Customer Reviews

Drowning World: A Novel of the Commonwealth

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_Drowning World_ is one of the most recent adventures set in Alan Dean Foster's fascinating Humanx Commonwealth setting. As in previous installments (it is not really a series as with the exception of the _Icerigger_ trilogy, they are stand-alone adventures in a shared universe), the setting is an alien world, rich with life, a native sentient species, and far from the centers of power in the Commonwealth. The planet in this novel is Fluva, the Drowning World, the "Big Wet," a rain-drenched planet covered in dense tropical forest over most of its two main continents, unique flooded forests that for all for except about a month a year are under tens of feet of water, the result of near constant rain and vast, muddy, overflowing rivers. Dry land is very rare on this world, and the native sentient race (the bipedal, arboreal, cat-like Sakuntala) as well as the two immigrant races (the numerous rather alien Deyzara and the much less numerous humans) live in the trees, on suspended walkways and buildings hanging well over the waters, though with the advent of the Commonwealth most of these walkways are made of synthetic material generally hung not from trees (as the Sakuntala traditionally did) but from sturdy pylons sunk deep into the unseen bedrock below.

A rough, dismal world by human standards, one with a vast array of dangerous predators and venomous fauna, relatively few make their home there, generally either as a result of being assigned there by Commonwealth officials for administration purposes or to make money, particularly as bio-prospectors, searching out alien biota to produce lucrative new drugs, foods, and chemicals. Most of the non-native sentient population are Deyzara, imported to work as laborers, shopkeepers, and the like from Tharce IV. Highly mercantile (some say money-grubbing and greedy), they are disliked and resented by many of the Sakuntala, despite the fact that some Deyzara are fifth generation Fluvans. Further causes of resentment are their growing population - close to that of the rather sparse Sakuntala population - and their taking advantage of the Sakuntalans relative lack of knowledge of Commonwealth laws and trade.

Foster followed two plotlines in this novel. The dominant one revolved around bio-prospector Shadrach Hasselemoga, a rather disagreeable man who went missing while in a deep and dangerous part of the flooded forest. When no one heard from him after his departure and his supposedly indestructible rescue beacon was discovered to be silent, Chief Administrator Lauren Matthias sent a highly skilled Sakuntala by the name of Jemunu-Jah and a Deyzara pilot known as Masurathoo on a rescue mission. The other plot line involved an uprising of dissatisfied Sakuntala against the Deyzara, with Matthias and the other Commonwealth officials caught in the middle.

The rescue mission plotline to me was the more interesting, not that the other one did not have its merits. The first plotline was actually two, a rescue mission/story of survival, while also a mystery back in town, trying to find out why Hasselemoga's skimmer went missing in the first place. There is a large twist at the end, one that completely changed the status of the various races on the planet. I thought overall it was a pretty good book. It was a pretty fast read and I thought the world was rather well designed, not one of Foster's best but definitely was one of his better books.

Because it seems to never stop raining, the planet Fluva has been nicknamed THE DROWNING WORLD from members of the Commonwealth. On Fluva, the wettest spot is probably Viisiiviisii Jungle where the combination of constant torrents with extreme humidity has led to one of the Commonwealth's greatest natural treasures. Exotic flora and strange animal life abound here and not anywhere else.

When bioprospector Shadrach Hasselemoga disappears while on a biological expedition on Fluva, an irritated Commonwealth Chief Administrator Lauren Mathias puts together a team to rescue the missing fool lost somewhere in the jungle. Though the right species make up the squad to include an ape-like native and a Deyzara, the rescuers vanish too. At about the same time of the second disappearance, the Sakuntala make a play for power with one goal being the genocide of the Deyzara leadership. As Deyzara refugees flee in terror, Lauren wonders whether the Sakuntala are involved in the vanishing or is her paranoia justified that the enemy reptilian empire is causing the disturbances?

Move the 1950s and 60s confrontations through third world nations between the US and the USSR into outer space and one will understand the premise of the Commonwealth series. The alien races appear real and fully developed. Few writers make other species seem so authentic as Alan Dean Foster does. The exciting story line will delight fans of the series that will enjoy the latest strife between empires through surrogates.

Harriet Klausner

When I was young I read every Alan Dean Foster book that I could find. I devoured his Commonwealth stories and constantly searched for books that I had not read. It has been about twenty years since I last read one of his books, so I was quite excited when I saw Drowning World on new books shelf in my local library.
Sadly the excitement did not last past the first few chapters. The book felt stilted and lacked the sense of adventure that Foster's
books have had in the past. The story was well written, and the situation was plausible and clearly thought out, but I never found myself caring about the people in the book. Perhaps my expecteations were too high, or perhaps this is simply not one of Alan Dean foster's better works. Either way I will still eagerly
read his next book, but I doubt that I will ever reread this one.

One reason to explore the worlds created by Alan Dean Foster is the way he effortlessly weaves the passages of exposition -- explaining a never-seen lifeform, dissecting the evolution of a new species -- into the narrative of his stories. He's very heavy on description, and the vividness of his details actually helps bring his worlds to life "in the mind's eye."

