealth and its creator."

External links

• Alan Dean Foster homepage