Better than I expected.

I originally chose this only because Eric Flint is the founder of Baen Free Library, and I suspected it may have been because he couldn't get his work published elsewhere - normally an indicator that it isn't worth reading. However I was pleasantly surprised.

The opening premise is not that original - a cold sleep ship en route to founding a new colony develops unexplained technology problems. It crashes on a new world, leaving the few surviving humans without much in the way of supplies or prospects - until they meet the natives.

I must say I have my doubts about the natives. In true 50s B movie style, these are giant intelligent molluscs. Sort of air breathing cuttlefish which have developed into a bronze age culture. It's sort of clever - and at times they are truly alien - especially the colour mood indicators and gender divisions - but mostly they are unfortunately unbelievable and all too human.

For example they have a vocal language - and both sides can learn each others in a matter of weeks. I suspect Eric has never tried to learn even a related language, let alone a truly alien one. Having had the characters learn the other's language one is then subject to the continual insertion of un-translated words - a source of constant irritation to the reader, especially the names. If this is too remind us we are dealing with aliens it fails, and remains purely a source of annoyance. The other great failing are several instances of characters soliloquising to themselves about the problems they are in - rather than getting on and solving them.

However there are also many good points. The writing is emotive, and captures the passions and feeling of the characters you care about - the children don't have much development, but the surviving adults and our aliens of interest are all explored in detail. There is also a lot of commentary on historical trends, and the societal consequences of such decisions. I don't always agree with the notions Flint presents, but the points he makes certainly deserve consideration.

For a debut free novel its well worth the few hours it takes to read, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else Eric has managed to produce.
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Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/10.1125/Baen...

A nice variant of the 'humans trapped on an alien planet' genre.