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Man-Kzin Wars #4
Man-Kzin Wars IV
A WINNING TRADITION...
Welcome to the hottest pocket in Larry Niven's Known Space: the time of the assault on pacifist humanity by berserker felinoids from the planet Kzin. This time humanity's representatives to the Warrior Race are Donald Kingsbury, Greg Bear, and Steve Stirling. As in traditional in this war for species survival, in all cases "monkey cleverness" (i.e. human cunning) is more than a match for felinoid ferocity. But as is also traditional, victory never comes cheap to those out on the sharp edge of The Man-Kzin Wars.
Cover Illustration: Stephen Hickman
Welcome to the hottest pocket in Larry Niven's Known Space: the time of the assault on pacifist humanity by berserker felinoids from the planet Kzin. This time humanity's representatives to the Warrior Race are Donald Kingsbury, Greg Bear, and Steve Stirling. As in traditional in this war for species survival, in all cases "monkey cleverness" (i.e. human cunning) is more than a match for felinoid ferocity. But as is also traditional, victory never comes cheap to those out on the sharp edge of The Man-Kzin Wars.
Cover Illustration: Stephen Hickman
311 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
28 people are currently reading
619 people want to read
About the author
Larry Niven
687 books3,311 followersLaurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 5, 2009
I actually set a page in this book on fire. It was reflex. There was this map in the book, and the page before the map described the map perfectly, and I had my lighter out to light a cigarette, and I flipped the page and saw the map, and my hand just shot out and set that page on fire. I suppose I should be more upset about setting a book on fire than I am, but, man, this book sucked. It was totally asking for it.
May 17, 2025
A book in two parts. Two stories about the Man-Kzin War . One from the Kzin perspective, and one from that of a human impersonating a Kzin. I enjoyed the story about the cautious Kzin, but felt the human/Kzin impersonation did not really work for me, hence three stars.
October 8, 2015
MKW4 is one of the best of the venerable Man-Kzin Wars series. This volume contains Donald Kingsbury's "The Survivor", the first of Kingsbury's excellent tales about the cowardly Kzin Trainer-of-Slaves. It also includes Greg Bear & S.M. Stirling's "The Man Who Would Be Kzin", which is about a human telepath who infiltrates a Kzinti ship.
I've been reading and collecting the series since the early 1990s. Most of these books are currently out of print. When my original copy of MKW4 finally fell apart I was glad to find a lightly used replacement for under $20.
I've been reading and collecting the series since the early 1990s. Most of these books are currently out of print. When my original copy of MKW4 finally fell apart I was glad to find a lightly used replacement for under $20.
May 10, 2015
Another great book in Larry Niven's shared universe series. Donald Kingsbury's "Survivor" is an excellent story as it takes place across three stories from the 3 previous volumes. Great SiFi stories that you jump into at the beginning or anywhere in the series run. Very recommended
April 6, 2022
This is a grim piece of work.
It consists of two novellas.
The first is about a cowardly kzin who chooses to focus his intellect on defeating humanity through biology. And he succeeds.
Now, when most books portray the villain as the main character, through the course of the story, the MC experiences a moral shift and redemption. Or they end up losing.
Not in this book. In this book, the MC develops scientific methodology of shocking cruelty. He evolves them, he perfects them, and he succeeds. Without hyperbole, this is literally a romanticism of an alien Dr Josef Mengele.
Trigger alert: This story includes graphic depictions of racism, species-ism, hunting/killing/eating of humans (including women and children), sadism, physical torture, mental torture, medical torture and experimentation, rape, and forced impregnation.
It's pretty gross.
The second story is about a sociopathic human telepath that wants to become a kzin. I didn't bother reading it.
It consists of two novellas.
The first is about a cowardly kzin who chooses to focus his intellect on defeating humanity through biology. And he succeeds.
Now, when most books portray the villain as the main character, through the course of the story, the MC experiences a moral shift and redemption. Or they end up losing.
Not in this book. In this book, the MC develops scientific methodology of shocking cruelty. He evolves them, he perfects them, and he succeeds. Without hyperbole, this is literally a romanticism of an alien Dr Josef Mengele.
Trigger alert: This story includes graphic depictions of racism, species-ism, hunting/killing/eating of humans (including women and children), sadism, physical torture, mental torture, medical torture and experimentation, rape, and forced impregnation.
It's pretty gross.
The second story is about a sociopathic human telepath that wants to become a kzin. I didn't bother reading it.
April 29, 2024
Two stories, both of which concentrate on Kzin society. "Survivor" is an epic story of a coward Kzin who, by luck, intelligence, and, yes, cowardice, survives as his comrades die in wave after wave of battle. The highlight of this story was the Jotok, a highly intelligent five-limbed slave species to the Kzin. The down sides were that the story used far more exposition than necessary, its shape kept changing (e.g., bringing in a human interest two-thirds of the way through), and its anything-but-heroic hero. "The Man Who Would Be Kzin" had a human telepath infiltrate a Kzin ship. Interesting character study, but not that interesting.
