I picked up this book when I needed a ‘handbag book’, as I was going to spend some hours waiting at the mechanic’s. I examined my bookshelves and realised to my surprise that I had never finished Beowolf’s Children – when I first bought it, the opening pages didn’t take my fancy. That was many years ago, and this time around it grabbed my full attention. I’m only surprised it has taken me this many days to finish it.
But the story – it is 20 years after The Legacy of Heorot. The eldest of the next generation is almost grown up, and typically of adolescents, they think they are pretty good. To start the story, some odd things start happening – there are some explosions at the automated mining plant on the mainland, and a native eel attempts to swim up the colonists river. These events add to pressure from the ‘Star Born’, the second generation, to explore the nearby continent and not remain restricted to the island the colonists first settled. There are some unexplained deaths, and some machinations – they do go to the mainland, but I won’t spoil the story by telling you how and why.
This is a worthy successor to Heorot – I only wish that, given the 1995 date on this book, that the authors had given us a third book – because there is a huge scope for more story of What Happens Next!
