Fuzzies and Other People

After reading and enjoying Fuzzy Nation last year, John Scalzi's reboot of the original Little Fuzzy novel, I thought it would be great to read this original work that was a followup to Piper's first two Fuzzy novels. This story was not published in Piper's lifetime, and in fact it was two decades

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after his death before it saw print. Years ago I really enjoyed Little Fuzzy, but I did not enjoy this one. It is really a sub-par novel. Part of the book, which follows a small band of Fuzzies led by "Wise One" was pretty good, but virtually every aspect of the novel involving humans was a bore and very dated. I continue to be perplexed by how many science fiction writers must have had such a nicotine addiction that they could not imagine a life without endless smoking. This book clearly needed more Fuzzies in the wild and less in the "city".

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This is the third of the Fuzzy books that feature among the most memorable aliens in science fiction. Mind you, they're so cute as to induce sugar shock. Creatures "two feet tall, with wide-eyed... face... covered with soft golden fur," playful, sane, sweet and emotionally and intellectually about

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ten years old. The first book dealt with some sophisticated concepts. The "Fuzzies" are on a planet colonized by humans and largely owned and ruled by a corporation under a charter only valid if there are no sapient indigenous life forms. So when the Fuzzies first show up, it soon becomes a very serious matter indeed whether they're just cute animals--or people.

The second and third novels develop some issues not resolved in the first one, and they're both still entertaining, although perhaps not as fresh in conception, especially read one after the other. The third novel did give us a chance to see Fuzzies in the wild from their point of view, which did at least give us a new take. Piper's not an elegant prose stylist, but he's a good storyteller nevertheless and presents appealing characters--human and non-human alike. It's a good read and shouldn't disappoint fans of the previous books, even it I don't think it quite has the charm of the first book, Little Fuzzy.

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