DROWNING WORLD stands on par with his other works -- a solid cast of characters placed in an otherworldly situation forced to find compromise despite their cultural differences -- and he delivers in that respect. Lauren Matthias (sp?) serves as the head of a space-based United Nations-like "Commonweath" force trying to bring peace and commerce to Fluva, but saboteurs to the peace-process make her job more and more difficult. The downing of not one but two hovercraft in the heart of the ViisiiViisii (the Fluvian jungle), and the survivors -- each of a different species -- must find a way to work together, despite all predatory obstacles and another lifeforce (unbeknowst to them) that might also be secretly working to end their survival as well.

Presenting a message for our times in a futuristic or non-Earth setting is one of the benchmarks of science fiction, and DROWNING WORLD wades through these waters with ease. To some, it might seem simplistic, but the message is as timeless today as it will be once man ventures into the stars and discovers a world like Fluva.

With each book Foster writes, the texture of his flagship Humanx Commonwealth milieu keeps getting richer and more complex. Characters and places that were mentioned in passing in one opus become central to another, and vice versa. And like all good fiction, Drowning World manages to make a statement without ever becoming preachy.

All I have to say about this book is WOW!!! It is one Alan Dean Foster's best, second in my opinion to Midworld. Just get it read it, and enjoy.

I approached this book with enthusiasm but as i got into it my enthusiasm began to wane, the premise of this book was good, the characters sounded interesting, and the setting promised high adventure on an alien world. Alas the book failed to deliver on both points. Don't get me wrong it was an enjoyable tale, but the characterisation could have been soo much better, and the plot was a little to simple, and focused far too much on the uprising, and not on the three stranded beings lost in an alien jungle. The ending was entirely predictable and came way too soon, and without a single twist. It's like ADF was given a page limit and he was determined to stick to it. All in all not a bad Sci Fi tale, but could have been a lot better.

It rains all the time on the dismal world of Fluvan, and fast-evolving parasite forms make survival an always dubious proposition. But that doesn't stop the natives from wishing to get rid of the fast-breeding Deyzara. Generations before, the Commonwealth, imported the elephant-trunked Deyzara to handle the work that the proud Sakuntala natives refused to undertake. Now the Deyzara run the shops, own the businesses, and enjoy closer relations with the human overlords than do the Sakuntala themselves. Genocide will bring down horrible consequences, yet simply ignoring the threat will lead to improverishment and eventual elimination of the Sakuntala from their own world.

Human Administrator Lauren Matthias has her hands full. Not only is the decades-old animosity between Sakuntala and Deyzara threatening to break into genocidal warfare, a human bio-prospector has been lost and his ship, impossibly, isn't sending signals. Finally, her hormones are being stirred to a tizzy by hunk prospector Sethwyn Case. Of course, the Commonwealth's enemies, the Aann, are always willing to take advantage of any problems, and problems Matthias, and the entire planet, have in plenty.

Author Alan Dean Foster creates an interesting world with Fluvan and its ultra-competitive life forms. By switching back and forth from the political (in the person of Matthias) and personal (in the person of the lost prospector and the Deyzara/Sakuntala rescue team sent to find him), Foster lets the reader see the world's problems at multiple levels.

In many ways, the political scenerio being played out is reminiscent of several earth-conflicts (the plight of the Indians brought to the African continent and abandoned by the Imperialists who brought them there comes to mind), raising the power of DROWNING WORLD, but also increasing Foster's responsibility in dealing with the problems in a convincing way. Instead, the Deyzara refugee camps become minor annoyances with bad smells, the issue of Deyzara population growth is never dealt with, and a timely discovery manages to defuse much of the tension.

DROWNING WORLD starts out strongly, delivers an interesting world with emotionally compelling parallels to our own recent history, but finally shortchanges the resolution.

Because it seems to never stop raining, the planet Fluva has been nicknamed THE DROWNING WORLD from members of the Commonwealth. On Fluva, the wettest spot is probably Viisiiviisii Jungle where the combination of constant torrents with extreme humidity has led to one of the Commonwealth's greatest natural treasures. Exotic flora and strange animal life abound here and not anywhere else.

When bioprospector Shadrach Hasselemoga disappears while on a biological expedition on Fluva, an irritated Commonwealth Chief Administrator Lauren Mathias puts together a team to rescue the missing fool lost somewhere in the jungle. Though the right species make up the squad to include an ape-like native and a Deyzara, the rescuers vanish too. At about the same time of the second disappearance, the Sakuntala make a play for power with one goal being the genocide of the Deyzara leadership. As Deyzara refugees flee in terror, Lauren wonders whether the Sakuntala are involved in the vanishing or is her paranoia justified that the enemy reptilian empire is causing the disturbances?

Move the 1950s and 60s confrontations through third world nations between the US and the USSR into outer space and one will understand the premise of the Commonwealth series. The alien races appear real and fully developed. Few writers make other species seem so authentic as Alan Dean Foster does. The exciting story line will delight fans of the series that will enjoy the latest strife between empires through surrogates.

Harriet Klausner