Legacy of Heorot, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes

Rating: a good story

Plot

A colony of several hundred humans attempting the very first colonization of another planet; they are mostly scientists and other professionals, plus Cadmann who is a soldier. A lot of cute references to medieval myths. A really interesting alien monster attacks, then its mother attacks, then instead of a dragon we have a last-standoff of hundreds of Grendel-pups attacking. Some passages are written from the perspective of the alien. It’s revealed that the monsters are the post-larval stage of the “fish” that the colonists have been eating, and that the colonists accidentally messed with the local ecosystem.

Politics

The hero is a soldier, frustrated because nobody else accepts his usefulness, but they come around after a few of the colonists die.

Women

Pretty good representation for three men in the 70s.