Squatter's Rights

Review of Squatter's Rights by Hollis Rentchler

Overview from www.barnesandnoble.com: Earth's colonization ship arrives at what is supposed to be an uninhabited planet and confirms you never know what to expect with a First Contact.

My Review:

This week we sashay into Science Fiction with our latest main character, Dr. Oxana Kharmadi. A scientist of the Terran peoples, we find her apparently inspecting another planet only to encounter a new alien race. And these aliens apparently have horns.

Although she is at first understandable wary, not knowing whether they are enemies or friends, she soon finds them to be friendly. Others on her team are not so sure at first. They don’t even know whether or not to trust her alone with the creatures.

She persists and soon a conversation begins despite the fact that their translator seems to have trouble understanding the new language. However Oxana suggests that they let their children play with the alien children. In the meantime they have come up with a new name for this race. They are Rcyyt.

I am not a typical Sci Fi fan so it is a good thing that this book is not your typical Sci Fi story, well, except for the presence of aliens. The story is about the humans, or Terrans, and how they relate to each other as well as the Rcyyt.

Everyone rushes around, hoping to make that first connection with Rcyyt while ignoring their connection with one another. And there is a lot of anger towards Oxana, first for her faux pas of accidentally kidnapping one their own. (You’ll have to read the book to find out how she manages to do that.) Then later for the fact that despite her mistakes, the Rcyyt seem to prefer her advice above all the other Terrans.

I liked the oddity of the story and the characters. Oxana and Iol are probably my favorites.

I can only think of one fault in the story. It is too short. And that's saying something since I usually don't like alien stories.