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.
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