
Book review: Heorot Series vol. 1 & 2
I listened to the two books in the Heorot series, The Legacy of Heorot, and Beowulf’s Children on my Audible app. The books were written by the team of Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steve Barnes. The first book was written in 1987, the second in 1995.
Although I go through periods when I read a lot of SF, I am not a fan of any of these authors. That is, other than the books under review, I haven’t read books by these men before. I used to read Pournelle’s articles in Byte.
I am not a fan of magic technology in SF. SF that assumes faster-than-light travel I find unbelievable. If such technology existed anywhere in the universe, wouldn’t the possessors of such powerful technology have visited us by now?
Luckily, the protagonist of the Heorot series does not possess such magic. Their journey to the far-off planet Avalon took 100 years and many colonists suffer from the effects of suspended animation.
The stories revolve around the colonists struggle to survive on the alien world. A seeming Eden, Avalon slowly reveals its darker side. The colonists, most of whom were selected for their scientific proficiency, are caught flatfooted when Avalon’s monsters, called grendels, attack Camelot–the colonists’ base. Although the colonists are all skilled in some manner, many if not most of them suffer brain damage due to suspended animation. This compromises their ability to respond and act together. Later in the sequel, this ‘ice on the brain’ leads to a serious division between the original, damaged colonists and their children–the natives of Avalon.
The authors are on firm ground when they write about science. The best part of the series by far is the believable portrayal of the alien species. The authors construct a gaggle of aliens that are simultaneously believable yet ‘alien.’ The book fails when they write about character motivations. The worst parts, unfortunately, there are many of them, are when the authors apply pop science to the psychology of the colonists. These passages also make the books feel dated.
The books also suffer from the written by committee syndrome. The pacing is all over the place. This is true for both books. Although it’s clear the authors worked from a shared plan, it seems at times that they didn’t bother to read what the others wrote.
The best book of the series is the first one. There are moments of high drama and the story holds together better than the sequel. The sequel, which deals largely with the children of the original colonists, has pages and pages of dreadful pop psychology. It was hard for me to like any of the characters. The story picks up toward the end but then ends abruptly. I assume a third book was planned but dropped.
After listening to the first book, I hesitated before buying the second. I regret I did and couldn’t wait for the second one to end. If there was a third book in the series, I wouldn’t buy it.
Having said that, I did pick up a ‘classic’ by this team, The Mote in Gods Eye. I do like SF filled with good science, so I’m going to give it a try. Plus, I am always looking for more audio books.
Rating:
2.5 out of 5 (3 for the first book; 2 for the second).
The narration by Tom Weiner was excellent, 4 out of 5. He handled a range of character voices well, save for the women.
Related
Archives
- June 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
Categories
- aesthetics
- Amusement Park series
- anecdotes
- art boards
- Art history
- Art Museums
- Artists
- Bio
- Books
- cameras
- Cleveland
- computers
- Culture
- current affairs
- Drawings
- etching
- Fiction
- Galleries
- games
- Grumpy review
- How to
- Main Street
- materials
- Movies
- Paintings
- pen and ink
- Photography
- podcast
- Politics
- Reviews
- Shop Talk
- Studio Corner
- thomasparkerhudson.com
- Thumbs-Up-Down
- Tips and Studies
- Turpentine diaries
- Uncategorized
- Vermilion, OH
- video
- war
- writing
- YouTube
Leave a Reply