Rating: 
Summary: Unusual Topic but Insightful
Review: "Remnant Population" is a beautiful story about an "old woman" whose path of discovery is set in a SF context. At 70, Ofelia is considered to be too old to be of any use to the Colony which had settled on the planet some 40 years earlier, but have now been told to move on. Ofelia knows this, and does not look forward to the move in cryopreservation, which is likely to kill her. As an elderly woman, she is no longer appreciated by her fellow colony, rather - she is a liability. But Ofelia has her own plans. If she can only convince the colony to leave her behind ... all she wants to do is tend to her garden and be left in peace. No one to tell her what to do. No one to tell her what to wear. No one to chide her. She decides to hide herself when the colony moves out. She knows that they won't look long for an old woman ... and she's right. Soon, Ofelia learns to set herself free. As the only one remaining on the planet, she can do whatever she wants. There is enough infrastructure left behind by the colony that she can survive for years. So she plants everyones gardens and finally gets to walk around barefoot and hatless. But then, something unusual happens. One day, as she is at the center, monitoring for storms and writing "real" stories behind the notes on people who dies in the colony, she hears an interchange of humans attempting to land on the planet --- and something goes horribly wrong. Against all Ofelia's expectations and knowledge, the humans are attacked by aliens. Shortly after, strange things start to happen where she is. Doors left open that she was sure she'd closed. Or maybe she was just a crazy old woman after all? The story of this 70 year old helps to remind us all that older people have lives and thoughts and feelings and are capable of things that younger ones are. Too often, our society disregards and disrespects those with experience who have the potential to live so much more. Life doesn't end at 70. Ofelia learns, in spite of herself, that she is capable of much more than she ever dreamed of. Her new self is the first to among humans to have alien contact. At 70, she has all the skills necessary to deal with this strange encounter and build good relationships with the aliens. Their society respects elders ... Slightly unusual for a SF topic, but nonetheless full of insight. Moon reminds us all that we should respect those who have the most experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly awful
Review: A failing colony is removed from an alien world by the company that owns it, but one old woman, tired of having others run her life, hides in the forest until everyone is safely gone. The abandoned equipment and supplies enable her to survive, and she settles into a routine. Months later, on the communications equipment in the colony Center, she listens to the landing of another colony on another part of the planet - and its immediate destruction by natives whose presence no one had suspected. The natives decide to send an expedition to check out the distant other site where the Monsters may have landed; the company that had bought the planet from its previous owners sends a scientific expedition to check out the possibly-sapient animals that had killed their colonists. The old woman, Ofelia, first has to establish communication with the stone-age natives, then with members of her own species. The natives, at least, are willing to believe she's an intelligent being.
The natives are interesting, Ofelia's an engaging character - unfortunately, this is an idiot plot, utterly dependent on both Ofelia's complete lack of education and the idiocy of the scientists sent to investigate. The most intelligent, most open-minded, most reasonable member of the expedition is a cultural anthropologist; he identifies a "singer" in the natives' non-literate culture as an "entertainer," nobody important. Why would the company send such incompetents if they spent the money on a scientific expedition at all? They wouldn't, of course.
There are numerous similar idiocies throughout the book. For instance, why is Ofelia, the product of a very prosperous, high-tech culture, uneducated to the point of almost complete illiteracy? Why, because education is a privilege, not a requirement, of course. Ofelia's from a large underclass kept intentionally uneducated. That this makes no sense in a prosperous, high-tech culture, that it is completely incompatible with maintaining a prosperous, high-tech culture beyond a generation or two, matters not. (I feel a need to be absolutely clear about this: this star-spanning civilization is intentionally creating and maintaining a large, profoundly uneducated underclass that can't even do the most basic gruntwork in this culture--that would challenged by the basic gruntwork necessary in early 21st-century America or Europe.) The plot requires it, and that's the end of the matter. Ofelia's one of the very bright young children, identified by her teachers for a scholarship to continue her education beyond the basic primary level. Her parents, preferring her sister to Ofelia for reasons never even touched upon, much less explained, send the sister for that extended education instead of Ofelia. Somehow, this controlling, bureaucratic, records-obsessed culture has no means of distinguishing between one underclass child, specifically identified for continued education, and her sister, at least a year different in age, specifically not selected for continued education. Furthermore, and I say this as someone happy to attribute all sorts of evil and malevolence to giant corporations, the corporations that control this society are malevolent in unbelievable ways, ways that are directly contrary to even their most obvious, short-term interests. It all makes for a book that's extremely irritating if you think at all about what you're reading. But if you can turn your brain off, it's kind of fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic of Science Fiction and a great human story
Review: I could not disagree more with the last two reviewers.
First, it may spend some time with Ophelia and her solitary existence, and I actually put the book down for a while because of that, but I loved the book in the end.
OK, it may poke experts in the eye, but being and "expert" myself I can only say it is really overrated and in general we overrate ourselves. There are idiots and twits in every profession, mine included.
But, it tells a very interesting and captivating story about a little old lady in very improbable circumstances who, in the end, finds herself and a new meaning in her life.
Read it... I think you will enjoy ie.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting idea and character
Review: I found Elizabeth Moon's, REMNANT POPULATION, fascinating because the main character is an older woman. In late life, she makes a revolutionary decision to stay on a planet without her community. Through leading her normal life alone, she creates a richer and more fulfilling life for herself among the indigenous population. She's spunky, capable, self doubting yet brave. The best part of the book is that she becomes important and appreciated in her new community. This book not only has an interesting story and main character, but great aliens as well.
