Andreas Rosboch's Blog, page 57

Saturn's Race – Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

As in so many of Niven's later works, there is a great backstory, but the novel falls short of the mark. A large offshore colony is dabbling in genetic engineering. There is a great feeling of hope that mankind will have a bright future. Needless to say, this doesn't happen. Not very good, but it has some cool ideas and settings.

The Descent of Anansi – Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

Near future technothriller. Pretty nifty orbital combat scenes, but apart from that nothing makes this one stand out.

Achilles' Choice – Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

In this novel, Olympic athletes are allowed to "enhance" their bodies, to the point that they will not survive more than a few years after the competition. Unless they win, that is, in which case they join the ruling council and are  "linked" to a neural interface that fixes the issue. Mildly entertaining.

The Dream Park Series – Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

Consisting of:

Dream Park
The Barsoom Project
California Vodoo Game (sometimes published as "The California Vodoo Game")

The novels are set in a theme park named "Dream Park". Dream Park uses holograms and other methods to create completely lifelike environments for adventures. For example, one can become a group of medieval knights on a quest, and be totally immersed in the experience. The novels are very enjoyable, with some nice twists to the tale. It is also interesting to see how role playing as a sport evolves from the first to the last book.

 

 

Scatterbrain – Larry Niven

Well, he certainly is a scatterbrain, as he readily admits in the introduction. Although I feel that Niven's writing has been in a steady decline for the past couple of decades, his short fiction and especially his articles are always great fun. Like N-Space and Playgrounds of the Mind this is a mix of new and old short fiction, book excerpts and articles. Enjoyable reading for the Niven fan.

 

N-Space and Playgrounds of the Mind – Larry Niven

If you've never read Larry Niven, these two collections are a great place to start. They are both a mix of essays, short fiction, and excerpts from novels. If you've already read practically all of Niven's work, there is not a lot of new material, but the convention essays still make the books worth the read.

Destiny's Road – Larry Niven

On a distant colony planet, a boy grows up wondering why the original colony ship departed many generations ago, at the same time scorching a road into the distance with its fusion drive. No knows where the road leads. The planet has a shortage of potassium and an upper class distributes what turns out to be potassium in exchange for their ruling status.

The ideas underlying the story are very clever. Unfortunately the story itself is confusing and hopelessly. I could barely finish the book. Given the neat premise, I wish Niven would have written an outline and contracted some other author to write the actual book.

Note: This is set in the same universe As The Legacy of Heorot and Beowulf's Children, but there is no connection between the stories beyond that.

Juggler of Worlds – Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner

In this standalone sequel to Fleet of Worlds, ARM agent and professional paranoiac Sigmund Ausfaller is obsessed with the enigmatic Puppeteer race. The book follows his career from recruitment to ultimate savior. It is a long and complex tale that touches on many points and characters covered in Niven's Known Space stories from decades past.

Fleet of Worlds is a pretty decent book. More importantly, it really took me back to the Niven's classic Known Space novels and short stories. Juggler of Worlds unfortunately does not live up to its prequel. The plot is razor thin. The objective seems mostly to fill in the gaps between various Beowulf Schaeffer stories. Cute for the Niven fan, but it falls wells short of what I expected.

Love the cover though.

Fleet of Worlds – Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner

A new novel in the Known Space universe, "Fleet of Worlds" fills in some gaps in the story of the Puppeteers and the migration of their worlds (the "Fleet of Worlds"). It tells the previously unknown story of a society of humans living with the Puppeteers without knowledge of their heritage. The Puppeteers have some deep, dark secrets revealed. There are some excellent descriptions of Puppeteer society. We are also introduced to a younger Nessus, the Puppeteer featured in Ringworld.

It is a good story, and long awaited for any fan of Known Space. Unlike the third and fourth Ringworld novels, it really manages to capture the tone of the main Known Space novels. I hadn't realized how much I missed the environment. Note, though, that you you will have a hard time following without at least having read Crashlander or Neutron Star (Crashlander reprints all the stories from Neutron Star).

A Hole in Space – Larry Niven

This outstanding short story collection mostly contains stories that are set in deep space, as opposed to his other collections where the setting tends to be planetbound. The first is the excellent "Rammer" (which formed the basis for A World Out of Time), in which a man revived from cryogenic sleep is forced to pay his debt to society by going on a centuries long mission to "seed" potential colony worlds. There is also an essay on space habitats, including Niven's Ringworld concept.