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A review by michaeldrakich
The Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven
4.0
An enjoyable guesstimate of colonizing an alien world where life forms already exist including one super predator nick-named a grendel after the famous epic Beowulf. The struggle between the colonists and the grendels is some excellent science fiction horror/action with a detailed ecosystem as to why the grendels are so terrifying. The background setting of how the colony was established and how it operated is well thought out. No FTL, the mission involves the colonists in deep-freeze hibernation and a one-way trip. In other words, survive on the new world or die. There are no other options. Based on the first half of this book, my leaning was for a 5 star review as it is well written, with unique characters. Only mildly disappointing was the highly predictable crisis that leads to the novel's climax. I knew almost from the start what was coming but was willing to wait and see how it played out. What followed is what I consider a soft landing at the end. Still, all in all, this was an enjoyable novel and worth reading.
If you've read this far and don't want a spoiler, stop here.
The concept of the samlon (the local fish) turning into grendels was terribly predictable. How the authors could have better hidden that fact may have been impossible, but the existence of other fish might have helped. As to the ending, the fact the grendels simply stop attacking the humans when the entire novel showed them as having an insatiable hunger was weak. If I had written this novel I would have gone for an ending that the authors had totally set up but didn't use. The grendels are like frogs and the samlons are like tadpoles. After the final battle where the grendel horde is beaten back, a more fitting ending would be no more samlon as the catfish introduced into the ecosystem by the colonists ate all the eggs. It would have worked better than, all of a sudden, the grendels becoming meek.
If you've read this far and don't want a spoiler, stop here.
The concept of the samlon (the local fish) turning into grendels was terribly predictable. How the authors could have better hidden that fact may have been impossible, but the existence of other fish might have helped. As to the ending, the fact the grendels simply stop attacking the humans when the entire novel showed them as having an insatiable hunger was weak. If I had written this novel I would have gone for an ending that the authors had totally set up but didn't use. The grendels are like frogs and the samlons are like tadpoles. After the final battle where the grendel horde is beaten back, a more fitting ending would be no more samlon as the catfish introduced into the ecosystem by the colonists ate all the eggs. It would have worked better than, all of a sudden, the grendels becoming meek.