I was hoping for a great book, expecting a good one. What I got wasn't either. Not Scalzi's best work, in fact, it's the worst Scalzi I've read.

You probably know it's what the authour likes to call a 'reboot' of a classic novel - Little Fuzzy. That book is a personal favourite, and much loved by a lot of sci-fi fans, so I'm sure there were many people concerned the outcome would be. I'm happy to report he didn't just try to 'update' or 'improve' it. Instead, he took some of the characters and background and a portion of the plot line and went his own way. That's cool, and exactly what I would have hoped for. It makes it easy to review this book without standing in the shadow of Piper. It really stands on it's own, except the only good parts are the parts lifted from Piper.

The backdrop was slopped together with a trowel and crayons - I mean how many times do you have to tell us just how terribly nasty a lizard creature with 'raptor' in it's name is? Or even explain that's why they've got raptor in their name? Then top it off with a scene lifted straight out of [book:Jurassic Park|6424171.

Did I mention everybody's carrying iPads this year?

The main character starts out as an immature twit, and progresses to slimy lawyer. Even in the epilogue Scalzi's trying to reclaim him as a good guy at heart, but it just doesn't work.

The Fuzzies are cardboard cut outs, except Papa who abruptly becomes a 1960 Walt Disney style Native American when the plot needs a kick.

The dog Carl must be a stand in for Scalzi's new real life dog, because he's the only one in the whole book that seems to have gotten any attention.

The action is predictable, the outcome pretty obvious. Just skip this one, and hope Scalzi returns to form with his next book.