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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
My first John Scalzi, and while a breezy, entertaining read on the whole, the elements I didn't enjoy were severe enough to downgrade it from a 4 to 3.
The good - I walked into this expecting an easy read, and it was. Dialogue heavy with little description, little to no internal monologue, and no treatises on orbital mechanics (looking at you, Neal Stephenson). There are moments of genuine, laugh out loud humour - particularly in the banter among the characters. Watching incompetent, inherited, plain cruel billionaires get their comeuppance is always satisfying, alien world or not, and there's that in this book.
The rules it sets up for drawing its narrative thrust from - mostly around courtroom drama and legal trickery - it obscures and reveals, teases and satisfies, very well. The plotting is exquisite. There were several occasions where I looked back and went 'a-ha!' at the setup. The pacing is masterful. The story, for me, started out strong - I particularly like how we were introduced to the fuzzies - and finished somewhat weakly, but I'm trying to bypass the peak-end effect and recognise it as good on the whole.
The bad? The first thing is this book was not framed the way I'd expected (or hoped). Because, as I said before, its narrative tension comes from it being at the core a... legal drama. Yes, that's right. The gleeful discussion of contractual shenanigans early on should have been a clue, but I didn't catch on right away. While John Scalzi's breezy, witty, bantering tone makes it possibly the most palatable legal drama I could consume, it's still not my favourite framing at all. What sort of framing would I have enjoyed? Hard to say - one thing I'd hoped for was an interesting framing of the position of animals in an alien ecosystem, a braver or at least more novel moral stance, but again, without spoiling anything, it doesn't do anything with this at all. It takes a very straightforward and boring, but not controversial view.
The characters are paper-thin. Women characters, even the ones that are important on paper (ha!), are barely there. There's a ton of macho verbal peacockery that I found amusing for a while, but got bored a third through the book. Conversations between men and women generally fell along gender stereotypes - men being rational and women being emotional. Don't get me wrong. None of this stuff is shocking or controversial, just uninteresting to me. (Also, I know this book is based on an earlier work which I haven't read, so I don't know how much of this is just being faithful to the original.)
Some internal monologue might have helped too, but there was none. In fact, the absence of internal monologue for Jack's motivations was a big plot-driver in the second half - why is he doing what he's doing? But the apparent dilemma he was facing, while interesting to begin with, was so forcefully repeated, that I grew bored.
Overall, it was a snappy read, well written, funny, with a pretty good story and a heart, and if the framing and light characterisation doesn't absolutely turn you off, definitely worth a read.
The good - I walked into this expecting an easy read, and it was. Dialogue heavy with little description, little to no internal monologue, and no treatises on orbital mechanics (looking at you, Neal Stephenson). There are moments of genuine, laugh out loud humour - particularly in the banter among the characters. Watching incompetent, inherited, plain cruel billionaires get their comeuppance is always satisfying, alien world or not, and there's that in this book.
The rules it sets up for drawing its narrative thrust from - mostly around courtroom drama and legal trickery - it obscures and reveals, teases and satisfies, very well. The plotting is exquisite. There were several occasions where I looked back and went 'a-ha!' at the setup. The pacing is masterful. The story, for me, started out strong - I particularly like how we were introduced to the fuzzies - and finished somewhat weakly, but I'm trying to bypass the peak-end effect and recognise it as good on the whole.
The bad? The first thing is this book was not framed the way I'd expected (or hoped). Because, as I said before, its narrative tension comes from it being at the core a... legal drama. Yes, that's right. The gleeful discussion of contractual shenanigans early on should have been a clue, but I didn't catch on right away. While John Scalzi's breezy, witty, bantering tone makes it possibly the most palatable legal drama I could consume, it's still not my favourite framing at all. What sort of framing would I have enjoyed? Hard to say - one thing I'd hoped for was an interesting framing of the position of animals in an alien ecosystem, a braver or at least more novel moral stance, but again, without spoiling anything, it doesn't do anything with this at all. It takes a very straightforward and boring, but not controversial view.
The characters are paper-thin. Women characters, even the ones that are important on paper (ha!), are barely there. There's a ton of macho verbal peacockery that I found amusing for a while, but got bored a third through the book. Conversations between men and women generally fell along gender stereotypes - men being rational and women being emotional. Don't get me wrong. None of this stuff is shocking or controversial, just uninteresting to me. (Also, I know this book is based on an earlier work which I haven't read, so I don't know how much of this is just being faithful to the original.)
Some internal monologue might have helped too, but there was none. In fact, the absence of internal monologue for Jack's motivations was a big plot-driver in the second half - why is he doing what he's doing? But the apparent dilemma he was facing, while interesting to begin with, was so forcefully repeated, that I grew bored.
Overall, it was a snappy read, well written, funny, with a pretty good story and a heart, and if the framing and light characterisation doesn't absolutely turn you off, definitely worth a read.
I kind of like reading retellings, because I can blame all the weird deus-ex-machina plotting on the source material.
It's funny, I just told someone that Scalzi was a master at writing likable characters and along came Jack Holloway. The character appeared to fulfill his intended purpose but it was a mite painful to get there.
This is a great book for someone with an environmental or public interest streak. Definitely a strong 'down with the man' theme.
It's funny, I just told someone that Scalzi was a master at writing likable characters and along came Jack Holloway. The character appeared to fulfill his intended purpose but it was a mite painful to get there.
This is a great book for someone with an environmental or public interest streak. Definitely a strong 'down with the man' theme.
Jack Holloway is a dis-barred lawyer working as a surveyor on the planet Zara 23 when he makes two huge discoveries in one day, both of which have the potential to change his life and the life of everyone on the planet. The first, a seam of precious stones that could make him a billionaire, seems to be the biggest find of his life - until he gets home, that is. There, he meets a small fuzzy creature who charms him and his dog, and may just be sentient. As Jack tries to look out for himself, as he has always done, he begins to find himself looking out for the fuzzies, and taking on the biggest corporation in the galaxy.
Narrated by Wil Wheaton, who does an excellent job.
This is an authorized reboot of a 1950/1960s era sci-fi novel, Little Fuzzy.
Narrated by Wil Wheaton, who does an excellent job.
This is an authorized reboot of a 1950/1960s era sci-fi novel, Little Fuzzy.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death
Minor: Colonisation
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes