SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this in 1998.

Milica Raznokovic, and that's not her real name, is a shape-changer, a "polymorph". She hasn't put this talent to any serious use. Indeed she's spent her life so far partying anonymously, each night in a different body enjoying casual sex and absolutely no personal attachments. She believed herself to be unique, and therefore free of convention's straightjacket. Then she meets another polymorph and this one is much more powerful the she and indeed is not a very nice person at all.

This stranger is the trigger that drags her out of her demimondaine existence and into the real world. In the process she learns just how powerful she too can become.

Westerfield manages this pretty well. It was his first novel, followed by "Fine Prey", which is very good. and "Evolution's Darling" which didn't quite make it anywhere.

What's it got? Wonderful, powerful descriptions of Milica changing body's physical characteristics. There's a lot of sex and anatomy - quite exciting but leaves you bone-tired. Finally, there's some entertaining computer hacking with the wonderful Universal Operating System.