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A review by bzedan
Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper
5.0
Piper clearly has a thing about how native peoples are treated, which I was familiar with from Oomphel. This story was originally part of a set of novellas that were based on a seed idea written by Dr. Clark. He gave the writers two worlds to work with and they ran with it. Piper threw in the "Bengal uprising against English-held India" (as stated nicely in a very good introductory essay about Piper's work by John F. Carr). We are also introduced to the common theme of Piper's characters having a cocktail hour and smoking, something that is kind of both soothing and off-putting.
Seriously though, the intro essay is really great and pretty much covers the themes that made me want to tear through the Terro-Human series—
In these stories we see Terro-Humans at their best and at their worst: Individual heroism and bravery in the face of grave danger in Uller Uprising; Federation law and justice in Little Fuzzy and its sequels; and, in "Omnilingual" and "Naudsonce," the spirit of science and rational inquiry. Yet we also see colonial exploitation and subjugation in Uller Uprising and "Oomphel in the Sky," the greed and corruption of Chartered land companies in Little Fuzzy, and political corruption in Four-Day Planet. These stories are about a living Terro-Human culture, not a utopia.
Seriously though, the intro essay is really great and pretty much covers the themes that made me want to tear through the Terro-Human series—
In these stories we see Terro-Humans at their best and at their worst: Individual heroism and bravery in the face of grave danger in Uller Uprising; Federation law and justice in Little Fuzzy and its sequels; and, in "Omnilingual" and "Naudsonce," the spirit of science and rational inquiry. Yet we also see colonial exploitation and subjugation in Uller Uprising and "Oomphel in the Sky," the greed and corruption of Chartered land companies in Little Fuzzy, and political corruption in Four-Day Planet. These stories are about a living Terro-Human culture, not a utopia.