I was a little hesitant when I first heard about this project. It looked like Scalzi was trading writing about genetically enhanced super soldiers for cute little critters. So did the high cuteness levels hurt my enjoyment of the novel? Absolutely not. Fuzzy Nation is an engrossing read that made me stay up until 3:00 am to finish it. Read on for the rest of my thoughts about Scalzi's latest winner.
Fuzzy Nation follows Jack Holloway, an independent surveyor working for the ZaraCorp whose charter allows it to explore and exploit the resource-rich planet of Zara XXIII. An accidental discovery of valuable jewels makes Jack a very rich man when he uses some fanciful legal maneuvering to get ZaraCorp to recognize his claim to the seam. But there's one little problem--one very cute, very fuzzy problem. If the Colonial Authority finds out that there is sentient life on Zara XXIII, then ZaraCorp will be bound by law to stop their operations which would cost them billions in lost revenue.
Fuzzy Nation is a fairly quick read; I was able to finish it in a little under two days, but they were very enjoyable days. Holloway is a fun character--sarcastic, kind of an asshole, the kind of guy who sometimes speaks before he thinks but then is able to use his previous experience as a lawyer to save his ass. The other supporting characters are useful for the plot, but they felt a little secondary. There's Isabel, Holloway's ex-girlfriend and trained biologist, and Sullivan, ZaraCorp's planetary lawyer and Isabel's new boyfriend. They both had some witty banter with Holloway, but mostly it felt like Holloway stole the show. Wheaton Aubrey VII had a little more oomph to his character, but he felt somewhat like any other executive at a big corporation; you could see the same kind of character in the movie Avatar and other books and movies.
While Holloway's wit had me grinning every now and then, the fuzzys themselves truly stole the show. Of course this makes sense, as the book is titled Fuzzy Nation. The family unit of five fuzzys that moves into Holloway's cabin out in the jungle are all adorable. Scalzi's really nailed these scenes. I could picture them in my mind--all inquisitive, intelligent, and borderline insufferably cute. I was afraid going into this book that I'd be turned off by the fuzzys. I thought I'd end up seeing them as a gimmick that was just there to play on the reader's sympathies. While they do play on your sympathies, it never felt without a purpose.
I have a feeling that some might accuse Fuzzy Nation of having a predictable plot, that it's just another one of those stories where the big, evil corporation is trying to exploit group x that's unable to fight for itself. That's not true in this case. While movies like Avatar indicate that humanity's experiences with sentient extraterrestrial life are going to involve lots of guns and explosions, I think Scalzi's version is a lot closer to what might actually happen. The battles are all going to be fought from inside courtrooms.
I loved the scenes toward the end of the novel where Holloway was arguing his case in front of the only judge on Zara XXIII. If you think about it. courtroom scenes are wonderful. Sure they're main purpose is to make sure justice is served, but they're also giant theatrical performances. Scalzi seizes that fact and runs with it. Holloway sounds like a convincing lawyer and rattles off case after fictional case that all deal with corporate rights, mining rights, and how to test a species for sentience. I have to say it again. I loved these sections. If you ignored the fact that they concern aliens and such, you could just picture them being in any other courtroom drama. It was like Law & Order in space.
For me, Fuzzy Nation was a success. I imagine it's going to be viewed that way by a ton of people. It's good. But it did more than just entertain me. It made me actually think about what would happen if humanity discovered an alien species that showed signs of intelligence. How would that play out? Again I have a feeling it might be similar to the events in Fuzzy Nation. The book not only gave me food for thought, but it also introduced me to a book I'd never heard of. In an author's note at the beginning of the book, Scalzi says he hopes that people who enjoy Fuzzy Nation will be inspired to give Little Fuzzy a read. Color me inspired then. Fuzzy Nation succeeds on all fronts.
Note: Since this is an ARC I did notice one or two minor errors. For example the back cover of the book names the planet Zarathustra, but it's called Zara XXIII everywhere in the text. I prefer the XXIII name because it shows ZaraCorp's thought process a little better.
Also there was one scene where Holloway is under attack by some of Zara XXIII's more carnivorous fauna. They're trying to break the glass canopy to get into his skimmer where he's hiding. One line says the window shatters, but then in the next paragraph it says that Holloway "gripped the knob as the first zararaptor punched the glass in the window, popping it out in a single sheet" (118). I didn't understand how the glass could shatter in one instance and then pop out in a single sheet in another. This could just be a small error in the ARC version of the book, or it could just be that I'm not properly picturing the scene and that the order of events makes sense.
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