Juggler of Worlds

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• ISBN13: 9780765357847

Description

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Customer Reviews

A treat for Bey Shaeffer fans; New readers should read "Crashlander" first
Summary: This book stands out from its series by retelling many of Niven's old stories, most of which are collected in Crashlander, from the point of view of one of Niven's former background characters, Sigmund Ausfaller. As a result, it's much more like a collection of short stories than a novel. It's a lot of fun for fans of the Crashlander stories, but if you are reading this as part of the "Worlds" series and haven't read the earlier stories, definitely go get Crashlander and read that first.

Forty years or so ago, Larry Niven began writing a set of stories and novels set in "Known Space" - a portion of the milky way that was at least partially explored by the human race. Since then, he has occasionally let other writers into his playground, particularly in the The Man-Kzin Wars series.

This time, Niven has collaborated with Edward Lerner to write three books about the "Puppeteers", a race of technologically advanced herd animals, and their interactions with humanity.

The first book, Fleet of Worlds, re-introduces the Puppeteers fleet of five (now six) travelling planets for readers not familiar with them, and takes place largely on those planets, as does the third book, Destroyer of Worlds. This is the second in the series, and in some ways, the most daring. It is closer to a collection of short stories than a novel, and follows the connections of Sigmund Ausfaller, an existing Niven character, with the puppeteers and the fleet of worlds.

Previously, Ausfaller had appeared in the background of several Niven short stories, most of which are collected in Crashlander. In those stories, he's a mysterious agent of Earth's "ARM" intelligence agency, who typically shows up to manipulate the hero of thoses stories, interstellar pilot Bey Shaffer. Juggler of Worlds re-tells those stories from Ausfaller's perspective, plus one story ("The Soft Weapon") from the perspective of Nessus, a puppeteer "scout" who is also a long-standing Niven character. If you have fond memories of the Crashlander stories (and I do), rereading them from another perspective is a neat experience, but if you haven't read them, some of these stories will be challenging. If you are picking this up because you are reading the "Worlds" series but haven't read Crashlander, definitely read that first. You would also be well advised to read The Soft Weapon, but that's much harder to find.

Overall, the stories worked for me. I liked the growing relationship (often behind multiple levels of deception and proxies) between the two agents, Nessus and Ausfaller, as well as their parallels. Nessus, from a race of obsessively cautious herd animals, is made a scout because he is insanely daring (for a puppeteer), and Ausfaller, from a race of curious primates, is made an intelligence agent because he is insanely paranoid (for a human). The book does a nice job of sketching out their loneliness and their ongoing intelligence duel.

I have a few gripes that prevent me from giving it five stars. First, I was a little disappointed that the "lone genius" trope applies to puppeteers too. We are told several times that the puppeteer home world has TRILLIONS of puppeteers, but we meet fewer than ten: Hindmost (the leader of the civilization); Achilles (another scout); Baedeker (a genius engineer); Nessus; and a few supporting characters.

Baedeker, in particular, is the Wesley Crusher of the puppeteer civilization. If you need a previously nonnegotiable law of physics repealed, you apparently just call Baedeker. Presumably, with a civilization of a trillion plus hyperintelligent herd animals, some kind of distributed problem solving would be the way to solve problems - imagine what you could accomplish with a well managed set of one hundred teams of a thousand scientists each, plus logistical support. Ten thousand teams? A couple lines about Baedeker using the herd would have been great.

Still, I'm very glad I read Juggler of Worlds, and really enjoyed it, particularly the chance to revisit some of my favorite stories. Read it, but read Crashlander first.

2010-05-28 | jck09 (Cincinnati, OH USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Even Better Together
This sequel to "Fleet of Worlds" expands the history of Niven's Known Space, focusing on the Puppeteers' flight from the exploding galactic core. Although much time is spent recapping events on Earth that were occurring during the events that take place in "Fleet of Worlds" (including some clever references to previous Niven stories involving Beowulf Shaeffer and others), the two threads are eventually brought together through ARM agent and natural paranoid Sigmund Ausfaller. To say more would give away some of the plot twists and turns that make this a highly entertaining read. Niven and Lerner collaborate seamlessly and to my mind, both benefit from this collaboration.

