A review by ravengrimsbane
Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

4.0

I need to start out by saying that I first read H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy trilogy when I was in middle school or high school, and it has become one of those books (it's an omnibus edition of the entire trilogy) that I re-read at least once a year. When I first heard about this book, I was under the impression it would be a continuation of Piper's story, not a re-imagining of it. When I found out what it really was, I was not sure I would ever read it, for how could it live up to the original? Obviously, I finally read it, and it's a good story; it couldn't compare to my fondness for the original, but if I had never read Piper's trilogy, I'd probably like it even more than I did. I think my biggest complaint is that Jack Holloway isn't nearly as sympathetic a character in Scalzi's interpretation (and no "Pappy Jack"!) I will admit that every time I reread the original, I am struck anew by how antiquated the technology in the book seems, this version resolves that issue - of course, assuming people are still reading it in 50 years, this version will suffer the same.