Uncharted Territory

Connie Willis is a writer whose work is easy to undervalue. For instance, many of Uncharted Territory's reviewers point out that it is a minor work, nowhere as good as To Say Nothing of the Dog or The Doomsday Book. The works are undoubtedly different, but it is a difference of kind rather than quality. We shouldn’t complain that an oratorio is not an opera. Uncharted Territory is a novella that combines planetary adventure, romantic comedy, slapstick, western movie tropes, satire aimed at colonial bureaucracy and gender-role clichés, and a surprisingly serious critique of the ethics of exploration. Not many writers can keep that many balls in the air at once. But Willis never drops a one.

Renowned planetary explorers Findriddy and Carson have a simple mission: to investigate and map out the alien planet they're currently surveying. But their task is fraught with several complications. Their alien guide, Bult, is hellbent on extorting every last possible penny from Earth by fining Fin and Carson for everything from "destroying indigenous flora" (stepping on the grass) to "disturbing the land surface" (leaving footprints). Earth is also watching Fin and Carson with an eagle eye, theoretically to prevent them from destroying the indigenous environment and customs, but actually to evaluate what natural resources might be worth exploiting. Then a visiting scientist, Evelyn Parker, arrives to tag along on Fin and Carson's show more cartographical expeditions, complicating the already volatile relationship between them. Evelyn's speciality is the mating customs of various species, both human and alien; and it's no coincidence that as the expedition continues, all parties find themselves exploring the uncharted territory within their own hearts as well.

I'm such a huge Connie Willis fan, so I was very glad to finally read this short novel. It's one of her comedic offerings (think Bellwether, not Doomsday Book), and I loved her satire on political correctness and the "noble savage" myth. (Not that she paints the aliens as villains, either; they're just regular people, no better or worse than the visiting Earthers.) There's also a lot of playfulness surrounding gender: Evelyn turns out to be a man, and Fin's gender isn't revealed until quite a ways into the story. Of course, this all foreshadows the eventual emergence of the romantic plot, and I really enjoyed the resolution of that as well. It's a bit predictable but also quite funny. Overall, I'd say this book is a pleasant diversion, although it lacks the thoughtfulness and depth of Willis' longer novels. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for newcomers to this author, but her fans should definitely enjoy it! show less

A few months back I found, in a thrift shop in Indiana, a novel co-written by Connie Willis and another author; can't remember her name, can't remember the name of the book. Of course I grabbed it, second-hand Willis being hard to find. I wasn't 30 pages in when it dawned on me: This is a romance novel! It's also a Western, and it's set on an alien planet so it's sci-fi too, but at heart it's a romance novel. I plodded halfway through it, but the romance novel cliches got thicker and thicker, and eventually I quit and dumped it.

Then the other day I found this little book, and what do you know? It's a Western set on an alien planet, thus also sci-fi. And I was more than halfway through before Willis pulled a Gotcha on me, and I realized show more that this book is also a romance novel. But a delightfully loopy one. Recommended. show less

I'm wondering if this is Connie Willis's Earlier Work - It has the elements of her work, but its missing some of the finesse that would make this book really sparkle.

In this story, we find two surveyors surveying a newly found planet. Between the natives taking a large chunk of there pay due to fines, a planet hopper intent on using the planet, and a paranoid government that is trying to protect the planet and the indigenous species.. it leaves poor Fin and Carlson between a rock and a hard place.

I liked the book - truly, I did. But it there wasn't enough plot, the elements of mystery weren't really defined very well and when the plot finally resolved, I didn't know something else was going on.

It is a good book. Ms. Willis knows how to show more make intriguing characters that you really enjoy reading about. It would be a great book if the rest of it was equally well written. show less

This starts out reading like a Western in space — something that wouldn't be out of place in 1950s SF. Old fashioned gender stereotypes galore, and I wondered what the heck was Willis doing. Then (of course) she turned it on its head. It's a slim little novella, and doesn't stir my heart like her novels have, but was still a good read.

We have an alien planet, with an indogenous population, o use the exploration by Terrans as a revenue source. The Terrans are bitter and grouchy about that, but at the same time, are trying to give the natives some chance of resisting their eventual exploitation. The best weapon appears to be personal popularity of the exploration team. High jinks ensue.

The best and worst of Connie Willis, in one slim volume! The first half of this book annoyed me so much I almost considered not finishing it. In describing the problems facing interplanetary surveyors Carson and Findriddy, Willis, as she often does, pokes fun at the stupidity of bureaucracy; however, it felt like all the humor in this book totally missed the mark. It was like *actually* being stuck in line at the DMV as opposed to reading a funny satire about such a situation. But then, Willis does something very, very cool—a little narrative trick that I admire immensely and don't want to spoil here. It turns the whole narrative on its ear, and while it doesn't *cure* the other problems, it certainly made me want to keep reading.

The show more novel, however, remains uneven. The romance plotline(s) never seemed believable to me, which rather lessens the impact of the end. Still, that one twist—I do feel like all the annoying stuff was worth wading through for that. I'm glad I did. show less