If you only read one book this year about greedy, interstellar corporations raping planets for their natural resources, it should be this one. A contracted prospector inadvertently comes across a significant vein of valuable resources on an alien planet controlled by one of the largest companies in humanity. It appears that this will make him very wealthy until questions arise regarding a new species he also discovers. What follows is a struggle between the company, those who wish to protect the creatures, and a man who wants to make the most out of the situation for himself. 
 I haven't read the original story by Piper, but I greatly enjoyed Scalzi's retelling. I'm putting Little Fuzzy on my list as I'm now curious about the genesis of this world and how different Scalzi made it in his interpretation. The plot moves very quickly, and he makes a court scene near the end of the book flow like one of the battle scenes from Old Man's War. The plot does follow some standard tropes of environmentally conservative stories: there is a large corporation that employs illegal actions and backdoor deals to make the most money possible, a biologist who is dedicated to protecting the new species, and a general populous who is still dependent on harvesting non-renewable resources. Scalzi should option this to Disney; I think it would make a great movie that fits their narrative styles (I mean this in a good way). Well, except for the cursing. What I mean by that is I knew how everything would generally resolve. Where it deviates is that there were several plot twists and red herrings that did catch me by surprise as the threads played out at the end of the book. 
 Scalzi's wit and humor are as well done here as ever, which makes even some of the more serious scenes (except for a notable witness at the end) a bit lighter to read. You can clearly imagine this world and see a lot of our current world used as inspiration for this one. The hero is far from a Dudley Do-Right, but instead is really quite a selfish jerk for most of the novel.