The colonists shun most advanced technology, blaming it for the war that devastated Earth and sent their ancestors fleeing into space. But this leaves them ill-equipped to survive on Lamarckia. While Legacy lacks the grand scope of its predecessors, Bear spins an involving yarn nevertheless, highlighted by a perilous voyage across Lamarckia's seas where the storms are alive and hungry. Unfortunately, Bear dilutes most of the suspense in Legacy by revealing too much of the outcome in advance, and the later chapters also tend to bog down. In particular, Olmy spends a lot of time running around fruitlessly in the middle of a drawn-out battle while the really interesting stuff happens offstage, deep in the heart of one of the ecoi.
Legacy still offers a potent dose of fascinating ideas and strange thrills.
I continue to admire Greg Bear's masterful ability to incorporate far-out science fictional concepts yet still tell very human stories. Home Copyright 1996, Science Fiction Weekly.