Rogue Winter cruza un inmoral Circuito Solar -desde el Paraíso de los Placeres Carnales hasta las cámaras de tortura del asteroride Tritón- en busca de su amante, una titánida polimorfa. Coronado rey de los maoríes, Rogue se enfrentará a una secta japochina que pone en jaque el futuro del sistema solar... Escasas en cantidad, inconmensurables en calidad, cada nueva novela de Alfred Bester ha supuesto una conmoción en el género. "Los impostores" es una novela vívida y vertiginosa dotada de una fascinante intensidad y marcada por un ritmo endiablado.

I had fairly low expectations for this one, but not nearly low enough. I kept thinking it would get better, but instead it found ways to get even worse. I guess there is kind of symmetry to an author whose first novel is one of the greatest novels in science fiction and whose final novel must be one of the worst novels in science fiction. World building, plot and characters are consistently awful, and the bravura storytelling of the early novels is nowhere in evidence (although we do get a bit of the author's typesetting play). Oh, well. ( )

My reactions to reading this book in 1990. Spoilers follow.

This is Bester’s last novel. In one way, it’s a fitting end to his career because it’s a scrap heap of a novel. There are elements of practically every sf story or novel of Bester’s here, welded together in a plot that, while witty and full of occassionally dazzling detail and decadence, is not very exciting and lacks the blazing finale of his The Stars My Destination or The Demolished Man. The elements of other Bester works are: the sensitivity of Rogue Winter to patterns reminds one of the “The Pi Man” and his Moari past reminds us of Gully Foyle’s tiger tatoo in The Stars My Destination; there is passing reference to the title number 5,271,009; Thomas Young as Manchu duke hearkens back to a similar Chinese secret organization in the later novel; the attempted rehabilitation of Young using dolphins hearkens back to Reich’s rehabilitation in The Demolished Man; the children of Demi Jeroux and Rogue Winter being the next step in evolution reminds one of the climaxes of Golem100 and The Stars My Destination; the con games remind one of Bester’s “Star Light, Star Bright”.

There are points of interest here. The idea of a zero-g chef is almost worth reading the book for, the sexual decadence of all sorts -- remarked on explicitly enough to be sure of what’s described but not lingering in detail -- is more explicit than any of Bester’s other works, and the idea of each planet and satellite belonging to a different nation or culture was wonderfully space opera-ish (And, as I recall, nary a word of terraforming to make Venus and other worlds habitable). The Manchu deathlock on Meta, that entropy reversing substance, was, I suppose, something of a satire on Arabs and oil or, perhaps, a manifestation of American unease at Japan (really getting started in 1981, date of the book’s publication). Bester does throw in some interesting science with the fluid inclusions on Titania and inclusions within inclusions ad infinitum reminds me of the fractal elements of chaos theory. There is a passing reference, of the unfortunately literal type, to the Gaia hypothesis.

Stylistically, the novel is interesting. There are typographical elements, question and answer exposition, a script/play format (also used in Golem100), and shifting first person narrative -- I liked the main narrator being an intelligence operative and not one of the main characters.

Still, though I liked this novel, I can’t help but thinking it may just have been published to coincide with Golem100’s paperback release. It doesn’t have Bester’s usual vigor though it does have his style and wit. I suspect this may have been a story just laying around or previously rejected before Golem100 was printed. This may explain why so many critical books after 1981 fail to mention this novel. ( )

As best I can recall, this book was an unreadable jumble of outlandish and improbable events. Pretty much devolved into a total gibberish plot with terrible dialogue, I think.