soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2012-06-28 11:17 am
sophia_sol) wrote2012-06-28 11:17 am
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
Auuuuugh OKAY HERE HAVE ANOTHER POST. IT IS ANOTHER BOOK POST.
although it could be a movie post, because since my last post I have watched Score: A Hockey Musical, and also Brave. But those will be POSTS FOR THE FUTURE, because I am still getting through my backlog of book posts!
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
I read this book without having ever read Little Fuzzy by Piper, but now I really want to, so I can compare the books to each other. I know that my reactions to Fuzzy Nation are influenced by the fact that I'm not familiar with Little Fuzzy.
ANYWAYS. This was a really enjoyable book! I enjoyed the good use of multiple Chekov's guns. Scalzi's very good at setting stuff up in a way that just feels like it's background details for colour, which then turn out to be plot-relevant. Good times! (eg: the pitch at which Zararaptors hear, and the monkey and the monkey's owner disappearing)
But my favourite thing about the book is how the entire book is about the fact that the fuzzies are SENTIENT BEINGS but the whole time the main character clearly thinks of them as cute and clever-but-not-HUMAN-level-clever and really kind of on the level of a child maybe? But then at the big showdown scene at the end it's shown that the fuzzies had PLANS AND MOTIVATIONS OF THEIR OWN and were being DELIBERATELY DUPLICITOUS ABOUT STUFF. It's this huge anvil that says, STOP UNDERESTIMATING THE FUZZIES, NONHUMAN INTELLIGENCE CAN BE JUST AS INTELLIGENT AS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. And it is awesome.
(in light of a recent conversation I've been having about spoilers, I'm now wondering how I'd have reacted to Fuzzy Nation if I'd already known the big reveal about the fuzzies. It'd certainly be a different way of reading the book, but I do think I'd have enjoyed it just as much!)
On the other hand, I don't actually like the main character. He's an obnoxious dick, albeit the obnoxious dick the situation required. Oh well.
although it could be a movie post, because since my last post I have watched Score: A Hockey Musical, and also Brave. But those will be POSTS FOR THE FUTURE, because I am still getting through my backlog of book posts!
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
I read this book without having ever read Little Fuzzy by Piper, but now I really want to, so I can compare the books to each other. I know that my reactions to Fuzzy Nation are influenced by the fact that I'm not familiar with Little Fuzzy.
ANYWAYS. This was a really enjoyable book! I enjoyed the good use of multiple Chekov's guns. Scalzi's very good at setting stuff up in a way that just feels like it's background details for colour, which then turn out to be plot-relevant. Good times! (eg: the pitch at which Zararaptors hear, and the monkey and the monkey's owner disappearing)
But my favourite thing about the book is how the entire book is about the fact that the fuzzies are SENTIENT BEINGS but the whole time the main character clearly thinks of them as cute and clever-but-not-HUMAN-level-clever and really kind of on the level of a child maybe? But then at the big showdown scene at the end it's shown that the fuzzies had PLANS AND MOTIVATIONS OF THEIR OWN and were being DELIBERATELY DUPLICITOUS ABOUT STUFF. It's this huge anvil that says, STOP UNDERESTIMATING THE FUZZIES, NONHUMAN INTELLIGENCE CAN BE JUST AS INTELLIGENT AS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. And it is awesome.
(in light of a recent conversation I've been having about spoilers, I'm now wondering how I'd have reacted to Fuzzy Nation if I'd already known the big reveal about the fuzzies. It'd certainly be a different way of reading the book, but I do think I'd have enjoyed it just as much!)
On the other hand, I don't actually like the main character. He's an obnoxious dick, albeit the obnoxious dick the situation required. Oh well.