2009-12-19 (Glendale, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Yes it revisits old stories, but...
...it is from a new perspective -ARM Agent Sigmund Ausfaller's viewpoint. And there is more new than old, despite what the negative reviewers say

To me, this is back to classic Niven as it explores the effects of technology on society, the ethics of alien cultures, and the age old question: Can one be paranoid *enough*?

Much better Known Space than the recent Ringworld or Man-Kzin War stories (done to *death* IMO). Very engaging and hard to put down.

Five Stars.

2009-09-19 | Meresa (Houston, TX United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Enjoyable Diversion
There comes a time in the career of a Science Fiction writer when they start winding down. They tie up loose ends, they mine the tailings of their previous works, they update their vision to include new real-world technologies, and (sometimes) they find an heir to take over their universe. Isaac Asimov did a spectacular job in the end-tying department, Anne McCaffrey is apparently planning a dynasty, and Arthur C. Clark's swan song was, frankly, painful to read (but that's another review). This book is such a work.

The book is part of a threesome - Fleet of Worlds, Juggler of Worlds, and the as-yet-unreleased Destroyer of Worlds. In it, we find Nessus, a long-time character in Niven's other books (here greatly expanded in depth), Simon Ausfaller, Beowulf Shaeffer, and a host of other well- and lesser-knowns. Newbies to Niven's work won't be totally lost, but will miss some of the more subtle craftmanship in the storytelling - the authors' multiple nods to previous plotlines is admirable.

The story and writing here is a bit choppy. Sometimes, one gets the sense that a bunch of half-finished short stories were haphazardly glued together, and, in one twist, a last-minute deus ex machina could have been much better integrated much earlier in the timeline. However, the characters are well explored, the plot isn't too absurd, and the writing is, for lack of a better term, still "Nivenesque".

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, warts and all. I eagerly await the last installment of the triad. That Niven is breaking in a new partner is clear. That this is and will be a fruitful collaboration is also.

2009-07-29 (California) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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End the hate!
After reading this book, I have a hard time seeing where all the hate has come from. This is a fine Niven book, and an excellent prequel to Ringworld in many aspects. It's not perfect, but then again Niven's writing has never been perfect, and I'll go into that later.

The book does feature quite a bit of "retreading" events discussed in "Fleet of Worlds" and elsewhere. Only instead of being a flat retread, you get to see these events from the perspectives of ARM agent Sigmund Ausfaller and other character that would be too spoilerific to detail. This perspective starts off a bit weak, but gets better and better as the book progresses until this character and the events he's wrapped up in actually get pretty riveting toward the end.

One might wonder how a book that starts off admittedly a bit dry garners a five-star review, and the answer lies in the fact that Niven has always been terrible at characterization. Ringworld is one of my favorite Science Fiction books of all time, but it is almost entirely about the technology of the Ringworld itself, and even the mighty Louis Wu is little more than a bit player in the grand scheme. Every character- even the relatively dimwitted Kzin- will drop all sense of character for pages to rant about some technology in a totally sterile narrator style. The book basically reads like a hard Sci-Fi version of a Star Trek engineering team ("That's a polymatrix inductor. It was built by Mr. X in 2535, and saw its first use on the planet Y in the Z nebula..." and so on). Juggler of Worlds (and its predecessor, Fleet of Worlds) actually builds some decent characters that do a fair job of staying in character. As with that previous book, I have to imagine this is the result of the partnership with Edward M. Lerner, and I'm happy to see that partnership continue if this is the result.

So what you get in this book is a bit of a retelling of the events in Fleet of Worlds and the Beowulf Schaeffer books/stories, but it's from a fresh perspective that gives you new insight into every event that unfolds. Towards the end, you also get quite a bit of new content that answers as many questions as it raises- and yes, there's already another book coming in this series. Personally, I'm looking forward to it.

I highly recommend this book to any Niven fan- just be aware it's a little lighter on the tech and heavier on characters this time around. This and "Fleet of Worlds" are essential to complete any Known Space collection. Anyone new to Known Space should start out on Fleet of Worlds at least, as you'll need much of that info to truly appreciate this book, or indeed someone new to Niven should really just start with Ringworld as many of us did and work around the series from there. This is an excellent book overall, and should appeal to people outside the normal circle of Ringworld devotees because of the character focus.

