The novel “Legacy” by Greg Bear was published for the first time in 1996. It’s a prequel to “Eon” and the third novel of the series of the Way.
The Way opens to infinite worlds but the Hexamon decided that some of them are not to be colonized, at least for the moment. A group of radical Naderites, however, has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the fierce war against the aliens Jart to emigrate to Lamarckia. On this planet a unique ecosystem developed, extraordinary from a scientific point of view but potentially lethal to the settlers.
Only a few years later the Hexamon discovers the illegal colonization and sends the young Olmy ap Sennon to investigate. Reaching Lamarckia through a portal is complicated and when he arrives on the planet Olmy soon discovers that some decades have passed. He has only one hope of returning: finding the clavicle, the key used by the settlers to arrive on Lamarckia. His mission gets even more complicated because the utopia sought by the colonists failed miserably and two factions are facing each other in a tough war for control of the scarce resources.
For a prequel of “Eon”, “Legacy” is quite disconnected from the other two novels of the series, so much that it can be read totally independently from them. It starts during the war against the aliens Jart but it takes place almost entirely on the planet Lamarckia, where Olmy ap Sennon is sent to find out what happened to a group of dissidents who have emigrated illegally in search of a utopia.
In “Legacy”, Greg Bear also develops the theme of the ecosystem of the planet Lamarckia and in my opinion this is the most interesting part of the novel. In fact, it would be more correct to speak of ecosystems because the development of life on Lamarckia was quite different from that of the Earth.
Huge organisms cover even entire continents and are constantly changing, reacting to contacts with other ecosystems but after the arrival of the humans also because of their influence. The planet was called Lamarckia precisely because its life forms follow a Lamarckian-type evolution.
The lives of the settlers has been difficult since their arrival on the planet Lamarckia also because only a small part of its life forms native is edible and the growth of imported crops is difficult. In his mission, Olmy slowly discovers both the story of the settlers on the planet and the extraordinary native life forms.
The settlers are basically Luddites who emigrated to Lamarckia hoping to live a simpler life. Their dream of a utopia turned out to be an illusion since the beginning and the brutal reality has rapidly destroyed it. Hunger and subsequent disagreements on how to run the colony has quickly turned the dream into a dystopia in which two factions are trying to survive and at the same time to overwhelm the enemy.
Olmy, who had to give up his mental enhancements for his mission, finds himself in the midst of a civil war. The risk is not only to be killed for being a Hexamon spy but also during one of the battles that take place between the two factions of settlers.
Due to the low technological level existing on Lamarckia, Olmy’s story sometimes seems more of the adventure genre than science fiction. For this reason readers who appreciate this kind of novels might like it more than hard science fiction fans. The presence of a scientific component devoted to Lamarckia’s life forms makes you think that Greg Bear tried to write a novel that more or less everybody could like.
Personally, I don’t particularly like Luddites in general. I find the idea that a life without the use of technology is better a delusion and I’m being kind. To be blunt, in my opinion the idea that people who belong to a civilization much more advanced than ours decide to abandon it for a Luddite dream is idiotic.
Basically, my idea is that the settlers arrived on Lamarckia have caused their own downfall with their pathetic delusion therefore they deserve everything they have suffered. Their utopia was doomed from the beginning and the settlers made the generations born on the planet pay for their delusion.
In this situation, Olmy’s mission is no longer spying, or at least not only that because the situation among the settlers is getting harder and harder. Being able to return to the Hexamon no longer serves to punish the perpetrators of the illegal immigration but to save the settlers from more famine.
“Legacy” is narrated in first person by Olmy, so he’s inevitably the most developed character. The other important characters are seen through his eyes and it’s interesting that the leaders of the two warring factions turn out to be very similar.
In my opinion, “Legacy” is all in all a good novel but definitely not up to the other two novels of the series of the Way. However I must say that the adventurous component isn’t the type that appeals to me so it’s possible that readers who appreciate that kind of stories will like it much more than me.