January 11, 2025
'The Survivor' by Donald Kingsbury is one of the creepiest things you'll ever read. But it will stir your compassion, too, or you're not human.
'The Man Who Would be Kzin' by Greg Bear and S M Sterling is a pedestrian work that does things with telepathy that don't seem to fit with the rest of Known Space, but what are you gonna do?
Read this for the Kingsbury, that's what.
'The Man Who Would be Kzin' by Greg Bear and S M Sterling is a pedestrian work that does things with telepathy that don't seem to fit with the rest of Known Space, but what are you gonna do?
Read this for the Kingsbury, that's what.
November 15, 2019
A great read
Two good stories in here. The first a long evolving theme with an excellent twist and the second just as devious. Well worth reading for any fan of the genrr.
Two good stories in here. The first a long evolving theme with an excellent twist and the second just as devious. Well worth reading for any fan of the genrr.
March 20, 2022
“The Survivor” by Donald Kingsley is my favorite of the Man-Kzin stories through my reading of the first four volumes of the series.
actually-want-to-read
September 18, 2024DONALD KINGSBURY WROTE ONE TWO OF THESE?
"The Survivor"
"The Heroic Myth of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine"
"The Survivor"
"The Heroic Myth of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine"
August 11, 2024
Survivor and The Man Who Would Be Kzin were decent.
August 19, 2013
This is Volume #4 in the Man-Kzin series edited by Larry Niven, and (mostly) written by his cronies. Again I’d recommend reading this series in order, along with Niven’s “Ringworld” quadralogy, for context.
This is one of the best thus far, with a 244 page novella and a 65 page short story. The first, ”The Survivor,” by Donald Kingsbury, follows the life of “Short-Son,” youngest of Admiral Chuut-Ritt’s (from previous volumes in the series). Short-Son is Chuut-Ritt’s least favorite, for he is deemed a coward and shrinks from combat, the preferred activity of the bellicose Kzin. Thus, Short-Son is renamed “Eater-of-Grass.” The initial action takes place on a remote outpost, but there’s warlike tension in the air, for a fleet of ships is amassing to once again attack Earth, so the need for young Kzin ready to fight is particularly relevant. Well, through a series of happenstance and cleverness, Eater-of-Grass becomes “Trainer-of-Slaves,” specifically the Jotok, a subservient and at times hunted, but very helpful race of multi-legged small creatures. Indeed, he befriends “Long-Reach,” and makes him his personal servant. Well, Trainer-of-Slaves and his Jotok entourage manage to convince the military higher-ups that they could be useful to the invasion, so they end up on one of the ships. In this vein, a consistent theme in these stories is the assumption that space travel takes years, and indeed the events of this story take place over a 44 year period, from 2391 to 2435. In the interim, an Earthian ship is captured, and with it a female officer, Nora Argamentine, a plucky well-trained member of the UNSN (United Nations Space Navy). Well, she’s quite injured and Trainer of Slaves places her in the autodoc (a nifty device that restores full or almost full functioning to just about anybody, whatever their age; Old Louis Wu, from “Ringworld,” used it a lot), and as she recovers, he investigates her training and her thinking and emotional processes, and in the process introduces hormones that gradually turn her into a Kzinrett (female Kzin), Well, she becomes his helpmate, but in the process she loses her autonomous, feisty nature and becomes docile and subservient, which those of you advocating Girl Power may bristle at (as did I), but is consistent with previous descriptions of Kzinrett’s natures. At any rate, he, Nora and a number of Jotok slaves commandeer Nora’s ship and go to another planet which eventually receives Trainer-of-Slaves, now self-named “Grraf-Nig” (after his father and another admiral whom he admired), as a hero. The transformation of the main character from coward to hero is gradual but satisfying; that of Nora less so. Interestingly, I read on Mr. Kingsbury’s website that he has written another story for this collection, “The Heroic Myth of Lt. Nora Argamentine,” though that one remains to be read. Should be interesting reading.
The second story, “The Man Who Would Be Kzin,” by Greag Bear and S. M. Stirling, involves Lawrence Halloran, human spy and extremely-developed telepath, who is recruited to go to a Kzin ship and impersonate “Fixer of of-Weapons,” a Kzin telepath that has been captured. So Halloran spends considerable time entering the mind of Fixer-of-Weapons, and in a number of ways “becoming” him. Halloran’s talent is strong enough to not only present a Kzin’s personality but to sort of “hypnotize” other Kzin into believing that he is physically Fixer-of-Weapons. All of this is very draining on Halloran, but he sees this as his ultimate mission. And, like a number of other such stories (I refer you to “Magic,” by William Goldman, in which the difference between the ventriloquist and his dummy becomes very uncertain), Halloran’s becoming Fixer-of-Weapons results in an identity crisis in the middle of this process. Well, of course, Halloran pulls the fakery off and there’s a satisfying ending which I won’t tell you about, of course.
