Helpful Score: 3
From School Library Journal
YA-- Those who have read Michael Renney's Klaatu Borada Nicto and other words of wisdom from invading, superior lifeforms have some ideas of what an alien invasion would be like. Foster's notions are not typical. His invasion force is fearful and benign, possibly even cuddly. The Quozl are here to settle and not to conquer . . . maybe. Foster handles the collision of cultures, the inevitable, uniquely. The government and the military with its tanks and rockets never really get a chance to be involved: the media handles it all. Foster gives readers much food for thought as he causes them to see a number of possibilities. Could the government cover up that which has appeared on prime- time TV? What could a race of violence-cured, fecund, rabbit-like beings teach us? What does American culture look like to a culture which has outgrown its need for violence? Science fiction is fun; it is the fun of speculation. So is this book.
YA-- Those who have read Michael Renney's Klaatu Borada Nicto and other words of wisdom from invading, superior lifeforms have some ideas of what an alien invasion would be like. Foster's notions are not typical. His invasion force is fearful and benign, possibly even cuddly. The Quozl are here to settle and not to conquer . . . maybe. Foster handles the collision of cultures, the inevitable, uniquely. The government and the military with its tanks and rockets never really get a chance to be involved: the media handles it all. Foster gives readers much food for thought as he causes them to see a number of possibilities. Could the government cover up that which has appeared on prime- time TV? What could a race of violence-cured, fecund, rabbit-like beings teach us? What does American culture look like to a culture which has outgrown its need for violence? Science fiction is fun; it is the fun of speculation. So is this book.
Helpful Score: 2
Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was horrible. I don't like to be mean, but I honestly thought this was unreadable and in fact, did not finish reading it.
It was a funny premise and the aliens are cute, but something went very wrong in the telling of the story.
If you want funny, light, sci-fi, there is so much out there that is better. Read a different Foster novel,The Hitchhiker's series by Douglas Adams, The Red Dwarf Series by Grant Naylor.
Damn, I'm never going to get rid of my copy now that I wrote this. What I meant to say is that this book is REALLY GOOD. It was so good that I couldn't put it down (I threw it) and it brought tears to my eyes (from boredom).
It was a funny premise and the aliens are cute, but something went very wrong in the telling of the story.
If you want funny, light, sci-fi, there is so much out there that is better. Read a different Foster novel,The Hitchhiker's series by Douglas Adams, The Red Dwarf Series by Grant Naylor.
Damn, I'm never going to get rid of my copy now that I wrote this. What I meant to say is that this book is REALLY GOOD. It was so good that I couldn't put it down (I threw it) and it brought tears to my eyes (from boredom).
Helpful Score: 2
Really light but fun and even funny aliens come to earth tale. Very enjoyable whether you're an ADF fan or not.
Alien invasion, of the fuzzy sort.
Good book from Foster. I enjoyed some of his other work better tho.
This particular paperback edition of 'Quozl' is a prime example of "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover". Jim Gurney's zany cover art and Foster's own reputation as being able to handle humor in a genre that sometimes takes itself way too seriously combine to suggest this first-contact tale will be a screwball comedy.
It's not, and the quicker the reader can re-align expectations, the better. Because the real star of this novel is Foster's carefully-realized alien culture, with its own biology, history, social structure, and technology, and a genuine life-or-death need to locate and colonize planets beyond its homeworld due to explosive population growth.
The plot is set in motion once their generation-ship makes its irreversible decision to make landfall on a planet they realize, too late, is already inhabited by intelligent, but violent, life forms. Making the best of a bad situation, they opt for a landing site in the most remote and unpopulated area they can identify, which turns out to be north central Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness Area. There they literally burrow into a remote mountain canyon and create an underground habitat, using historical precedent and advanced technology to establish and maintain a thriving, hidden colony.
Several generations on, the inevitable contact with a local sets off a chain of events which will ultimately threaten to destroy the colony completely.
Foster sets a leisurely pace here, establishing a plausible scenario both for the long-sustained concealment and for the initial human-to-Quozl meeting, and keeps those interchanges moving in minuscule increments. The emphasis for most of the first half of the book is firmly on the Quozl characters and on their adaptations to or struggles with the restrictions of their hidden community.
Eventually, of course, the secret gets out, as virtually all secrets will, but even here Foster has developed a plausible scenario that puts both Quozl and their human contacts on the spot as all attempt to control and manage the biggest news ever to hit the human race.
It's not, and the quicker the reader can re-align expectations, the better. Because the real star of this novel is Foster's carefully-realized alien culture, with its own biology, history, social structure, and technology, and a genuine life-or-death need to locate and colonize planets beyond its homeworld due to explosive population growth.
The plot is set in motion once their generation-ship makes its irreversible decision to make landfall on a planet they realize, too late, is already inhabited by intelligent, but violent, life forms. Making the best of a bad situation, they opt for a landing site in the most remote and unpopulated area they can identify, which turns out to be north central Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness Area. There they literally burrow into a remote mountain canyon and create an underground habitat, using historical precedent and advanced technology to establish and maintain a thriving, hidden colony.
Several generations on, the inevitable contact with a local sets off a chain of events which will ultimately threaten to destroy the colony completely.
Foster sets a leisurely pace here, establishing a plausible scenario both for the long-sustained concealment and for the initial human-to-Quozl meeting, and keeps those interchanges moving in minuscule increments. The emphasis for most of the first half of the book is firmly on the Quozl characters and on their adaptations to or struggles with the restrictions of their hidden community.
Eventually, of course, the secret gets out, as virtually all secrets will, but even here Foster has developed a plausible scenario that puts both Quozl and their human contacts on the spot as all attempt to control and manage the biggest news ever to hit the human race.
This is a really interesting book. The cover didn't really appeal to me (I shop books by covers), but I tried it out on a whim. I really enjoyed this book a lot. I recommend this for any science fiction/fantasy lover out there. Enjoy!
Written for middle school aged kids, from what I can tell. Starts slow, but interesting and eventually entertaining. Makes you think!
Another excellent sci-fi adventure by Alan Dean Foster, written tongue-in-cheek about a race that fears us but lives in a burrow on our planet.
Years after landing one Earth, one young alien sneaks out of the burrow and meets another young alien Earthling on an overnight camping trip and all kinds of things begin to take place.
Appropriate for both young and old readers. A nice, easy and entertaining read.
Years after landing one Earth, one young alien sneaks out of the burrow and meets another young alien Earthling on an overnight camping trip and all kinds of things begin to take place.
Appropriate for both young and old readers. A nice, easy and entertaining read.
From the back of the book: "The Quozl knew they'd love the third planet from the sun. But it never occured to them that anyone LIVED there..."
The Quozl knew they'd love the third planet from the sun.
But it never occurred to them anyone lived there...
But it never occurred to them anyone lived there...
