a seemingly safe stellar colony is guarded by the vigilance of one man against an unknown menace-Grendels and samilons

I really enjoyed this one. I don't know which of the three authors to thank the most but is was a good effort. I will be reading the rest of the set. Interesting concept, good characters, great plot.

Take the best candidates from earth. Send them to colonize a planet. Damage a few brains with long term freezing. That was the first mistake...more will come. ( )

An enjoyable guesstimate of colonizing an alien world where life forms already exist including one super predator nick-named a grendel after the famous epic Beowulf. The struggle between the colonists and the grendels is some excellent science fiction horror/action with a detailed ecosystem as to why the grendels are so terrifying. The background setting of how the colony was established and how it operated is well thought out. No FTL, the mission involves the colonists in deep-freeze hibernation and a one-way trip. In other words, survive on the new world or die. There are no other options. Based on the first half of this book, my leaning was for a 5 star review as it is well written, with unique characters. Only mildly disappointing was the highly predictable crisis that leads to the novel's climax. I knew almost from the start what was coming but was willing to wait and see how it played out. What followed is what I consider a soft landing at the end. Still, all in all, this was an enjoyable novel and worth reading.

If you've read this far and don't want a spoiler, stop here.

The concept of the samlon (the local fish) turning into grendels was terribly predictable. How the authors could have better hidden that fact may have been impossible, but the existence of other fish might have helped. As to the ending, the fact the grendels simply stop attacking the humans when the entire novel showed them as having an insatiable hunger was weak. If I had written this novel I would have gone for an ending that the authors had totally set up but didn't use. The grendels are like frogs and the samlons are like tadpoles. After the final battle where the grendel horde is beaten back, a more fitting ending would be no more samlon as the catfish introduced into the ecosystem by the colonists ate all the eggs. It would have worked better than, all of a sudden, the grendels becoming meek. ( )

A colony on Tau Ceti Four seems like its found Nirvana but one man isn't so sure. He warns the others not to become complacent about dangers but they ignore him. Then, when a monster appears, he leads them into battle against it. But worse is yet to come. Not my favourite Niven work but exciting. ( )

The colonists disagree amongst themselves as they adapt to a new world that becomes more and more dangerous. Heorot was Hrothgar's hall, which Beowolf saved from Grendel. ( )