Fossil

Isaac's Universe #4

by Hal Clement

The Seventh Race

Set in a niverse created by Isaac Asimov and written by science fiction master Hal CLement, this is the story of six vastly different star faring races struggling to coexist as they combine their forces for a scientific project on the inhospitable world of Habranha.

Their mission is to search through the planet's ice layers for fossils which they hope will determine whether the winged natives, the Habras, actually evolved there or are--as some evidence indicates--descendants of the long-vanished, legendary Seventh Race. But there are those among the Six Races who seem to have secret agendas of their own. And when a ground vehicle turns up at the research settlement with no one aboard except a long-dead Habra frozen in a block of ice, humans Hugh and Janice Cedar and their allies among the Six Races are determined to get to the root of this mystery. Has someone sent them a fully preserved fossil, a long-buried ancestor of the present-day Habras? Or is this an elaborate hoax being staged to put an end to their study before they can unearth the truth about the planet and its people?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Harry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name Hal Clement , was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.

Further details at Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of Clement's best works, but a puzzle-story with some interesting points. It's based on a setting devised by Isaac Asimov, and I suspect Clement may have been frustrated by limitations of not being to change things around to suit himself or his story. Clement's strong suite was in scientific know-how and in applying physics to challenges to tell stories, never in subtle characterization, and there are some stretches in this one with dry dialog and info-dump expositions, particularly in the human-alien relations. It's a fun read, though, and thought-provoking to try to solve the clever problems that seem to pop-up like clockwork in each chapter.

[Kamas Kirian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best of books I've read. I really like Hugh, Jan and Rekshellet, and the basic story had it's points. But, for most of the book, every single chapter is just another crisis to be dealt with. After awhile it gets tiring. The little sidestory about Hugh and Jan's theories on the abilities of other races sort of took over the latter chapters of the book. Also, the last couple of chapters were rather anti-climatic. Overall I'd give it two and a half stars.

The paperback was well formatted and easy to read with no obvious spelling or grammar errors. After twenty years sitting on my shelf it was still in good shape and not coming apart at all.

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. I'm an Anthropologist/ Archaeologist so I found a lot of the stuff about statigraphy and Human/Alien interesting but....

It was too much of an info dump at times. Sure, if I was reading a textbook or studying for my finals I would have loved it. But.... the lack of an interesting storyline made it a trifle boring. Ol' Issac Asimov once said the biggest detriment to great story is when one of characters says:

"Let me explain how it works....etc. etc. etc.... "

The hardest part of this book was the first chapter which was bogged down by unfamiliar species names, mixed up with unfamiliar species traits, mixed up with unfamiliar personal names, an unfamiliar planet setting and stilted dialogue and a grindingly slow story pace and etc. etc. and etc.

HC assumes one is familiar with the universe of this novel, which I'm not. This is the only one I've read. It almost became a DNF after the first chapter but I managed to grind it out by just glazing over my eyes and brain and letting the words and story drift over me.

By the end of the book I still often had no idea who was who but it didn't matter. I was only interested in the science.

As for the story.....boring, aimless and repetitive with little character depth or development.

HC has done better. I only recommend this one for the fans. Definitely this is not a sit on the beach with a couple of beers read.

[Millstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follows interactions between various different species at an archaeological dig on an alien planet. Nice background, but little sense of purpose or direction. Feels like a pilot for a series.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yep, full of irritating, though so far minor plot goofs. Scattered with minor plot errors, only one fairly serious to the universe, and considerable digression here and there, but still readable.