The Legacy of Heorot

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View books by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Steven Barnes.

one dimensional romance - Rated
One dimensional characters who all speak with the same voice, little narrative or interesting description, feeble plot, very sexist and highly predictable. Buy some Ian M. Banks instead.

A nicely told poor story - Rated
Niven can make even the phone directory interesting that is a given. However, ‘Heorot’ is a very weak story with a predictable plot and shallow characters.
Niven is obviously not a biologist because even a brain-dead, second year, Joe-Six-Pack, D minus, from Dung-Hole University, biology undergraduate student would have figured out the catch in the local ecology.
This is a disappointment because Niven is known for being a 'hardcore' Science Fiction author and we are used to having him back his stories with hard facts

Real Science Fiction Terror. - Rated
I first picked this up after going on a bit of a binge through Larry Niven books whilst I was at University, and now after having purge by bookshelf recently after moving house, it's one of the few which remain.

The story is a tale of a group of colonists, hand-picked for their skills and abilities and sent on a one-way trip to a far off world.

They settle down on an isolated island whose only inhabitants seem to be pterodactyl like creatures and salmon-like fish. But as they forge ahead and work to make their new life comfortable things start to go wrong. Only one man - Cadmann Weyland, the colony's Security expert senses that something is wrong, yet is he right, or is his paranoia more to blame than anything else.

The pacing and plotting is excellent, the suspense and the frights build up and you get to feel an empathy for many of the characters, despite their obvious faults. In the end the book reaches a pitch, where you genuinely start to wonder whether there will be any survivors. I won't ruin it by telling you, that's something you'll have to find out for yourself.

This one is HIGHLY recommended.

A stunning book that should have been made into a film. - Rated
The way this book is written makes it very easy to picture the scenes, from the rolling valleys to the almost "Taz" like alien creature. The unexpected twist, aswell as the emotions which come across make this one of the best books I have ever read, and I am no real S.F. fan. This should deffinately be made into a film.

Forget the Alien Films - Rated
I read this book about 10 years ago at a time when I decided to try out some of the novels by Larry Niven. I seem to remember some remark being made about this book being the novel equivalent of Alien. Never was a truer word spoken. Imagine Alien and Aliens combined into one, set on a planet and you have this book. Perhaps that is a bit too simplistic and some might even find it insulting.

A roller-coaster ride of a book, it was hard to put down and remains one of the few books that I have read more than once, in fact I have read it at least three times. It never fails to grip me such is the intensity of the characters and the story.

I hope it is never made into a film as I doubt that justice could be done to it. One of the few books I would highly recommend.