Fuzzy Nation

This is a great, quick read. Couldn't put it down once I'd started late yesterday night. Now it's 5:00 AM, and here I am writing a review.

I kept picturing the lead character, Jack Holloway, as some sort of American Old-West Anti-Hero. The way he slid into the role of the fuzzies' protectors was both believable, and... satisfying. It helped that the story moved at a very brisk pace, spending just enough time on characters and settings. Events that occurred towards the end of the story even made me cry (a bit). I really can't remember the last time, that's happened.

Still, this is not a masterpiece. Superb, but not special. Hence, the four stars.

A scoundrel with good hearth protagonist, lives in a remote planet working as a harvester of precious minerals for a big company. He is lazy, lucky and a smart ass, the kind of guy who loves to do things his own way instead of by the books. There is basically one woman in the whole planet, an intelligent and beautiful Biologist, who happens to have fallen in love with him at one point but then they got separated, because the bad boy is not capable of maintaining a good adult relationship.

He accidentally finds out the motherload of precious minerals, and by “virtue” of his deviousness, he manages to obtain a big cut of the profits. By coincidence, the only sentient beings on the planet happens to reveal themselves to him. He contacts his old girlfriend, who is dating someone else, and asks her to help to investigate this new life form.

I stopped here, as this is already a very simple and predictable plot. He will find out that the sentient beings, who looks like big cats and looks oh so adorable, are somewhat being damaged by the planet exploration. he will have to choose between being rich or being moral, and because he will choose the latter, he will get his girl back as well.

This is very straightforward and too boring for me.

Read 1:42 / 7:18 23%

A short book but one of my favorites. Even better in the audio book version because Wil Wheaton reads it. He fits the part or the main character Jack Holloway perfectly. If you get a chance get the audio book of this. If not it is a great story even in the printed version. Also if you have not read anything else be John Scalzi go out right now and get the “Redshirts”, and “Old Man's War”.

I have mixed feelings about Scalzi's writing (see previous rants about said said said said said said). However, I think he always has a really good story to tell. I always burn through his books pretty quickly and feel good when they are done. Redshirts is certainly my favorite, but I've enjoyed the OMW series as well.

Fuzzy Nation, isn't quite as good a story. Don't get me wrong, it's still exciting and the main characters are entertaining, but the message is just so very very heavy-handed. We have a big evil mining tycoon and a hotshot but mysteriously disbarred lawyer deciding the fate of an adorable group of fuzzy things who manage to teach themselves English from an iPad. I don't know if we handed an iPad to a primitive civilization that it would be quite enough to teach them the basics for coherent speech let alone moving courtroom monologues.

Maybe it's having just read Boneshaker which stretched my suspended disbelief as far as the cables would hold, but I didn't have much left for this story and I kept feeling the message hammer hitting on my head over and over. Wheaton (who can only be pictured as Evil Wil Wheaton thanks to that name. I know that was intentional, Scalzi) is so obviously evil that it hurts. Isabel is so pristinely perfect as to hurt. Jack is more complex, and the unfolding of his character is interesting to see, but let's face it, the first scene shows he has a great relationship with his dog. That's just auto-good guy. I never really had any doubts about him doing the right thing at any time.

The story is paced well, and I don't regret reading it, but I guess I was looking for a little more for a writer I've enjoyed so much in the past. This one just didn't live up to my hopes.

I very much enjoyed this retelling of a classic Sci-Fi story. I liked the characters and felt for the creatures portrayed.

Also, it helps that the audio version I was listening to was read by Will Wheaten. I spit tea all over myself with the line, “Shut up Wheaton!”

I highly recommend this book for Sci-fi lovers.

A quick wee enjoyable read, covering some big topics such as racism and egotism. Might be a good one to read with my son (9) on the school run as Wil Wheaton reads it well and there is a lot of dialogue to drive the plot forward, not to mention some pretty decent humour. And who wouldn't love a dog that could set off explosives!

