- Midworld
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Midworld 
Author(s) Alan Dean Foster Cover artist H. R. Van Dongen Country United States Language English Genre(s) Science fiction novel Publisher Ballantine Books Publication date 1975 Media type Print (Paperback) ISBN 0-345-25364-7 OCLC Number 1849194 Midworld (1975) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It is set in his primary science-fiction universe, the Humanx Commonwealth.
Contents
Plot
Midworld is a planet entirely covered by a rain forest three-quarters of a kilometer (almost half a mile) tall. Born is a member of the primitive society that has lived peacefully on Midworld for hundreds of years, they keep the careful natural balance of the jungle so that all may live. The world is disrupted by the arrival of an exploitative human company from Earth whose representatives know nothing of the delicate stability of the planet. Born helps two of them, one of whom is a female botanist, by leading them safely through parts of the relentlessly hostile jungle. The portions of the jungle near the ground are full of bioluminescent growths. The natives live in a gigantic tree called the Home Tree. When one of them dies, they are ceremonially buried in the Home Tree. Most of the animals have six legs and three eyes. One flying creature, called a sky-devil, is a large reptile-like creature that has air intakes under its wings. Each of the locals forms a lifetime bond with a powerful predator called a furcot. The natives hunt with poison darts. All of the life on the planet is linked together in a vast neurological network centered on the plant life. The natives can sort of communicate with this network through a process they call "emfoling".
Eventually Born realizes that he has made a grave error in assisting the aliens who have plans for life that will completely kill the jungle and Born's people. Enlisting the aid of native plant and animal lifeforms, and their furcots, he and a powerful warrior from his tribe named Losting (both of whom are in love with the tribe's most beautiful girl) destroy the invaders' base. In the course of the fight the other warrior is killed.
Reception
Spider Robinson praised Midworld as an adventure novel, citing it for "an intriguing premise [and] a richly inventive background world," but noted that the writing "is just a cut or two above slushpile level."[1]
In popular culture
Midworld is seen by some as a major inspiration for James Cameron's movie Avatar.[2]
External links
- Midworld publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Alan Dean Foster homepage
References
- ^ "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1977, p.143
- ^ The 1975 book Midworld, by Alan Dean Foster and the current movie AVATAR, Preservingprivacy.blogspot.com
Foster's Humanx Commonwealth novels Stand alone novels Midworld · Cachalot · Nor Crystal Tears · Voyage to the City of the Dead · Sentenced to Prism · The Howling Stones · Drowning World · QuofumPip and Flinx Founding of the Commonwealth The Icerigger Trilogy The Humanx Commonwealth Races Planets Characters Other List Categories:- 1975 novels
- Humanx Commonwealth
- Novels by Alan Dean Foster
- 1970s science fiction novels
- American science fiction novels
- 1970s science fiction novel stubs
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