This was a wonderfully fun read, and as soothing as a warm drink. It fits into an old-fashioned optimistic mode of thinking about human expansion among alien species, that surely we are enlightened enough to solve everyone else's problems for them. This was a book that continually brought TV Tropes to mind -- so very genre-typical. Set in a Hungry Jungle on what appears to be a Single-Biome Planet (at least, whatever is beyond the jungle area is never mentioned); it is inhabited by a warlike native species and an enterprising immigrant species (both are vaguely humanoid), naturally in conflict, under the benevolently paternal administration of the Commonwealth, but coveted by the Empire which is led by the reptilian Aan. Just don't think about the Unfortunate Implications of this situation given that most alien species are stated to have fairly uniform personalities whereas humans, explicitly, have a wider range -- no wonder we are fated to rule!The very best thing about this book is its human hero, Lauren Matthias, a fully-developed female character for a wonder, a mature married woman at that. She is the chief Commonwealth administrator of the planet, dragged into a far more complicated situation than she ever bargained for, to which she responds with guile (including a few actions that ought to be frankly illegal), political and diplomatic savvy, and even a few acts of physical courage, though nothing unrealistic for a plump middle-aged civilian. The author even has a realistic view of some of the problems facing women in authority -- though Matthias relies on emotional support from her husband (a scientist), she can't consult him too much because this would undermine her position. It's an unusual set of gender roles in a marriage, pretty well portrayed.
Foster's Commonwealth books are always a lot of fun. The detail he packs into world building, especially into the native flora and fauna, shows his deep love of nature and makes for an especially vivid read. (Foster's training as a screenwriter is apparent as his books tend to create movies i the reader's mind.) Drowning World is no exception.Like the Commonwealth novels Catch-a-lot and Sentenced to Prism, DW takes a survival adventure and places it in an alien setting; like CaL and StP, DW is as much about the setting as it is about the characters. Unlike those others, the characters in DW are not especially likeable and there is no neat cliche to tie things up and make them all friends in the end, which is one of the things I most enjoyed about the book.Some tried and true Foster elements show up - the discovery of a new breed of intelligent life, the advent of bio-tech, and a mandatory respect for the environment all make themselves known throughout the novel. However, more attention was paid to the sociology and politics of having two sentient species (one native, one imported) inhabiting one space than in other novels, allowing for an interesting conflict to be set up between two of the main characters.I found that the parts of the story where the extremists took center stage were a little slow, but I would happily read any other stories featuring Mattias as a main character.