2009-06-25 | tech geek (Mid-MI) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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Fleet of Worlds

Description

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Customer Reviews

Impressively bad
I've read almost all Niven's books, including each of the Ringworld series two or three times. This reads like juvenile fiction. The human characters are utterly flat. I couldn't even keep the two males straight. Skimmed the last half, and I can't remember what happened. Gave it away.

2010-03-20 (Albuquerque, NM USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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Only for people who simply MUST have more "ringworld"
It's OK, I guess, but just does not tie together. All the bits are there but they don't engage. For example: one of the characters is apparently a super-genius, except that he is a moron and really doesn't do anything. Another character looks interesting but then is reported to have died 'off camera' what was that all about? And there are super-intelligent aliens with less reasoning ability than your average 12 year old child. And the main character has an interesting quirk but in the long run it doesn't seem make any difference. You get the idea.

If you really want to read something interesting set in this fictional universe read "A Darker Geometry" by Gregory Benford and Mark Martin.

2009-10-22 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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My First Hard Sci-Fi Read
Imaginative, dramatic and lots of fun to read. Now I'm hooked on hard sci fi.

2009-10-09 | Afroman (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Big Niven fan, but could not complete
Normally I dash out to get the latest tome of Niven in hardcover. This was no exception.

However I could not finish the book. This was like the middle ringworld books until he redeemed himself with the final Ringworld novel. Something is missing. Not sure what, but hopefully Larry will return to form soon?

2009-08-25 (Miami, FL) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Excellent! More like the Niven of old
I first started reading Niven in my youth when he first started writing, and I loved his early stuff, especially "Ringworld" and other books in his "Known Space" series. I have been disappointed by most of his later stuff, however, especially some of his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle. The stories seemed to be just a hook to hang technology or politics on. "The Integral Trees" is a perfectly example; I barely managed to finish it. I thought the concepts were fascinating, but I kept waiting for a story.

Fleet of Worlds seems to be "back to basics", however. I think that most people who enjoy SF (or maybe even fantasy) will appreciate this book. However, you'll have a special treat if you are one of those increasingly rare individuals who didn't sleep through high school science class and who has trouble suspending disbelief while watching one of Stan Lee's creations. Niven doesn't just create aliens, he creates ecosystems; his aliens aren't just pointy-eared humanoids. They are logical products of the environment where they evolved, and when that environment is alien to us, the results are alien indeed but believable. His new technology has consequences, either good or bad (or both).

I sincerely hope there'll be more books like this from him (and whoever) in the future.

2009-04-04 | JOATAMON (Paris, France) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Betrayer of Worlds

Description

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Destroyer of Worlds

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780765322050
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and checking to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Mould: New

Description

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Customer Reviews

Very Good "[noun] of Worlds" Book
"Destroyer of Worlds" is the 3rd of Niven's & Lerner's "Before the Discovery of the Ringworld" set of books (Fleet of Worlds, Juggler of Worlds). The writing and tone are very similar to that of "Fleet of Worlds" (and, thus, better than that of "Juggler of Worlds" -- but there's no way to get to this book without having read "Juggler"). Overall, I found the book well-paced, interesting, and enjoyable. But, I do have a few quibbles with it. First, though the main plot does get tied up, it doesn't feel like a very satisfactory solution (it's a bit abrupt, given what it took to get there). Second, there are several other plot elements that are just left hanging (I wish authors would write self-contained, complete books and let their writing abilities and their universes bring readers back on their own accord). And, finally, I don't understand why the authors ignore the tremendous tactical advantages a hyperspace jumping ship would have over regular space ships in a battle. It just seems to me that dropping out of hyperspace with a high relative delta-v to another ship, dropping a rock on an intersecting path, popping back into hyperspace after a couple of microseconds in regular space, and then repeating the process as needed is a pretty obvious and strong capability. But, those are fairly small problems considering that I highly enjoyed reading the book. So, I still rate the book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5. If you liked "Fleet of Worlds," you should like this one.

2010-04-04 (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Pak Are Coming
Destroyer of Worlds (2009) is the third SF novel in the Worlds subseries, following Juggler of Worlds. In the previous volume, Sigmund realized that he was no longer paranoid. Nessus went to the Outsiders and Sigmund found him there. Achilles tried to destroy a world and Baedecker stopped him. Faithful Penelope wore hot pink.

