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A review by alisonkillilea
The Legacy of Heorot by Jerry Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Larry Niven
1.0
If it weren't for the characters, this may not have been so bad. Firstly, there was the complete lack of character development:
Cadmann was the personification of the brooding male hero (and also the embodiment of fragile masculinity). He can do no wrong in the eyes of absolutely fucking everyone and is somehow smarter than everyone also (bearing in mind he is a soldier, while the majority of others are scientists). Even his handwriting is manly.
Carlos, thanks to the casual racism of the book, is the stereotypical 'Latin lover' from Argentina - he is promiscuous, but lovable, and says shit like "Madre de Dios" in times of action.
Literally all the women are pretty much the same - most are described in terms of their attractiveness, and all of them seem to want to bone Cadmann. The book is years behind in its portrayal of women. Jealous, silly, broody, wide-eyed ladies who the men need to protect.
All the other characters are interchangeable, and all seem to act like teenagers. The character development reminded me of that in Andy Weir's The Martian - SHIT (damn, I hated that book).
Besides characters, there was just bad writing all round - too many adverbs (why does everything have to be done 'deeply'), and "orgy of murder" was used TWICE on one page.
Also, for God's sake, can ye people not just rub your fucking dogs instead of "brushing them away".
Cadmann was the personification of the brooding male hero (and also the embodiment of fragile masculinity). He can do no wrong in the eyes of absolutely fucking everyone and is somehow smarter than everyone also (bearing in mind he is a soldier, while the majority of others are scientists). Even his handwriting is manly.
Carlos, thanks to the casual racism of the book, is the stereotypical 'Latin lover' from Argentina - he is promiscuous, but lovable, and says shit like "Madre de Dios" in times of action.
Literally all the women are pretty much the same - most are described in terms of their attractiveness, and all of them seem to want to bone Cadmann. The book is years behind in its portrayal of women. Jealous, silly, broody, wide-eyed ladies who the men need to protect.
All the other characters are interchangeable, and all seem to act like teenagers. The character development reminded me of that in Andy Weir's The Martian - SHIT (damn, I hated that book).
Besides characters, there was just bad writing all round - too many adverbs (why does everything have to be done 'deeply'), and "orgy of murder" was used TWICE on one page.
Also, for God's sake, can ye people not just rub your fucking dogs instead of "brushing them away".