{"id":5773,"date":"2016-02-01T16:31:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T21:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2016-04-03T20:58:17","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T00:58:17","slug":"book-review-heorot-series-vol-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/book-review-heorot-series-vol-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Heorot Series vol. 1 & 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

I listened to the two books in the Heorot series, The Legacy of Heorot<\/a>, and Beowulf’s Children<\/a> on my Audible app. The books were written by the team of Larry Niven<\/a>, Jerry Pournelle<\/a>, and Steve Barnes<\/a>. \u00a0The first book was written in 1987, the second in 1995.<\/p>\n

Although I go through periods when I read a lot of SF, I am not a fan of any of these authors. \u00a0That is, other than the books under review, I haven’t read books\u00a0by these men before. \u00a0I used to read Pournelle’s articles in Byte<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I am not a fan of magic technology in SF. \u00a0 SF that assumes faster-than-light travel I find unbelievable. \u00a0If such technology existed anywhere in the universe, wouldn’t the possessors of such powerful technology have visited us by now?<\/p>\n

Luckily, the protagonist of the Heorot series does not possess such magic. \u00a0Their journey to the far-off planet Avalon took 100 years\u00a0and many colonists suffer from the effects of suspended animation.<\/p>\n

\"51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The stories revolve around the colonists struggle to survive on the alien world. \u00a0A seeming Eden, Avalon slowly reveals its darker side. \u00a0The colonists, most of whom were selected for their scientific proficiency, are caught flatfooted when Avalon’s monsters, called grendels, attack Camelot–the colonists’ base. \u00a0Although the colonists are all skilled in some manner, many if not most of them suffer brain damage due to suspended animation. \u00a0This compromises\u00a0their ability to respond and act together. \u00a0Later 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.<\/p>\n

The authors are on firm ground when they write about science. \u00a0The best part of the series by far is the believable portrayal of the\u00a0alien species. \u00a0The authors construct a gaggle of aliens that are simultaneously believable yet\u00a0‘alien.’ \u00a0 \u00a0The book fails when they write about character motivations. \u00a0The worst parts, unfortunately, there are many of them, are when the authors apply pop science to the psychology of the colonists. \u00a0These passages also make the books feel dated.<\/p>\n

The books also suffer from the written by committee syndrome. \u00a0The pacing is all over the place. \u00a0This is true for both books. \u00a0 Although it’s clear the authors worked from a shared plan, it seems at times that they didn’t bother to read what the\u00a0others\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n

The best book of the series is the first one. \u00a0There are\u00a0moments of high drama and the story holds together better than the sequel. \u00a0The sequel, which deals largely with the children of the original colonists, has pages and pages of dreadful pop psychology. \u00a0 It was hard for me to like any of the characters. \u00a0The story picks up toward the end but then ends abruptly. \u00a0I assume a third book was planned but dropped.<\/p>\n

After listening to the first book, I hesitated before buying the second. \u00a0I regret I did and couldn’t wait for the second one to end. \u00a0If there was a third book in the series, I wouldn’t buy it.<\/p>\n

Having said that, I did pick up a ‘classic’ by this team, The Mote in Gods Eye. \u00a0I do like SF filled with good science, so I’m going to give it a try. \u00a0Plus, I am always looking for more audio books.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.5 out of 5 (3 for the first book; 2 for the second).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The narration by Tom Weiner was excellent, 4 out of 5. He handled a range of character voices well, save for the women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u00a0The first book was written in 1987, the second in 1995. Although I go through periods when I read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":5775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[108,46,87],"tags":[301,300],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-reviews","category-thumbs-up-down","tag-audible-books","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/51VHVMntd9L._SX326_BO1204203200_.jpg?fit=328%2C499&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6416,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/what-i-am-reading-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":0},"title":"What I am reading","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"October 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a voracious reader. \u00a0Since I got acclimated to my Kindle (actually the Kindle app on my iPad mini), I think I am reading more than ever, which I didn't think possible. \u00a0Add my Audible app to the mix and my day is spent reading (or listening) to books\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9548,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/05\/grumpy-review-kindles\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":1},"title":"Grumpy review: Kindles","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I've used my Kindle Oasis for several years and thought I'd share my impressions with you. 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Perdido Street Station is a fantasy novel that also straddles the sci-fi and steampunk genres. The story is set in an indeterminate time and place that teems with Bosch-like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/slake.jpg?fit=474%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10844,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2022\/08\/book-review-lord-fouls-bane\/","url_meta":{"origin":5773,"position":3},"title":"Book review: Lord Foul’s Bane","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"August 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I am in the midst of another fiction-consuming binge. When I tire of listening to podcasts I fire up an audio book. Between listening to books and reading them with my Kobo e-Reader, I go through a lot of books. 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Russell was deeply involved with the social issues of his day and spent time in prison for his efforts--for his pacifists views during World War I, and again for his anti-nuke protests in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bertrand Russell","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/b-russell.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-1v7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}