In this novel, Sigmund Ausfaller is a professional paranoid. Initially a midlevel financial analyst within the UN, he was recruited into the Amalgamated Regional Militia. ARM agents are treated to become paranoid; he, on the other hand, had to be treated to become sane.

Eric and Kirsten are humans born on Nature Preserve 4, now known as New Earth. They were scouts for the Citizens, but now work for Sigmund.

Nessus is a Puppeteer. He is unsane, for normal Citizens are much too cowardly to travel into space. Yet his unsanity is valuable to the Concordance, for it needs scouts to explore the dangers of space.

Baedeker is a Puppeteer. He is unsane, but not as much so as Nessus. For example, he doesn't trust anyone who is not a Puppeteer and at times not even his fellow Citizens.

Er'o is a Gw'o, a five-limbed sapient shaped somewhat like a starfish. He is an element of a sixteen member merge called Ol't'ro. With their tentacles interconnected, they think as one mind.

Thssthfok is a Pak Protector. At first he had been a Breeder, but he ate tree-of-life root upon becoming old enough. The virus changed him into the protector form and he lives only to protect clan Rilchuk.

In this story, Thssthfok is part of a Protector group checking nearby stars for possible colonization. He is drilling core samples through the ice when the recall is passed to him. Apparently all Protectors are being recalled to Pakhome.

The galactic core has exploded and Pak are fleeing from the spreading wave front. Rilchuk has few ramjets, so they make a deal with a clan in the asteroid belt to rescue their kinfolk. Then they join the exodus away from the galactic center.

Sigmund, Eric and Kirsten are going to Jm'ho in response to a message from the Gw'oth. Sigmund has convinced Baedeker to come along. Upon reaching the system, the Gw'oth contact their ship directly via a comm laser and they agree to meet at the place where the normal space radio was located.

The Gw'oth have detected the oncoming Pak starships. Sigmund decides to check out the ships. Er'o asks for the Gw'oth to go along and Sigmund agrees.

They discover that the slower-than-light ships are destroying advanced civilizations along the flight path. The Pak destroy possible dangers before they can cause any harm. And the Fleet of Worlds and Jm'ho are inside the flight path.

The Puppeteers are faced with possible extinction. Naturally, the Citizens first think of flight, but their worlds are moving too slowly. So they decide to hide and hope that the influx of destroyers will not notice them.

The New Worlders are willing to fight, but have few starships. Of course, the Puppeteers are not willing to provide such ships to them. After all, the humans on New World are a nearby menace. Even Nessus cannot persuade the Hindmost to equip the New Worlders.

Baedeker is mostly concerned with the Gw'oth. These aliens learn much too fast. They have gone from living under the ice to moving between the planets in only a generation or two.

This tale leads Sigmund and his company into an expedition to a world passed by the Pak spaceships. There they find Thssthfok, stranded among the natives and trying to raise their technology to the level of ramjet starships. The natives try to destroy the New Worlder ship, but Sigmund and Eric manage to capture Thssthfok.

Sigmund expands his knowledge of Known Space in this story. The next installment -- Betrayer of Worlds -- might take him back to Earth. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Niven & Lerner fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of spaceflight, alien cultures, and paranoiac agents. For anyone unfamiliar with this subseries, the initial volume is Fleet of Worlds.

-Arthur W. Jordin

2010-03-23 (Smyrna, GA USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Good Story.
Liked the book. I actually went back and looked for the prequel by these authors but it does not seem to be on Kindle. Pity. I recommend this book.

2010-01-28 (Falls Church Va. USA, Sol, Milky Way) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Magic Goes Away
Larry Niven was one of my favorite SF authors in the mid to late 1970s. Interesting speculations about the impact of technology on human society, and interesting alien races were two of the strengths that characterized his writings. The Beowulf Schaeffer series, the ARM series (Gil Hamilton) and yes, even Ringworld, were solid SF triumphs by Niven.

But in the 1980s and later, Niven's writing changed, and not for the better. Part of the problem seems to be that every single thing he writes is in collaboration with some other SF author, and I really wonder how much of these titles are written by Niven. Perhaps not much, given the lack of zip that almost all of Niven's offerings of the past two decades have had.

