Polymorph

by Scott Westerfeld

Lee can change her gender and ethnicity at will, allowing her to slip freely through New York society. She thought she was the only "polymorph"... until a chance encounter with another of her kind. Now it's up to Lee to stop the renegade shapeshifter who is plotting to control the information technology in a postindustrial world, where illusion wear the face of reality, and the prize is power absolute...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Young Adult, Fantasy, Adult, Dystopia

276 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Scott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.

The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.

Reviews

[SR · Rating 4 out of 5]

TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR EVERYTHING: hamfisted handling of LGBT, gender, dis/ability, and race issues - I mean, you can see he's generally decent and has thought carefully about things for at least five minutes or so - probably a lot more, I am not giving him enough credit as I am writing this review at 3AM having just finished the book - but his overwhelming straight white dude-ness nevertheless manifests somewhat unpleasantly every so often. Also, sexual assault.

This book outshines everything else Westerfeld has written aside from maybe Peeps. Dude should rock out with the cyberpunk/biopunk/horror/erotica thing a little more.

[Elizabeth Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would've given this one four stars, except it suffers from some INCREDIBLY bad pacing about halfway through. I mean the first half you're following the main character around as she uses her shape-shifting talent to worm her way into all the right clubs and hook up with all the right people, and then we get SO BOGGED DOWN with the search for the bad guy. Pages and PAGES and pages of ...tracking them through the computer. And looking at their finances. And logging into the main library to find the restaurant that zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... I mean the description of the OPERA they went to just DEFIES imagination with its boring-ness. By the time it picks up again I'd already gotten really annoyed with the story, and despite a pretty excellent ending that Westerfeld had been setting up for the entire book without you knowing it, I was still kinda ticked. Still a fun read for the most part though, just be prepared to start skimming at times.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one has been on the TBR list for years. I finally found a reasonably-priced copy -- but now that I've read it, I'm kind of sorry I did. It's set in a rather grim dystopian near-future NYC, and the main character, a shape-changer sometimes known as Lee, becomes something of a monster by the book's end. It does move right along, and is a decent first-novel effort -- but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Horror fans may like it. I liked it, mostly, up to when the casual murders started. 2.5 stars, rounded down for the horror stuff, and the ending. Lots of weird sex and violence. Caveat lector.

[Emily Buehler]

I struggled with how to rate this because I couldn't decide if it is the book or me.

It was too graphic for me right from the start, but I kept going because it was Scott Westerfeld and I've loved all his other books. The violence and sex calmed down after a few chapters, and I enjoyed the story--couldn't put it down. I also began to like Lee, the protagonist, as the story progressed--she became more human when she formed relationships with Freddie and Sam, and she was admirably endangering herself to save the lives of others.

Toward the end, when Lee terrorizes the opera writer and tells Freddie she was doing it to get them out of the building safely (which didn't make any sense), I started to dislike her again. She continued to be harsh and mean. I thought that maybe it was just poor writing--to have a character suddenly acting different. But then the ending came and I realized it did make sense, because Lee really is going to turn into a horrible monster. After scenes ten times as graphic as the initial ones (torture! mutilation! violence! rape!), the bad guy is finally defeated, and I breathed a sigh of relief, glad I only had one chapter to go, thinking it would be easy... and then I read the last page, in which it is revealed that Lee will terrorize Freddie and, I presumed, use her new-found power to do evil. I felt horrible.

I put the book down but couldn't stop thinking about it. It makes me feel ill each time I remember the ending. I can't decide if I should keep it on the shelf with all my other Westerfeld books, or pass it on so I never have to see it again. I know authors can write whatever they want, and such a haunting ending must be good writing, right? But I feel betrayed.

So I hated it, but I rated it as average because I thought the plot was satisfying. On the down side, there were hints of an interesting history and world, but never enough information to make it truly interesting--at first a hint might be enough, but by the end I was tired of the hints never developing into anything more substantial. I wondered if there was a complete world built behind the story or not. I think it is worth reading, but only if the violence will not upset you.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Westerfeld's first book. And kind of a doozy. Definitely not ya. In your face sex and violence and a bit more obvious with gender fluidity. Dark. Cyberpunky. Not a lot of explanations. But cool world. And didn't fall into too many rat traps considering the age. I really wished he'd go back to adult sf at least every so often.

[Hoyt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really hard to find, but worth the search, in my opinion. I really liked it. The setting of the book reminded me a lot of William Gibson's work, which helped to sell it for me. The central premise of the book (the polymorphing) was handled in a very interesting way, and the main character of the book was quite complex.

