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This playful work of ecological sf is considered a small classic. I read it years ago and was vaguely underwhelmed. I recently received a copy again (thanks Dan!) and re-read it. I’m still a bit underwhelmed.
The planet Mirabile is a couple generations into being colonized. The original colonists built species redundancy into their gene banks, so that nothing can ever go extinct: cows sometimes give birth to deer, which in turn breed true except for when they give birth to goats, etc. But as always occurs, something went wrong en route and a lot of information was lost, including the instructions for how to stop animals and plants from unexpectedly producing different species. There are also problems with mutants and chimeras (Dragon’s Teeth), and interactions with the local flora and fauna. It’s up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason (Jason is both name and job title) to sort things out.
This is a fix-it novel, based on a set of independent stories. In each story, an ecological problem comes up and Mama Jason either comes up with a solution or points out to people that the ecology is working just fine on its own. There’s a lot of cute names, like kangaroo rexes, odders, and tulip bats. It’s refreshing to see a middle-aged heroine. And the worldbuilding is fun.
My two big problems with the book were that most of the characters are barely characterized chess pieces to be moved around to make the ecological puzzles work, and that the ecological puzzles aren’t all that cool: a basic fire ecology with the twist of a plant that sets itself alight, several “you can’t kill that pesky creature because it’s eating another and even peskier creature/plant.”
Kagan was very talented and I wish she’d written more, but I like her Star Trek novel Uhura’s Song (which borders on original sf) best, and her linguistic sf novel Hellspark better.
Uhura's Song (Star Trek21)
Hellspark
Mirabile
The planet Mirabile is a couple generations into being colonized. The original colonists built species redundancy into their gene banks, so that nothing can ever go extinct: cows sometimes give birth to deer, which in turn breed true except for when they give birth to goats, etc. But as always occurs, something went wrong en route and a lot of information was lost, including the instructions for how to stop animals and plants from unexpectedly producing different species. There are also problems with mutants and chimeras (Dragon’s Teeth), and interactions with the local flora and fauna. It’s up to ecological troubleshooter Mama Jason (Jason is both name and job title) to sort things out.
This is a fix-it novel, based on a set of independent stories. In each story, an ecological problem comes up and Mama Jason either comes up with a solution or points out to people that the ecology is working just fine on its own. There’s a lot of cute names, like kangaroo rexes, odders, and tulip bats. It’s refreshing to see a middle-aged heroine. And the worldbuilding is fun.
My two big problems with the book were that most of the characters are barely characterized chess pieces to be moved around to make the ecological puzzles work, and that the ecological puzzles aren’t all that cool: a basic fire ecology with the twist of a plant that sets itself alight, several “you can’t kill that pesky creature because it’s eating another and even peskier creature/plant.”
Kagan was very talented and I wish she’d written more, but I like her Star Trek novel Uhura’s Song (which borders on original sf) best, and her linguistic sf novel Hellspark better.
Uhura's Song (Star Trek21)
Hellspark
Mirabile
There are sequels that aren't quite as good.
