Customer Reviews

Midworld

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

No one intended to settle the nameless planet covered by seven levels of steaming tropical forest. A colony ship wound up orbiting it by mistake, giving the stranded passengers no other option except to land and try their best to survive. A few of them did that for long enough to have children. Now, generations later, their adapted descendants include a hunter named Born. He's a curious young man, so much so that his people call him mad. For what good is curiosity, in a place where seeking to see the sky involves going to a place called Upper Hell?

When two giants drop out of the sky, only Born cares enough about the mystery to climb down through the trees and rescue them from their crashed flitter. Although they know less than the smallest child about surviving in this perilous place, Born manages to keep them alive long enough to reach the relative safety of his Home Tree. His tribe thinks it's seen him for the last time when he sets out to guide the strangers to the "station" from which they say they came - no one ever traveled that far before. As Born learns more and more about these fellow humans whose thinking is so very unlike that of his own people, and as he discovers how they mean to use the awesome power they've brought to Midworld, the young hunter's curiosity turns to horror. These invaders have to be stopped from carrying out their plans. But how?

The world-building in this book amazes me. Parable and adventure tale, it works well on both levels; and it ends with a chilling twist that turns what had looked predictable squarely onto its head. Followers of Foster's Flinx books - the more recent ones, especially - will find some delicious foreshadowing in that twist.

I actually read this book a long time ago - I think it would have been in the late 70s (Note that it is a re-issue now). My local library had a copy and I re-borrowed it a number of times because I was so enamoured with the imagery of the planet Midworld. It was probably responsible for my ongoing interest in SciFi/Fantasy literature.

The book is filled with vivid images of strange, alien lifeforms that are mind-boggling real. The characters are constantly threatened by death by unusual means, making it hard to find a spot to put the book down. In ways the book is similar to the more recently written "Sentenced to Prism", although set in a quite different landscape. I was also interested by the revisiting of Midworld by the author in "MidFlinx", although I think I prefer the original, Flinx is just too good at surviving so I knew he would make it.

This book, like Heinlein's Starship Troopers, is a book I keep reading again and again over the years, and for similar reasons. As previous reviewers have stated, this book is quite compact, yet rich and complete, and operates on several levels. It's the description of a fascinating world. It's an adventure story. It's a character study. It's a parable. The concept is intriguing, and the characters are multi-faceted. It's a compact classic, and until today I hadn't realized that Midworld had shown up in any other books. Those books (all of them) are going on my Amazon Wish List today.

Read this book, and read Starship Troopers. Both are SO much more than bugs-in-space. They're worth far more time than they actually take to read.

I loved this book as a kid and Foster's almost poetic descriptions...

Cameron is doing his best to quell people from bringing this up in public - even stating in an interview he will not ask Foster to novelize the movie script. In private, who knows. Foster hopefully gets some payment for this...

No one describes a creature like Alan Dean Foster! Hands down, the very best. His silverslith sent shivers down my arms. I've read it many times, and I even use it to teach my students how to write a descriptive paragraph. His mind knows no bounds when inventing animals, plants, and humans. Probably my favorite fantasy book of all times (though Mid-Flinx) comes in a close second.

I've read nearly everything Foster has written and this book is my absolute favorite (Into the Out of is a close second) The flora and fauna of this world is what grabbed my imagination and the different levels of the rain forest is very well thought out. I'd love to see Jim Hensons production company make this into a movie

I usually am a hard science fiction reader. But my brother recommended that I read this one. WOW! This was one of the best stories I have ever read, I thought I was actually there on Midworld. Loved it!

I first found interest in ADF when my father told me he was a friend of Mr. Foster. Aparently, dad actually had the honor of building Foster's garage. It's true. This was the first of his books that I read, and I loved it. The concept of a world where the defining line between the plant and animal kingdom is faint is an excellent one. And there is also a valuable lesson to be learned from midworld. I'll leave that to the reader to find out, though. I reccomend anyone who likes Sci/fi reads it.

Make sure you have time to finish this book in one sitting -- you won't be able to put it down. The story is different but holds to a basic logic that shows itself a little at a time as the story unfolds. The few loose ends are tied up neatly at the end -- it makes sense, but, what a concept! I loved it.

I read this book way back in the 70s and it made a huge impression. Last night, I saw "Avatar" for the first time (yeah, I usually wait for movies to come out on DVD), and like other reviewers of this book, I was shocked at how "Avatar" was more or less the same story. My significant other wondered how song writers can be sued over a handful of notes sounding the same as some other song, and "Avatar" just slides by. (Guess a big Hollywood name and tons of money are good for something.)

By all means, whether you've seen the aforementioned movie or not, read Midworld. It's a great ride that leads to a truly surprising revelation. No, there's no 3-D or knockout special effects in a book, but I'd like to think the human imagination can beat the socks off enormously-expensive atttempts to replace it. The images and ideas of Midworld have stayed with me for several decades, and as an aspiring writer, that's an accomplishment I would give my right arm to match.