I would have liked to learn more of the back story on the big bad, since the end of the story came a bit quickly, but overall quite a good first novel.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another early Westerfeld novel. Lots of sex, plenty of violence, and an examination of how the way we look affects everything else about who we are. Plus, more sex and violence.

[Chandler Atkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Westerfeld is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I was very excited to finally get my hands on a copy of his first book. While the story is interesting, it leans too much into heavy descriptions which take you out of the reading. I also found the gender essentialism/transphobia pretty hard to swallow,

Also a heads up - theres quite a violent rape scene near the end that I was not prepared for.

[Gwynne Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This post is copied directly from my blog, featured on wellreadwith dot com

“Polymorph” is a HELL of a drug. You might even say it was a...transformative read… This book is a thrill ride of erotica, post-apoc, and espionage. The story follows Lee, a person capable of changing her appearance at will based on anything she can imagine. These changes include superficial, musculoskeletal, and physiological. For the most part she uses her gift of anonymity to spice up her dating life, but this tale follows her having to utilize it to stop the only other polymorph she’s ever encountered. A villain who while they are not particularly villainous, is such a massive douche that you just want them to get their comeuppance. This review is laced with spoilers and talking points, so if you are considering tracking down this out of print treasure, please be aware.

I will preface this particular essay with a warning that this book was written in the mid-nineties. The language used in the book is NOT a representation of the current character of the author Scott Westerfeld, and does not represent his feelings towards any particular marginalized groups or those that fall into them. The language wasn’t really seen as inappropriate at the time, especially by people on the edgier side of thinking. That being said, I will omit the language from my personal sentiments of the book, but will keep it in place if quoting the text. This is also your fair warning that this book contains several fairly detailed sex scenes, and at least one graphic depiction of rape. The rape is plot-relevant, however. There are also elements of gore and body horror in play.

This book is a really cool specimen because not only is this Westerfeld’s first published work, it also scratched a very latent itch in my soul for the old-fashioned wordy sci-fi that our parents bought us by the milk crate at yard sales twenty years ago. It is equal parts futuristic and tired of the banality of the landscape the characters live in, and it really captures the essence of a feeling of embitterment about your home. I also found the handling of the gender fluidity of the protagonist and antagonist extremely progressive given this novel’s age. The author seamlessly switches between pronouns as Lee shifts into a male form during the second act of the story, and seamlessly back when he returns to Lee.

The amount of research put into the tech of this story is also fascinating. Lee, tired of merely copying things on the streets has at some point found her way into college in order to steal data disks of anatomy and physiology in order to give herself strange and new mutations, as well as experiment with the absolute limits of human tissues. I’ll admit that this particular attribute of hers gave me extreme echoes of the popular Youtube series “Monster Factory”, which really helped me picture the mutations Lee comes up with. There is also fairly accurate handling of old BBS message boards integrated with the not too distant technologies of VR and AR. It was like a time capsule of things that I was just too young to interact with.

Westerfeld also does a stunning job with giving polymorphism rules. Rules that we are introduced to at the same rate the protagonist is, with Lee’s understanding deepening throughout the narrative and a lovely passive growth. In the beginning of the story, Lee uses her powers while on a one night stand with recurring character Freddie to integrate her nervous tissue with his, and completely erase his carpal tunnel syndrome. For no other reason than to see if she could do it. This whole scene is painted against the backdrop of particularly erotic descriptions of their tryst, yet another staple of those old, yellowed yard sale novels mentioned above.

Lee lets on very early on that she enjoys picking body shapes and mutations that garner attention but just enough to cause someone to glance twice. She introduces her polymorphy to us by mutating her hands into a pair of gnarled claws which become her calling card of sorts. We are also treated to the gory details (literally) of Lee’s transformation into Milica, in which her entire physiology changes from female to male. The descriptions are equal parts scientific and something straight out of Hannibal. She also changes her skin color as well as giving herself the illusion of facial hair and scarification to match her character.

Much later in the narrative as Lee is tracking Bonita/o, we learn that Polymorphs are also capable of rearranging their organs and using this talent to defy death. Through journals kept by Bonita/o we find out that as an adolescent he took great joy in rearranging himself and causing himself extreme trauma just to see if he could recover from it and beat death. Following their final scuffle where Lee absorbs part of Bonita/o’s tissue, Lee is also able to do this.

The depictions of New York are also a staple of Westerfeld’s work. He seems particularly fond of the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn, as it is referenced nearly a decade later in “So Yesterday” as well. He does a spectacular job of putting a face to a landscape ravaged by years of crumbling and being band-aided, something not usually done in the genre, and extremely welcome. Being able to pull up the neighborhoods on a map, or even a wiki about the places and events adds a tinge of relatability to the content and keeps you from forming your own mental holodeck.