This is a modern rewrite of Piper's [b:Little Fuzzy 676209 Little Fuzzy H. Beam Piper https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301861911l/676209.SY75.jpg 1876891] (1962), with roughly similar but updated characters and plot.I initially thought this version was an improvement; but, having reread “Little Fuzzy”, I'm no longer convinced of that.In its favour, Scalzi's version is of course more up to date; it makes a somewhat more gripping story; and the characterization is more subtle. However, the effect is to make all the human characters less likeable (or more dislikeable) than they were originally. The Fuzzies themselves are the only likeable characters left in it, but we see less of them.The story becomes a legal case history that may appeal mainly to lawyers. I followed it with interest on first reading; but, in retrospect, if I want to return to this story in the future, I think I'd prefer to read Piper's version.

[b:Fuzzy Nation 9647532 Fuzzy Nation John Scalzi https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316132345s/9647532.jpg 18280046] is a skillful re-telling of H Beam Piper's classic [b:Little Fuzzy 1440148 Little Fuzzy (Fuzzy Sapiens, #1) H. Beam Piper https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348972417s/1440148.jpg 1876891]. (Some call it a “re-imaging”.) My first reaction when I learned about it was “Why? The original is fine.” (That is also my reaction to movie reboots – “Meh. We don't need another Borne Identity or Roman Holiday.” But, I digress.)However, John Scalzi is a skillful writer and I have enjoyed many of his other books; so, I decided to give it a read (actually, a listen in this case). I am glad I did. John Scalzi uses the original plot and characters in [b:Fuzzy Nation 9647532 Fuzzy Nation John Scalzi https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316132345s/9647532.jpg 18280046], but the details are different and the the language and motivations of the characters are more present-day. They are both well-written and enjoyable versions of a good story. Why not read them both?

Executive Summary: This was a really fun quick listen. I blew threw it in 2 days and I might have done it in 1 if I wasn't listening to it.Audio book: I really enjoy Wil Wheaton as a narrator. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's his snark. Normally I'd ding someone who doesn't do accents and voices for all the characters as so-so, but for me Mr. Wheaton just seems like a great fit for a Scalzi book. I totally get why he may not be everyone's cup of tea however.Full ReviewThis one wasn't really on my radar, but came up for a daily deal on audible and is pretty short at less than 8 hours long, so I did it over the course of a weekend.The basis of the story itself isn't new. In fact the book itself is a modernization of [b:Little Fuzzy 1440148 Little Fuzzy (Fuzzy Sapiens #1) H. Beam Piper https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348972417s/1440148.jpg 1876891]. I haven't read that book and can't say if even that book is necessarily original. Man comes to planet/country/etc and ends up encountering natives he doesn't understand to find that he own people are filled with a bunch of asshats.I could be describing the plot to Dances with Wolves, or more recently (and closer) Avatar. It's not exactly the same. There is no native love interest for instance, but close enough.Still I really enjoyed Mr. Scalzi's snarky take on the story. I was laughing at several points and really enjoyed the ending. The protagonist Jack Holloway isn't always very likable. He's surrounded by some better people than he deserves and is often unappreciative of them.However, he proves to be infinitely less of an asshat than some of the other humans on planet, even if it takes him a little while to get there. I think there is a surprising amount of depth to Mr. Holloway given the length of the story. Overall this was just a fun little diversion, that may be helped or hindered by Mr. Wheaton's reading of it depending on your opinion of him as a narrator.

Short Review - I like remakes. If you do not, then you might want to skip this book (most of the negative reviews on Amazon say that this did not need a remake.) John Scalzi has taken the basic storyline and characters and re-written the 1962 Beam Piper book Little Fuzzy. This is a story about first contact with an alien race. If you are interested the kindle version of the original story is free and the audio is on the Audible.com file.

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/fuzzy-nation-by-john-scalzi/