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The Legacy of Heorot (Heorot #1)

by Larry Niven, Steven Barnes, Jerry Pournelle

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 2,680 ratings · 81 reviews

Bestselling science-fiction superstars Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle combine their talents with those of rising young author Steven Barnes in an extraordinary adventure of humankind's first outpost in the farthest reaches of space. 5 maps.

Paperback, 383 pages

Published August 1st 1989 by Pocket Books (first published 1987)

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Apr 01, 2013 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Excellent read. There are some good characters, a good plot, balanced story telling very little lag at any point. I can't quite go to 5 stars with it (though I may reconsider over time) but I can highly recommend this one.

This is a space exploration, space colonization novel of people from Earth meeting challenges on an alien world. It hits a lot of "true notes" and you'll see people you know here. The geniuses transplanted to another world who "know" what they "know" and dismiss anything that c...more Excellent read. There are some good characters, a good plot, balanced story telling very little lag at any point. I can't quite go to 5 stars with it (though I may reconsider over time) but I can highly recommend this one.

This is a space exploration, space colonization novel of people from Earth meeting challenges on an alien world. It hits a lot of "true notes" and you'll see people you know here. The geniuses transplanted to another world who "know" what they "know" and dismiss anything that challenges what they "know" to be true. *(view spoiler). You'll find some familiar "feelings" here. Touches of other science fiction reads, movies and TV. I found a flash back to a couple of the old Twilight Zones sort of creeping over me a couple of times (view spoiler). There was also a part of this book that annoyed me (view spoiler) Still the book is very readable an excellent novel one I can highly recommend.

This is an update as I forgot to mention the "nods" to earlier science fiction and "imaginative" fiction writers from Robert Heinlein to H.P. Lovecraft. They're fun to spot and tie us in to books from earlier generations of science fiction (of which this is one now one) and give us that continuum. As Noted above, I can highly recommend this one.

By the way, I've read some negative and disappointed reviews about this book's sequel so I don't know if I'll read it or not. I like this one and at least for now don't want to read a disappointing follow up. (less)

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Apr 18, 2009 Amanda rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one, really

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A friend with usually very reliable taste recommended this book to me. It was [Author:Larry Niven], to boot. Of course it was going to be good, right?

No.

Sadly, it was a bug hunt. Not that I've got anything against bug hunts, but the prose was oblique and occasionally opaque. The characters were simplistic, unsympathetic, and, frankly, sexist in many places. The main character is a geek's Mary Sue -- an exhaustingly perfect warrior with a Cassandra complex who has all the answers, is the only one...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Larry niven and Jerry Pournelle are great hard science fiction writers and With Steven Barnes they have great combat and martial arts scenes.
grreat stuff "it makes Aliens look like a Disney nature film." The Washington Times said.

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Apr 02, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gritty, scifi, thriller

This book was sensational. Beowulf meets Aliens. Characters and story were wonderful - which I expect from any book that Larry Niven is involved with. More especially, the team of Niven/Pournelle/Barnes (Creators of Dream Park).
It was a retelling of Beowulf in the setting of an interstellar colony. The science was brilliant and handled in such a way as not to overwhelm the reader or bore them to death - incorporated into the story and revealed in baby steps to allow the reader a full understand...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Alfred rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When I was a third through I was planning to give this book five stars. The bits about ecology had been amazing so far and the chapters where the alien animal sneaked through the village and explored things kept me on the edge because of suspense. Those few chapters that were written from the animal's point of view were the best part of the book. When the native fauna and the aliens - that is, humans who had come to colonize the new planet - actually collided, things went downhill fast.

The book'...more When I was a third through I was planning to give this book five stars. The bits about ecology had been amazing so far and the chapters where the alien animal sneaked through the village and explored things kept me on the edge because of suspense. Those few chapters that were written from the animal's point of view were the best part of the book. When the native fauna and the aliens - that is, humans who had come to colonize the new planet - actually collided, things went downhill fast.

The book's most glaring flaw is also the most fatal: the characters are thoroughly unsympathetic. After a colonist is killed they understandably feel fear and rage, but they also become vile. What should be done when local wildlife turns out dangerous for people who have arrived from another solar system and have no business on the planet in the first place? According to the book and all its characters, the entire species has to be exterminated completely. Not a single character voices their opinion against this idea and later, when there's only one known individual of the animal left, only one character asks if it should be spared - and his opinion is overriden. It's really hard to root for the cast that appears thoroughly disgusting, especially after the book gave the reader the animal's point of view and showed it to be extremely curious and intelligent.

