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cerv's review
4.0
Protagonist gets a catgirl* waifu and decides he has to rescue her regardless of the cost to him. What fun.
*at least that's what I decided she was anyways.
*at least that's what I decided she was anyways.
nakedsteve's review
4.0
So I read this book, long, long ago, back when I was a teenage boy. I mean, heck, there were naked ladies on the cover. It was one of the handful of science fiction novels that graced the bookshelves in my home.
And what I remembered from that time was: skin, tails, and a story about what it meant to be called "human".
Then it popped back into my head last week for some reason or another, and I decided to see if Project Gutenberg had a copy. Lo and behold! Out of copyright now, the novel is indeed in the public domain, and it was just one click away to find a copy installed on my ebook reader.
It's a story set in a galaxy of incredibly species-ist humanity, with thousands of worlds settled and with extermination being a prime tool of the terraforming process. Our protagonist is a veterinarian hired by a livestock company to help keep their product healthy. One of their products (and the focus of the story) is the Lani people, who are, ostensibly, non-human but humanoid, with long prehensile tails and a disdain for clothing. Clearly intelligent, and easily able to converse with their "owners," this whole situation is clearly a slavers delight.
The story is the story of the Lani People's origin and the truth of their genetic link to humanity.
It's great. The images still tickle my fancy. I'm also a white guy miles away from actual slavery. Does this story treat the concept of slavery with the care that modern sensibilities demand? Probably not. It doesn't treat women very well either, which is unfortunate. Some other reviewer mentioned how odd it seemed that with thousands of years and thousands of planets, this society seemed to be living in 1960. And _that_, my dear readers, is _exactly_ the feel of this book. It's not bad; it's fun in its own way. But it's _definitely_ 60s material.
I truly hope humanity never finds its way to the bigoted ends that this novel posits. By all means, let's all live naked, but it's _life_ that should be respected as we travel the stars, not just humanity.
4 of 5 stars.
And what I remembered from that time was: skin, tails, and a story about what it meant to be called "human".
Then it popped back into my head last week for some reason or another, and I decided to see if Project Gutenberg had a copy. Lo and behold! Out of copyright now, the novel is indeed in the public domain, and it was just one click away to find a copy installed on my ebook reader.
It's a story set in a galaxy of incredibly species-ist humanity, with thousands of worlds settled and with extermination being a prime tool of the terraforming process. Our protagonist is a veterinarian hired by a livestock company to help keep their product healthy. One of their products (and the focus of the story) is the Lani people, who are, ostensibly, non-human but humanoid, with long prehensile tails and a disdain for clothing. Clearly intelligent, and easily able to converse with their "owners," this whole situation is clearly a slavers delight.
The story is the story of the Lani People's origin and the truth of their genetic link to humanity.
It's great. The images still tickle my fancy. I'm also a white guy miles away from actual slavery. Does this story treat the concept of slavery with the care that modern sensibilities demand? Probably not. It doesn't treat women very well either, which is unfortunate. Some other reviewer mentioned how odd it seemed that with thousands of years and thousands of planets, this society seemed to be living in 1960. And _that_, my dear readers, is _exactly_ the feel of this book. It's not bad; it's fun in its own way. But it's _definitely_ 60s material.
I truly hope humanity never finds its way to the bigoted ends that this novel posits. By all means, let's all live naked, but it's _life_ that should be respected as we travel the stars, not just humanity.
4 of 5 stars.
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