Howling Stones

_The Howling Stones_ by Alan Dean Foster is a novel set in his Humanx Commonwealth universe, the setting of such earlier works as _The Icerigger Trilogy_ and _Cachalot_ and more recent efforts such as _Drowning World_. An enjoyable novel and a fast read it is similar to other books in the series, depicting exploration and adventure on alien worlds within the Commonwealth, worlds generally with distinct endemic sentient alien species. The world of this novel is known as Senisran, a largely ocean planet, devoid of any substantial continental landmass but instead spotted with thousands of islands, many of them in archipelagoes. Most of the islands are fairly small, the largest being about half the size of Madagascar. The climate over most of the globe is hot and humid, the islands being covered in tropical vegetation (with a fair amount of venomous fauna). The native race is known as the seni and are bipedal humanoids, tending to be a bit shorter than adult humans, with smooth skin, pointed ears, drawn faces, relatively small mouths, and powerful hind legs easily capable of allowing their owners to hop great distances and over large obstacles. On the cover of the book one is depicted, the illustration pretty much spot-on for what is described in the text. In the Humanx Commonwealth novels, there are two competing interstellar civilizations, rivals not unlike the two superpowers during the Cold War, one being the human-thranx (the thranx being an insectoid race, not seen in this novel and indeed most of the Commonwealth books), the other the AAnn Empire (this being a civilization of bipedal endothermic reptiles, something not unlike what dinosaurs might have evolved into according to some). Both the Commonwealth and the Empire have been in competition for control of Senisran, not through force of arms, but through diplomacy, trying to gain mineral and other rights to many of the various islands on the planet. Complicating their efforts tremendously is the fact that not only is there nothing approaching a world or even a regional government on Senisran, there are countless tribes, clans, and alliances, each with a unique governmental system, morality, mythology, religion, and/or social system. Making contact and trade arrangements with the stone age seni has been a time consuming and difficult process but has nonetheless yielded many successes. Until now that is. One particular island group, Parramat, has resisted all efforts by either the Empire or the Commonwealth. Eager for the rare earth mineral wealth of the archipelago, both powers have failed in efforts to get the Parramati to sign a mining treaty. Though physically no different in appearance from the other tribes and clans of the world, the Parramati are unique in having politely but stubbornly refused the gifts of both the Commonwealth and the Empire, disdaining all but the most basic of gifts, stating simply that it violates their kusum, their custom, to accept anything approaching

In this book, Foster returns to the imagination and style that first led me to be one of his avid readers. With the plot centering around the constant struggle of humanxkind verses the Aan and the acquisition of planetary resources, he gives us a new planet, characters and races as well as furthering our knowledge of established ones. The revelation and new information of the Hur'rikku race, sparcely discussed throughout former commonwealth novels, makes this a must read for his fans. Now if only Foster would dedicate whole novels to pre-commonwealth history and complete the Flinx saga, I would be sated.