The main difference between the animal and the people is that despite being a highly dangerous apex predator, the animal still retains its innocence. The people on the other hand brought mankind's worst traits with them through space. The book is so blatant at some points it hurts: in a scene where colonists fight against a big group of the animals, the character who has so far been the book's funny guy shouts "Die, defenseless, primitive natives!" Of course that too could be a joke, but that is just unlikely because the characters are very literally fighting for their lives. Besides, what would be the joke? To ridicule the real war crimes that have been committed against native peoples in history? And on the other hand, if that's someone's serious battle cry, that also makes it impossible to think "I like this guy SO MUCH and wish he wins!"

As the quote suggests, there's a hefty dose of "colonial spirit" in the book. Of course there is, because it's about a single human colony on a new planet, but not all colonists in science fiction explicitly state they have come to tame the land so that its new owners (who are called mostly man and sometimes ruler of nature, but never something as neutral as human) might expand infinitely over it. In addition to the King of Nature, there are Great Warrior, Mighty Hunter and Family's Provider and Protector to be found in the book - and they're all actually the same person! The protagonist is a silent, brooding soldier whom everyone seems to ridicule because of his cautiousness before something goes wrong. Then he retreats to a mountain where he builds his own home and only returns to the colony after he is begged back, after which he's made the leader in all but name. Not only does the protagonist come across as a douche, he's also badly written and as if straight out of an adolescent boy's power fantasy. The same is more or less true for all characters. Then there's sexism. I usually don't let it or other outdated attitudes bother me too much if the book is good and written well, because I'm not a character from the book and I accept the fact that people with differing opinions can and do exist, but this is not a well written book. So when a formerly brilliant female scientist who's brain was damaged in cryosleep is thinking about how she will honor and respect her husband, the book's protagonist who only accepted her after he couldn't have the woman he really wanted, I couldn't but roll my eyes.

There's also pretty much sex. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but it comes across as very weird, because the characters still display western culture's inhibition towards sex - while still thinking about it, wanting it and having it, often for no reason plotwise at all.

The book was really good at some points. Great even, a solid five-stars book. A shame it didn't last. Most of the time I was reading this book I was pissed and I still am while writing this. And even though I know this wish won't come true, I hope a book won't make me feel this way again.(less)

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Apr 19, 2009 Whitney rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: i-want-my-life-back

Got this for a dollar at the JCCC used book sale, and it was a dollar well spent for a relatively quick and entertaining read.

The first half was definitely far more interesting than the last, which consisted mostly of detailed battle scenes. Yawn. The characters were pretty flat and uninteresting, and I will agree with others here that it was kind of sexist and the resolution seemed a bit TOO easy... That said, it provided a lot of good food for thought and I really appreciated the scenes writt...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Jamie Friesen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my favourite book by the team of Niven/Pournelle (yes, I'm aware that Steven Barnes also co-wrote this).

It is set 200 years in the future at the site of mankind's first interstellar colony. Roughly 200 of mankind's best and brightest volunteered be cryogenically frozen to undertake this 100 year journey - and in doing so colonized an uninhabited planet far from Earth.

However the cryogenics were far from perfect and dozens of colonists suffer from side effects such as lowered intelligen...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Zachary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

This is quite an amazing book. The science, sociology, psychology - all of it! - is extremely well-thought out. And the pacing is rather incredible. Niven has quite a knack for moving things along quick enough for most of the book, and then really stepping things up a couple of notches for the huge climax. Great fun!

Humanity has finally decided to reach out to the stars and attempt to colonize a new planet. But being so far away, they've gotta freeze the people so they'll make it there at a dece...more This is quite an amazing book. The science, sociology, psychology - all of it! - is extremely well-thought out. And the pacing is rather incredible. Niven has quite a knack for moving things along quick enough for most of the book, and then really stepping things up a couple of notches for the huge climax. Great fun!

Humanity has finally decided to reach out to the stars and attempt to colonize a new planet. But being so far away, they've gotta freeze the people so they'll make it there at a decently young age. The first difficulty the colonists have to deal with is that some of them were affected by the freezing. But that is minor compared with what is awaiting them on Avalon, their new land. What seems a perfect place, at first, turns into a nightmare - complete with monsters!

There is almost a horror feel to the book, due to the violence and how incredibly horrific the "grendels" are. But it is definitely science fiction, through and through. Niven, Pournelle, and Barnes have done an excellent job crafting the science and technology of the people, as well as creating very intriguing and convincing characters.

