Fuzzy Nation

I have mixed feelings about Scalzi's writing (see previous rants about said said said said said said). However, I think he always has a really good story to tell. I always burn through his books pretty quickly and feel good when they are done. Redshirts is certainly my favorite, but I've enjoyed the OMW series as well.

Fuzzy Nation, isn't quite as good a story. Don't get me wrong, it's still exciting and the main characters are entertaining, but the message is just so very very heavy-handed. We have a big evil mining tycoon and a hotshot but mysteriously disbarred lawyer deciding the fate of an adorable group of fuzzy things who manage to teach themselves English from an iPad. I don't know if we handed an iPad to a primitive civilization that it would be quite enough to teach them the basics for coherent speech let alone moving courtroom monologues.

Maybe it's having just read Boneshaker which stretched my suspended disbelief as far as the cables would hold, but I didn't have much left for this story and I kept feeling the message hammer hitting on my head over and over. Wheaton (who can only be pictured as Evil Wil Wheaton thanks to that name. I know that was intentional, Scalzi) is so obviously evil that it hurts. Isabel is so pristinely perfect as to hurt. Jack is more complex, and the unfolding of his character is interesting to see, but let's face it, the first scene shows he has a great relationship with his dog. That's just auto-good guy. I never really had any doubts about him doing the right thing at any time.

The story is paced well, and I don't regret reading it, but I guess I was looking for a little more for a writer I've enjoyed so much in the past. This one just didn't live up to my hopes.