Fuzzy Sapiens (The Other Human Race)

by H. Beam Piper

Paperback, 1985

Status

Available

Call number

813

Publication

Ace (1985), Paperback

Description

Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:H. Beam Piper's sequel to the science fiction classic Little Fuzzy. The small fuzzy species discovered on the planet Zarathustra has been declared sapient, but now that the Fuzzies are protected by law, the humans who have colonized Zarathustra have to figure out how to live with them...

User reviews

LibraryThing member JudithProctor

I used to love this when I was younger, but now I find it badly paced, lacking in plot and with an attitude towards the Fuzzies that is so paternalistic and treating them as little more than pets that it sets my teeth on edge.

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LibraryThing member clong

A reasonably entertaining yarn, but this has got to be the most naively improbable first contact story I have ever read. Humans have discovered another sentient race, with about 100 known individual "fuzzies"; and their first priority is to set up an Adoption Agency so the cute little rascals can

be adopted by human families? Still, it's not without charm, and certainly takes you back to an era when sci-fi was a lot less pretentious.

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LibraryThing member raizel

I think I liked this much more when I read it many years ago. I agree with the other reviewers. Fuzzy Sapiens is a reprint of The Other Human Race, published by Avon Books. What I remembered most was the Fuzzy attitude to making beds; I'm a convert.

"The blankets and cushions were all piled at one

end; bedmaking, it seemed, wasn't a Fuzzy accomplishment. A bed was to sleep in, and no Fuzzy could see the sense in making a bed and then having to un-make it before he could use it." [p.33]

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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

This is the second of the Fuzzy books that feature among the most memorable aliens in science fiction. Mind you, they're so cute as to induce sugar shock. Creatures "two feet tall, with wide-eyed... face... covered with soft golden fur," playful, sane, sweet and emotionally and intellectually about

ten years old. The first book dealt with some sophisticated concepts. The "Fuzzies" are on a planet colonized by humans and largely owned and ruled by a corporation under a charter only valid if there are no sapient indigenous life forms. So when the Fuzzies first show up, it soon becomes a very serious matter indeed whether they're just cute animals--or people. The second novel develops some issues not resolved in the first one, and is still entertaining, although perhaps not as fresh in conception. I did like how in the second novel things were less black and white. Piper's not an elegant prose stylist. There are point-of-view jumps, and flaky section breaks (might be more an issue of bad editing than writing) and at times clumsy phrasing. But Piper's a good storyteller nevertheless and presents appealing characters--human and non-human alike. It's an good read.

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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

The fuzzies are as adorable as ever to the humans...so the little beggars continue to exploit the clumsy things. I enjoy Piper's ability to show us alieness, or imperialism in his clever fashion.

LibraryThing member fuzzi

A continuation of the highly-entertaining "Little Fuzzy", entertaining in its own right.

Yes, much of the technology is outdated, archaic, but do we spurn "Jane Eyre" or "Macbeth" because there are no electric lights? Do we degrade "Ulysses" because there are no cars? Of course not. We enjoy reading

stories for what they are, what tales they tell, even though they might sound outdated.

But back to my review: "Fuzzy Sapiens" is very much enjoyable, on a par with the first book.

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LibraryThing member fuzzi

stories for what they are, what tales they tell, even though they might sound outdated.

But back to my review: "Fuzzy Sapiens" is very much enjoyable, on a par with the first book.

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