This is the first of three books set in the Heorot universe. Beowulf's Children is a sequel to this. It actually takes place when the children born in this book get old enough to begin claiming the planet for themselves. If you enjoy this book, definitely get your hands on Beowulf's Children. There is also another book, Destiny's Road, which also takes place in the same universe, mentioning events from the first two, but which is not really a sequel or continuation of their storyline (at least the way I understand it).

There is a lot of violence in the book, but really no sexual material at all. There is a little inuendo or inference to sexual situations, but nothing specific and definitely nothing explicit.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. It would probably not be appropriate for younger readers due to the violence as well as the much relaxed sexual mores of the settlement.(less)

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Feb 19, 2012 Drew rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I was in eighth grade, I watched The Ring at a friend's house. It didn't seem too scary at the time, maybe because I was in a group, but on the way home, we did see a girl walking on the sidewalk in a nightgown in no shoes, face hidden by her hair. Creepy. When I got home, my stepdad did some crude imitation from the movie and further terrified me, putting a good night's sleep pretty far out of the question. I remember eating a bowl of cereal around midnight, sitting at the kitchen table un...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Doug Dandridge rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Hard science fiction fans

Another winner by Niven.
While not as good as his Known Space stories, the Legacy of Heorot is still
a good hard science fiction read. The story is about mankind's first
attempt to colonize another system using sublight technology and
cryostasis. Tau Ceti is the star, and a hundred colonists set up shop on
what seems to be a peaceful island off a continent filled with vicious
animals. Some of the humans have been brained damaged by cryosleep, which
both handicaps the colony and provides a danger...more

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Nov 27, 2007 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

This is essential SciFi reading. Combine Beowulf with star travel, strong, good looking men & women, hard science... Also the best example of the law of unintended consequences in action. Not to be missed.

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Nov 22, 2008 Marc rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this and its sequel a lot, Niven and Pournelle produce readable, engaging and interesting sci-fi without weirding me out. They're ultimately not that earth shattering but good comfort reading. These books follow the story of a group of humans sent off to start a new life on a remote planet. There's no return, and not even any communication from Earth after the first few years. Once there they find they have problems, big problems, because some of the wildlife on the planet is quite hosti...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Ed rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Thriller Sci-Fi Fans

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, reviewed

In some ways this book was very imaginative and in some ways just another Heinlen-like hero story.

The protagonist, Cadmann Whelan, is in charge of security in a situation where there seems to be little need for it. Homo Sapiens has dispatched a space ship to colonize a new planet. To get there while still young, the travelers must be put into deep freeze. Some of the colonists come out of the freeze with their intelligence negatively influenced. Avalon, which is what they've named the colony see...more

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Dec 03, 2008 Bill rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Science/Ecology students - or anyone concerned with the environment.

Shelves: science-fiction, favorites

All students of the science of ecology MUST read this book. A space opera? Yes, sort of, but with a message that humans have failed to heed: It's not NICE to fool with Mother Nature. In "Legacy..." the humans who have settled on this lovely earth-like planet are in for a big surprise: The plentiful fish-like creatures they are feeding on have a very dangerous and dark surprise in their genes. No spoiler here; you'll have to read the book to learn the horrid truth. Suffice it to say, tinkering wi...more

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Dec 23, 2007 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I think this is one of the best Sci-Fi books i have ever read!

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Aug 21, 2007 Jonathan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: burn-discard-sell-or-give-away

Bad and sexist? A little sexism is amusing but this is rubbish.

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Dec 24, 2012 Invadozer Saphenousnerves Circular-thallus Popewaffensquat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I have been putting off reading forever because way
back when I read a review of it and said it wasn't as
good as MOTE IN GOD'S EYE or LUCIFER'S HAMMER which
Niven and Pournelle wrote together. I loved the book
they did INFERNO also, no one else seems to like that
great book.... but that's not what I'm plugging. This
book I consumed in a day. It held me with it's writing
style and flow after the first few chapters when you're
saying to yourself, what a horrible boring planet
grrrrr. This Avalon planet is...more

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Aug 30, 2007 Talkswithwind rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: pre-2000, hardsf, sf

This is a book in the, Earth sends Colonies to the stars, and runs into major problems, genre. It is interesting as I read this book just after a Nancy Kress novel in the same genre. This particular book was published twenty years ago, so the science assumptions are subtly different than more recent books.

