Star Ka'Ats and the Plant People

Rating:
Summary: 3rd in the Star Ka'at series for children.
Review: The Star Ka'at books are intended for children, but they hold up pretty well (STAR KA'AT itself is the best of the lot). Some enterprising publisher could easily fit all 4 novels into a single volume, even with the illustrations.

Jim and Elly Mae have settled into life on Zimmorrah after the events of STAR KA'AT WORLD. They're now helping the Ka'ats explore the ancient, desolate city of the Hsi (a.k.a. the People), now that its automatic defenses have finally been shut down. Although they're kids, they have the advantage of Hsi-like hands and vocal chords, so they are a tremendous help in analyzing Hsi-built machines, which were often voice-activated. (Up until quite recently, the city *did* have working robots, who presumably kept up the maintenance although their masters were long dead.)

The Ka'ats, who have been using Hsi stockpiles of metal for years, now have an urgent need to unlock the Hsi records - the stockpiles are finally running out, and existing Ka'at flyers and other devices are giving out due to metal fatigue. The answer to the question of where the Hsi got the metal to make their machines is presented quite logically, but it's not what you might expect.

This is a good story, but it leaves at least 1 question that isn't addressed. The Ka'ats first visited Earth, after the Hsi left the scene, in the days of ancient Egypt, if not earlier. Even if we assume that this was immediately after the Hsi sealed themselves into their city, that's a *long* time to run a space-faring civilization using only stockpiled metal, without any apparent idea of how to obtain it in nature.

Rating:
Summary: 3rd in the Star Ka'at series for children.
Review: The Star Ka'at books are intended for children, but they hold up pretty well (_Star Ka'at_ itself is the best of the lot). Some enterprising publisher could easily fit all 4 novels into a single volume, even with the illustrations.

Jim and Elly Mae have settled into life on Zimmorrah after the events of _Star Ka'at World_. They're now helping the Ka'ats explore the ancient, desolate city of the Hsi (a.k.a. the People), now that its automatic defenses have finally been shut down. Although they're kids, they have the advantage of Hsi-like hands and vocal chords, so they are a tremendous help in analyzing Hsi-built machines, which were often voice-activated. (Up until quite recently, the city *did* have working robots, who presumably kept up the maintenance although their masters were long dead.)

The Ka'ats, who have been using Hsi stockpiles of metal for years, now have an urgent need to unlock the Hsi records - the stockpiles are finally running out, and existing Ka'at flyers and other devices are giving out due to metal fatigue. The answer to the question of where the Hsi got the metal to make their machines is presented quite logically, but it's not what you might expect.

This is a good story, but it leaves at least 1 question that isn't addressed. The Ka'ats first visited Earth, after the Hsi left the scene, in the days of ancient Egypt, if not earlier. Even if we assume that this was immediately after the Hsi sealed themselves into their city, that's a *long* time to run a space-faring civilization using only stockpiled metal, without any apparent idea of how to obtain it in nature.