Rating:
Summary: Fun!
Review: I liked this book fully as much as anything else I've read by Elizabeth Moon. Her characters are believeable and well constructed, and her plots don't stretch the bounds of credulity. I wish more Sci-Fi authors were like her; this isn't a dark techno future and you won't feel hopeless or filthy after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: An Unusual premise...
Review: Moon starts off with an unusual premise: an older protagonist who doesn't want to move on -- and who works very hard to avoid being forced to leave. All alone, she finds a happiness and peace which had been denied to her. And then, she meets up with the 'alien' race. The first contact is intriguing, and the unusual character holds suspense very well.
Rating:
Summary: A Most Unusual Book
Review: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon is an unusual book in quite a few ways. To start with, the protagonist, Ofelia, is over 70 years old, and a grandmother. She's not as spry as she was, and not taken seriously by her family or community. Just a "crazy old lady". I can think of very few SF books where the protagonist is that old, unless of course they have some life-extension technology. Ofelia's people do not seriously consider the wants and concerns of an old person. Perhaps our culture doesn't either, if you judge by their (lack of) prominence in fiction. Ofelia lives in a struggling colony on a far-away planet. She's put her whole life into the colony -- the gardens, the family and friends she has buried there, the labor of a long life. Now the corporate owners of the world and the colony have decided it is "not viable" and they are shipping their employees off to start over on another world. Ofelia decides she won't leave. The colonists and the corporate masters leave, not too concerned about one missing old lady. Ofelia is alone. Alone means un-fettered by the needs and demands of other people. Un-concerned about what the neighbors will think of what she wears or does. Free to do sensible things which she is very capable of, and also free to make her own artwork and to sit in the sun and dream. This is the first and perhaps largest joy of the book. It is a personal growth story about someone whose life we might have assumed to be nearly over. Left to go wild, Ofelia blossoms. She is practical and careful, but at the same time her child self is finally set free. Of course all is not well in paradise for long. Ofelia will be presented with plenty of challenges. She was un-educated and under-valued by her society, but it turns out that a lifetime of experience at "women's work" has given her skills that she needs but barely has names for - diplomacy, conspiracy, management, teaching, practical use of social dynamics, to name a few. Through it all we enjoy Ofelia's sharp wit about the strange goings-on around her. This is also a First Contact story. The aliens (natives actually) are quite interesting, with a very different culture and social structure than what we are used to. They do have some surprises in store for the humans. I always like well-done aliens and alien - human interactions, and this is the second joy of this book. Remnant Population is also unusual in that there is very little violence. Elizabeth Moon has written quite a lot of military SF and swords-&-sorcery, but this book is free of those familiar combat scenes. Instead we have the joy of seeing inept corporations and short-sighted military baffled and outwitted by an old lady who understands how people work, how to resist, and how to find common ground. Anyway, this is the best book I've read this year, and goes on my "favorites" shelf, to lend to friends and read and re-read. It's available in paperback now, copyright 1996. You should find and read this one now, before it vanishes from the publishing scene and becomes an unobtainable legend. (This review first appeared in TANSTAAFL, the 'zine of the
Stilyagi Air Corps science fiction club.)
Rating:
Summary: Everlasting Potential
Review: Remnant Population is a character-based story. It contemplates the nature of radical change, exploring its effects on an aged individual and her physical world. This book begs the questions... Is it ever too late to remake life and redefine self? Is it truly possible to change our own, and other's, social values? How stable is change, begun in solitude, when challenged with social expectations? I enjoy novels, of any genre, that offer a platform from which readers may contemplate the mysterious depth of their own truths and choices. In Remnant Population, Elizabeth Moon has gifted her readers with a rare combination of ageless truths, introspection and a sensitivity to wisdoms most prevalent in the aged. She has also gifted me with a book I treasure and won't part with.
Rating:
Summary: "Pure satisfaction from cover to cover"
Review: This quote by Ann McCaffrey, which appears on the cover, extactly matches my impression of this book. The protagonist is smart, kind and observant. The aliens are really alien (and detailed in an almost Cherryh-like quality). This is the first book I have read by Moon, and I will surely look for her other titles.
Rating:
Summary: Unhurried tale about the freedom and peace of solitude.
Review: This unhurried tale about the freedom and peace of solitude and success in later life is presented as science fiction, but I believe people at any stage of life can relate. Ofelia is an old woman who decides to stay behind on a colony planet she has called home for half her life when the sponsoring company decides to move the colonists to another world. She is ready for a few years of freedom at the end of her long life. The freedom to wear what she wants, eat what she wants, rise and rest when she wants. She spends a few seasons and about a hundred pages alone. Then she encounters native intelligent life i.e. aliens and Ofelia gets acquainted with them and watches them learn at a marvelous rate that belies her initial impression of their childlike intelligence. Off world powers become aware of the intelligent life and send a group of specialists to study them. This book was slow moving, but the writing was lovely. For some reason, I really like descriptions of weather and gardening and Moon provides plenty of both along with rather simple arts and crafts of bead painting and clothes making that I rather enjoyed. The story of rising to success and finding oneself highly valued, respected and useful is not new. But I have never read a book where the main character is old and Ofelia offered a refreshing perspective. I enjoyed this book. Recommended.
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