This book was actually kind of spectacular. It suffers greatly from pacing issues that were standard in the genre, but makes up for it in vivid detail and easy to imagine storytelling. Characters who were meant to be mysterious unfolded slowly before us, and I never once felt like the narrator was “keeping something” from me. The story had a meandering way of getting there, but it had a clearly defined beginning and ending. And Bonita/o still got what he deserved, because he was a raging douche canoe.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I really liked Westerfeld's more recent works I decided to give a read also to his first novel.

I didn't like the first part of the novel in which the author is describing Lee/Milica lifestyle among parties and casual sexual encounters. But then, when Lee/Milica, Freddye and Sam, started looking for Bonito it became more interesting. Still I'm not sure that Bonito was a real threat to Lee's life, apart from the fact that it obviously made her felt way less special.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Westerfeld's writing style and it's clear it was firmly in place right out of the gate. The story itself was a little uneven - most of the other reviewers have described why more succinctly than I can.

[Leif Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read this book, I had never heard of Scott Westerfield, and I had no idea what to expect. It was very good.

[Peter Okeafor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyed this book. It has a very unique take on shapeshifters.

[Natalie Schloss · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was interesting? like there was definitely potential here, i just think like someone else could take this concept and do it better

VERY glad i saw the first couple reviews that warned for the rape scene at the end - i usually don't look at reviews on here before i read something, so at least i knew it was coming

i liked freddie and sam a lot, i wished we'd gotten to see sam again since they ditched him at the opera but maybe it's for the best if he stays the fuck out of it considering what lee turned into. favorite line from freddie: "i hate this town, i'm sleeping with the devil's ex girlfriend"

anyway i do wish some things had been better explained/fleshed out. i understand not going into lee's entire backstory and just giving snippets because lee hasn't morphed into her original self in a long time. but like hey, why does she have multiple stomachs, did she do that to herself or is that just A Thing she's always had because how would that not have been found out when she was a child. and hey how old are these characters, they're all adults right? bonito, yeah, obviously, but there was that bit where freddie said he spent the first seventeen years of his life as a virgin, like i hope they're not saying he's seventeen NOW and that lee is an adult. like yeah he lives on his own, but she started living on her own as a teenager too, so...it just wasn't clear but i'm gonna assume everyone we met is an adult

and like okay lee is Like That at the end of the book because of the connection with bonito right? like part of him took root inside her? i figure it works like that the way lee was able to heal freddie earlier (which like, she wasn't perfect, but that was a very kind thing to do for a stranger and it sucks it went the way it did in the end). but also like, lee was also going down that path? did she MEAN to kill that guard? she certainly didn't have to, it was completely senseless.

also i figured it would be really almost impossible to kill bonito based on his notes and everything, i figured like, you gotta chop off the head or something lmao and it just sounded like she shot him a bunch and stuff but whatever, like that was the only satisfying part of the ending to me. it's definitely the kind of ending that sticks with you because it's so chilling, but it just felt like the way she shifted from wanting to save sean and ed from bonito to not caring who she hurts in order to stop him was so abrupt, so it didn't feel fully believable to me that she would change that fast

[Cassy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s really more like 3.5 stars.

It’s definitely obvious that this is Westerfeld’s first novel. He hasn’t really found his voice yet, his writing isn’t as polished as his other books and I feel like this story wasn’t quite as fleshed out yet.

The book was a little hard to get into, which made it a slower read than I thought. And while it definitely picked up pace, I feel like a lot of the story was left out.

I never did totally figure out Bonita’s motives (other than money, I guess? Was she going to become King? What was the end game?) You never really learn about the other polymorphs. And I feel like the peripheral characters weren’t fleshed out as much as in his other books.

But I like this slightly dystopian future. I like Lee and how they take advantage of their abilities. Once the story line got going, I liked the plot and its movement and it’s excitement.

Not sure how I felt about the constant pronoun changes. It kind of gave the indication that your gender was tied to your genitalia, which we know is incorrect (and Lee, while she was born female, never specifies how she feels either way in terms of her gender, but I got the feeling she’d identify as female, while Bonita clearly views himself as male.)

But it was also written in 1997, so correct pronoun usage wasn’t really a thing yet. I feel like if he had written it now, Westerfeld would be a little more conscious about it. I kind of feel like for ‘97 it’s sending a clear signal that gender is incredibly fluid and changeable, which I liked.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but probably not enough to reread it.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was intrigued by the setup, but the pacing of the central conflict and especially the arc of the main character took it from 3 to 2 stars.

