Midworld
From the rich imagination of science fiction great Alan Dean Foster comes the story of Midworld, a Humanx Commonwealth planet that’s equally fragile and hostile. Covered by a lush rainforest, Midworld is home to a primitive society that lives in harmony with the natural world. But the arrival of an exploitative human company, whose workers know nothing of Midworld’s delicate ecosystem, sparks a conflict. Should Midworld’s villagers aid the humans or stand against them? The hero of Foster’s addictive page-turner, Born, decides to lead two humans across the perilous jungle. His choice propels Midworld toward annihilation—and leads him headlong into a battle for survival.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
4mentions
4people
2020–2025years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's unfortunate that wherever I see this news, it mentions that Foster is the author of Star Wars and Aliens novelizations and some original books in those universes, but there's not a word about his other science fiction works, nor of the Humanx Commonwealth setting uniting most of them. Which is a shame - so many excellent books there, between author's rather wild imagination and talent to put it into words. "Midworld" and "Sentenced to Prism" are two particularly notable examples.
- Sea of Rust
Fire Upon The Deep
Childhood's End
The City and the Stars
Rendezvous with Rama
The Tales of Dying Earth
Of Men And Monsters
Midworld
The Invincible
Fiasco
Eden
Wool
Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Electric State
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
- I also had a science fiction book from my childhood that I kept trying to find. Eventually I did find the title and author through a chat with ChatGPT, unlike in this case. (It was Midworld by Alan Dean Foster, if anyone is curious. I'm not sure why that particular book stuck in my head.)
- The Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley, which feels very much like he mashed together a couple of Alan Dean Foster books with an Iain M Banks Culture novel.
A key part of the story takes place on a planet-wide forest with giant trees and a Gaia-like sentience (Midworld), its maguffin is a galaxy-threatening superweapon (The Tar-Aiym Krang), and a significant character is a wise old floating robot/AI that uses fields to manipulate things (Culture drones).
This reminds me of Interstellar, where I recognised the books that the authors had taken their influences from, such as Rocheworld by Robert L. Forward, which also features helpful robots that fold up with arms that have smaller-and-smaller subunits.