I first picked this book up while I was on my Larry Niven kick. It was very different than other Niven books because this is a colaboration with two other authors. This adds to the book in my j...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Ronschae4 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf

These are the ROCK STARS of modern SF! This is one (of a bushel-ful) of their finest work. A tremendous retelling of Beowulf vs. Grendel with great science behind the plot. Set in a far off world, a human settlement is besieged by a faster-than-the-eye beast - which will be your heart rate, too, as this captivating story unfolds. Brilliant! Classic literature meets contemporary masters - could it get any better? I say NO!

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Jun 17, 2012 Keith Vai rated it 4 of 5 stars

I first read this book in the 1990's. (My copy is a used paperback for which I paid $2.00.)

I remembered really liking this book so I decided to re-read it this year. And I still really liked it.

A far future tale of humans colony on a distant planet. The drama is based around a small group of characters, human behavior and a credible alien creature. A real page turner that holds up to the test of time and deserves to be a movie.

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Feb 26, 2009 Graham Houle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Heorot being the place where Beowulf and his men gathered to discuss and defend from Grendel...This was an interesting book and more Sci-fi than I have read in a while. But very believable and since they did the majority of their monster building on actually scientific principles of predator/prey relationships in ecosystems it is all the more plausible! I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

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Apr 08, 2008 Doug rated it 4 of 5 stars

With a signiature writing style, an eerie scene, and as many complex character interactions as a small city, Legacy of Heorot is astounding in its simplicity and setting. It begins as a simple jaunt to another planet to set up shop and bring the human race to other stars. Very few mishaps happen and the story itself wears out by chapter three until the perspective itself changes. This is where the writing takes on a very unique feel of another lifeform wandering in a foreign habitat.
With this...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Deodand rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, unfinished

I couldn't get into this highly-rated book by two of my favourite science fiction authors. I think it's the fantasy element that puts me off. I have no taste for fantasy literature beyond J.R.R. Tolkien. It's been a bit of a hurdle for me, since sci-fi tends to leak over into the fantasy genre and vice versa. If I get a whiff of it via fantastical names or god forbid, fancy maps, I run.

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Jan 08, 2010 Group_Captain_Lionel_Mandrake rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book for the first time in the early '80's. I really enjoyed it then and have re-read it a couple times since then. It seems to hold up very well. The science is still fairly sound and the life aboard the ship makes sense. The political structure behind the Empire of Man and the ture "alien-ness" of the Moties is believable. I like that and I liked the plot and the result of the plot. Maybe I am a bit "crazy eddie," but I liked it.

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Sep 19, 2012 Zaray rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Zaray by: Gabriella

Good read. It was very much a man vs. nature story on a sci-fi planet. Ecosystems work the same way no matter where they are. The cause and effect may have been grossly over simplified but it was done in a clever way.

Also, the fascination with impregnated woman was interesting both for her use as an object of desire and as means to population growth.

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Sep 19, 2012 Mark Palmer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a good read. Interesting idea. Once again, this is one of those books where the blurb on the back cover doesn't really prepare you for the actual story. It kept me guessing what was going to happen. There were a few places where I felt the story became somewhat disjointed, but overall an entertaining read.

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Oct 01, 2012 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I normally like Barnes/Pournelle/Niven, but this book isn't their best work - or at least for me it wasn't. I found myself skipping past large chunks of narrative that did little to move the story along. There's a good idea here, but the characters, pacing and bloated narrative makes it hard to plow through the book.

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May 29, 2012 Debbie Bennett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read this years back so bought the kindle version. Classic sf of its time. Stereotyped characters but beautiful world-building and clever twists.

Poor show for simply dumping the text into e-format though. This kindle edition is riddled with formatting and layout errors although not as bad as some I could mention.

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May 17, 2013 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this along time ago but for some reason I believe this is the book that gave rise to the Alien movies. Correct me if I am wrong. I read it about 20 years ago. Anyway I think I'll do a reread. My goal this year is to read as many Nebula and Hugo Awarded books as I possibly can, any suggestions.

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Aug 28, 2012 Ross Atenveldt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent sci-fi, but you knew that - it's award-winning author (Hugo, Nebula, Locus, etc.), Larry Niven. I read "Beowulf's Children" years ago, and I loved it. But I recently discovered that "Beowulf's Children" was, in fact, the sequel to "Legacy of Heorot," so I had to read LoH. I am glad that I did.

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About Larry Niven

Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths...more Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.

Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.

Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.

He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.

In addition to his awards for Ringworld, Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Neutron Star" in 1967. He won the same award in 1972, for "Inconstant Moon", and in 1975 for "The Hole Man". In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for "The Borderland of Sol".

Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early story "The Soft Weapon". He adapted his story "Inconstant Moon" for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.

He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...

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