[Flint · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gifted with the ability to change her gender and ethnicity at will, a young woman moves anonymously through a futuristic New York City society. She thinks she's unique...until she happens upon another of her kind, one who is all-too willing to use his abilities for his own sinister ends. Now she must stop this renegade shape-shifter out to seize control of the entire post-industrial world where illusion wears the face of reality and the ultimate prize is absolute power!

That is the synopsis to the book as presented on Goodreads. Sounds interesting right? Unfortunately what it doesn't tell you is that it's a complete overexaggeration if not an outright lie, of what you will actually find within the pages. The antagonist does virtually nothing you would consider "sinister" in the book. He certainly has made no plans to seize control of anything. Milica uses her powers to look good, remain anonymous and go to night clubs and have sex. That's basically the entire book, with the exception of her meeting another polymorph ("Bonito") for the first time. At this point in the story this character is nothing more than a scammer with the potential to be more, but none of this evolves into anything, because Westerfeld is saving it for book 2 and beyond. It would seem to me that "Polymorph" was meant as an very early and drawn out introduction to future books involving this world. As a standalone book it completely fails.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Westerfeld's first book, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as his more recent ones. The protagonist can change her physical body at will, including gender and ethnicity. When she meets another polymorph, things get very complicated and dangerous. Lee, Freddie, & Sam were rich characters, and I liked watching Lee's assumptions about herself change over the course of the book. I found Bonito a bit too one dimensional, simply evil. And I was dissatisfied with a few threads the author left hanging: for example, there seemed to be more to the Hillary Wilson story than we were told. An in particular, I'm not certain I like the ending. There's more than one way to read the last sentence, and I'm really unhappy with one of the possible interpretations.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this book because it was Westerfeld, but really didn't like it compared to his other works. There wasn't enough background information for me. I wanted to know more of the main character's life story (though I understand how he may be making a point of not giving her a backstory to emphasize her lack of identity and her feelings that identity aren't important).
I also wanted to understand better the setting; it seemed like it was a futuristic NYC, but what happened to get to that point and when in time is the story happening? These were questions that I think could have been answered in relatively little time/space that would have clarified more of what was going on for my personal edification.
This one just wasn't for me.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a sci-fi novel about a slacker shapeshifter who only uses her/his power to find one night stands and commit welfare fraud. If I could shapeshift I think I’d be a little bit more inventive. Massive identity theft carried out against my enemies. At the very least, I’d rob a bank or something. Or slander famous people by turning into them and doing something awful. I don’t know. It sort of backs away from the implications of what it would be like to change gender and ethnicity at will. Also there was way too much cyberpunk in this novel, which is objectively the worst sci-fi subgenre.

[Audrey Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Scott Westerfeld's work. Especially the Leviathan and Uglies series. You can tell this was his first book. I agree with some other reviews. The writing was chunky and slow in some parts and okay in others. The sex scenes were graphic. The danger didn't seem big enough. In the end Lee didn't find what she wanted. I struggled with parts of it and was almost glad to leave the world behind. It had some interesting concepts though.

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book a lot!
It was interesting and a page turner, I found I really liked the characters - especially Freddie who was such a good guy. I enjoyed the hacking talks and I liked the plot of the doppelganger.
The sex bits were a bit too weird for my liking, but I got through them easily. The ending was sent chills down my spine. Just the realization that Milica was just going to become the next Bonito and terrorize Freddie like that. Did not enjoy the ending.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting conceptually but lost me when it became a chase novel. I really would have enjoyed if the author had instead spent more time exploring the main characters navigation through morphing and maintaining a relationship. I felt this could have been a bit more psychological and sociologically meaningful. The ending was well done and thought provoking.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clever, well-written, and imaginative... but the book lost me a bit, especially at the end. It seemed like it couldn't decide whether to be a fast-paced adventure or a gritty, depressingly noir bit of cyberpunk. I like both, but indecision is a turn-off.

[Tani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. You could kind of see the roots of the Uglies series in this, but it wasn't nearly as good. I didn't really care for the main character, and the ending was a bit of a turn-off, even though I probably should have expected it.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bizarre... I liked it when I read it.. but a week or so later when I went saw it on my kindle I couldn't really remember it at all.. so read the last few pages and then went .. "ahh yeah... that thing"... so for that reason I give it 2 stars.. not because it was bad.. but because it was ok

[michelle]

8/11/06

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as enjoyable as some of his other books.

[Tessa in Mid-Michigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also grotesque and violent, but not as much. Finished it for the interesting story--serial killer.

[Ariana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept of this book, but it really wasn't for me. The story did improve as it went along, though.