So, four stars for this volume. Looking forward to the next one sometime in the vague future.
This is one of the best thus far, with a 244 page novella and a 65 page short story. The first, ”The Survivor,” by Donald Kingsbury, follows the life of “Short-Son,” youngest of Admiral Chuut-Ritt’s (from previous volumes in the series). Short-Son is Chuut-Ritt’s least favorite, for he is deemed a coward and shrinks from combat, the preferred activity of the bellicose Kzin. Thus, Short-Son is renamed “Eater-of-Grass.” The initial action takes place on a remote outpost, but there’s warlike tension in the air, for a fleet of ships is amassing to once again attack Earth, so the need for young Kzin ready to fight is particularly relevant. Well, through a series of happenstance and cleverness, Eater-of-Grass becomes “Trainer-of-Slaves,” specifically the Jotok, a subservient and at times hunted, but very helpful race of multi-legged small creatures. Indeed, he befriends “Long-Reach,” and makes him his personal servant. Well, Trainer-of-Slaves and his Jotok entourage manage to convince the military higher-ups that they could be useful to the invasion, so they end up on one of the ships. In this vein, a consistent theme in these stories is the assumption that space travel takes years, and indeed the events of this story take place over a 44 year period, from 2391 to 2435. In the interim, an Earthian ship is captured, and with it a female officer, Nora Argamentine, a plucky well-trained member of the UNSN (United Nations Space Navy). Well, she’s quite injured and Trainer of Slaves places her in the autodoc (a nifty device that restores full or almost full functioning to just about anybody, whatever their age; Old Louis Wu, from “Ringworld,” used it a lot), and as she recovers, he investigates her training and her thinking and emotional processes, and in the process introduces hormones that gradually turn her into a Kzinrett (female Kzin), Well, she becomes his helpmate, but in the process she loses her autonomous, feisty nature and becomes docile and subservient, which those of you advocating Girl Power may bristle at (as did I), but is consistent with previous descriptions of Kzinrett’s natures. At any rate, he, Nora and a number of Jotok slaves commandeer Nora’s ship and go to another planet which eventually receives Trainer-of-Slaves, now self-named “Grraf-Nig” (after his father and another admiral whom he admired), as a hero. The transformation of the main character from coward to hero is gradual but satisfying; that of Nora less so. Interestingly, I read on Mr. Kingsbury’s website that he has written another story for this collection, “The Heroic Myth of Lt. Nora Argamentine,” though that one remains to be read. Should be interesting reading.
The second story, “The Man Who Would Be Kzin,” by Greag Bear and S. M. Stirling, involves Lawrence Halloran, human spy and extremely-developed telepath, who is recruited to go to a Kzin ship and impersonate “Fixer of of-Weapons,” a Kzin telepath that has been captured. So Halloran spends considerable time entering the mind of Fixer-of-Weapons, and in a number of ways “becoming” him. Halloran’s talent is strong enough to not only present a Kzin’s personality but to sort of “hypnotize” other Kzin into believing that he is physically Fixer-of-Weapons. All of this is very draining on Halloran, but he sees this as his ultimate mission. And, like a number of other such stories (I refer you to “Magic,” by William Goldman, in which the difference between the ventriloquist and his dummy becomes very uncertain), Halloran’s becoming Fixer-of-Weapons results in an identity crisis in the middle of this process. Well, of course, Halloran pulls the fakery off and there’s a satisfying ending which I won’t tell you about, of course.
So, four stars for this volume. Looking forward to the next one sometime in the vague future.
August 24, 2011
A long running anthology series with stories set during the Man-Kzin Wars in Larry Niven’s Known Space universe. Niven started this thing up because while the Wars were very significant in the history of Known Space, he himself was not adept at writing about conflict. Niven has written some of the stories but most are by other authors. The writing ranges from average to excellent. Recommended if you are a fan of Known Space.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1026
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1026
November 7, 2014
This series is amazing on several levels. The first is the continued character development of one of the very coolest races of the "Niven Universe". Another thing that is so fun about this project is that different authors take their turn telling the story, adding to but staying true to what has come before. So the legend grows and becomes more and more complex and fascinating with each new story.
May 12, 2014
After recently re-reading several of his Man-Kzin series I still like his aliens but he is rather old school, sci-fi, a la Arthur C Clarke.
July 13, 2011
more tiger-men in space
Read
April 10, 2016Made me want to read the Next one in the series.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews