A whole different cast than the original "Little Fuzzy", save two. However, Jack Holloway is a much younger man, and Little Fuzzy is not an innocent tyke. The setting is similar. The plot summary the same: Zara(thustra) Company's charter is null and void if there is indiginous sapient life on the planet. The action, politics and characters are harsher than H. Beam Piper's original telling. But I think this plays to an audience that is nearly 3/4 of a century later than the original readers.

I just finished this and must say that while I enjoyed it and cried when he describes the death of two of the Fuzzies, I felt like there was something missing. The original series by H. Beam Piper takes place over several books and I almost get the feeling that this may be in store for this remake. Scalzi does make some changes to the original story and that's okay, otherwise it would just be the old story with updated tech. But I am curious whether he plans any sequels such as Piper wrote which go into more depth about the Fuzzies. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

For those who have not read the original Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper this will be a pleasant read at the beach. For those who know the original you might enjoy the updated technology and John Scalzi's pleasant writing style but you may be disappointed. As a fan of the original and of Scalzi's Old Man's War series I had high hopes for this "reboot". In many ways it worked very nicely as I enjoyed the characters and writing style and appreciated the simple, yet important updates to technology. Certainly Piper's technology seemed very dated in a world where we have iPads for instance. What let me down however was the emotional core of the story. Piper's Fuzzies were part of a believable culture, integrated into their ecosystem. Scalzi has taken a great leap backward turning the Fuzzies into sentient housepets in a frenzy of colonial paternalism. The most egregious change is the omission of the key scene in the entire narrative. ** SPOILER ALERT** Scalzi has completely excised the funeral scene after a fuzzy is killed by a company goon. The death still happens but this moving and crucial scene of burial rites that causes the whole book to change is totally absent. It is clear Scalzi is a fan but the missing scene was one of two or three key moments in the original that I felt left holes too big to fill.

This book is great fun but seems to get lost when it turns into a courtroom drama. But this is a short read so it is worth pushing through.

Read for our sci-fi club - as an ebook, along with Piper's book. FUZZY NATION - by John Scalzi, and LITTLE FUZZY, by H. Beam Piper. Scalzi's recent novel is based on Piper's 1962 Hugo-nominated novel. The original plot is that of a somewhat cynical explorer/ miner who tries to protect suspected sapient local fuzzy beings from the ethically challenged mining company wanting to plunder the planet. Scalzi redoes the story by tweaking characters, settings, and motivations, as sort of a "reboot." In the earlier version, written post-World War 2, the military are the good guys and step in to maintain justice, battling secret agents and corporate greed. In the later version, most of the main characters are lawyers. Both versions centre on the discussion of what exactly defines intelligence, and what differentiates man from animal. We all enjoyed the stories, one of us via a library text, one as e-book, and one as audible book. An e-book is, of course, easier to carry around on an iPhone or netbook, but harder to just bookmark and leave on a table for later. Or lend to a friend. The audio book version can be a little slow to follow – you can't skim - but is ideal for a long car trip. That is until sudden traffic decisions distract you from the book. Or not. Bonus – the audio version is narrated by Wil Wheaton, of Big Bang Theory fame.

I was thoroughly skeptical. I'm a big fan of the original Little Fuzzy, having first read it as a teenager and many times since. When I saw that Scalzi had written this book, a "reboot" of the original, I just didn't get it. Sure, the original was kind of old fashioned, but it was still cute and the environmental and moral themes were still just as valid. What the heck was a reboot and what was the point? Well, I guess I was wrong, because I really enjoyed this book. I read a few of Scalzi's interviews about the book, and I think I understand a bit better now. He's just a huge fan. He was at a low point in his writing, feeling uninspired and out of sorts, and he wanted to do something just for fun, so he wrote this, basically as a piece of fan fiction. Kind of like people write Star Trek books (which I enjoy) or the way movies keep getting remade with updated casts and technology. This is a bit of a combination of those ideas. It's not exactly the original story, in fact pretty much the only character who remains the same is the main character, Jack, and even he's petty different in appearance and personality than the original Jack. The fuzzles are somewhat different as well, with much less direct interaction with the other characters until the end of the book, making them much less of a fun feature in this book and my only real disappointment. But somehow the overall structure of the book, the scaffolding, is the same, and it's very fun and very effective. The book is a David a Goliath story, Jack vs. the company, that unfolds on several levels, and Scalzi plays it out like a master. Somehow the simple and straightforward storytelling, very much reminiscent of Piper's original style, turns into a masterful courtroom coupe de grace that I think would have made Piper proud.It had a lovely old-fashioned charm that felt timeless. His Jack may not be such a nice guy, but he's the guy the fuzzies need. I was entertained from beginning to end.

I loved John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series of books. Those are very classic examples of new science fiction done with an homage to the classics. This type of writing continues with Fuzzy Nation which is a lot of fun and a nice short, easy SF read. My main problem is that the book either needed to be shorter (i.e. a short story) or longer. As is was, it seemed like the world was not flushed out that well and the characters could have been better developed. I know this was a 're-imagining' of an old SF story so he wanted to stay true to the original, but he could have expanded the universe a bit more, particularly about the fuzzies. It also seemed a bit too much like a court room drama in space. But certainly worth a read for fans of John Scalzi or fans of science fiction in general.