This novel is no exception. It is lifeless and slow-moving. Pursuant to many other novels and short stories that Niven published, the Galactic Core is exploding, and the Puppeteers are moving out of the Galaxy at lightspeed. Other races are following, this time the xenophobic Pak. That is what this story is about. The novel meanders along while the protagonists try to figure out what to do about the Pak, who are threatening the Puppeteer worlds and the world of New Terra, a human client world of the Puppeteers. More would be telling, but really there is not much to tell. If the G'wok were as intelligent as this novel makes them out to be, they would solve this problem before breakfast. Highly implausible.

I gave this one two stars. Three would have been dishonest from my perspective. I respect that some of the other reviewers here have been kinder, but I cannot be. RJB.

2010-01-04 (Huntington Beach, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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Third time's the charm!
This is the third prequel to Ringworld written collaboratively by Larry Niven and Edward Lerner, and the first one that rises to the standards set by Niven's solo works. The novel has a few flaws, but these are minor compared to the simple pleasure of reading a Known Space novel done well.

2009-12-22 (Boston, MA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A World Out of Time

Description

Jaybee Corbell awoke after more than 200 years as a corpsicle -- in someone else's body, and under sentence of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars.

But Corbell picked his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the Society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core, where the unimaginable energies of the Universe wrenched the fabric of time and space and promised final escape from his captors.

Then he returned to an Earth eons older than the one he'd left...a planet that had had 3,000,000 years to develop perils he had never dreamed of -- perils that became nightmares that he had to escape...somehow!

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Customer Reviews

Incredible vision and a fun ride!
When do you ever get to read a genuinely fun book and in the tradition of classic science fiction, with characters that are memorable and visceral and a story line that is not only well wrought but one that is unique and timeless?

The chilling visionary of Larry Niven's future centers around mid-40s Jerome Corbell, a man dying of cancer from 1970 who pins all his hopes and dreams on a future cure. But when he wakes up from the dead in the 22nd century, and his life force has been injected into a empty body of a criminal, he opens his eyes to a alarmingly different world where nothing is familiar. And his new life is repaying his debt to society. Everything is dead: his language, his loved ones, even his own body. But does Corbell fret? Hell no! He decides quite cheekily that a life-time of slavery for crimes that his stolen body had committed, just doesn't apply to him. A theft of a rammer spacecraft meant to seed earth-like planets with an injected but quirky personality Peersa, and a journey to the center of the galaxy and over a black hole--and a mere 3 million years gone by--Corbell returns, with deep yearning, once again to return to Earth. And yet again, opens his eyes to a radically different world.

This is an Earth taken from its normal orbit in a universe dramatically altered with a red sun, dried lands with patches of civilization and a race not only highly intelligent through genetics and disconcerting by their adolescent appearance but who are also intensely obsessed with youth and immortality. This is a world once ruled by the sky-controlling Girls, long dead, and the Boys who now control everything and the Dikta (the Dictator Class who created them), a herd of humanoid adults who once ruled the children and are now enslaved to breed new and better Boys. Corbell, as usual, gets himself in amusing positions, forever enslaved, in some way, either by the fear of the Boys, or fear of another human like himself, Mirelly-Lyra who will do anything to be young, but who also crossed over a black hole and found herself back on a vastly different earth.

Throughout his entire ordeal, Corbell always maintains a level self-deprecation that is hilarious and fun to read. His interactions with other life forms, his encounters with unusual future creations and constant state of on the run all come together to form a highly entertaining, interesting and truly alien world for the audience to read.

While some of the theoretical science can be hard to grasp at first, it's manageable and his descriptions are coherently told and incredible to imagine. The philosophy--about youth, genetics, perfection and rise and fall of man--is light and done with a touch of irony which adds to the humor of this book. Crobell's constant state of new discoveries is fascinating and riveting with lots of surprises and interesting developments that you experience with Corbell.

This has always been a fave classic sci-fi book of mine because's it's imaginative and out of the box, a true reading experience. I don't buy books as often as I'd like, because so many books just aren't worth their price. But this one's a keeper with its own special spot on my bookshelf. In the tradition of Sagan, Asimov, Herbert, Bradbury, Miller, Heinlein, Wells and Clark, this is a book that sucks you in and one not to miss!

2009-12-14 (Bullhead City, AZ) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The Second Time
This is my second read of this book. I read it the first time in high school in 1975, strangely enough somehow before it was published. It took me about a year to find it again, trying to remember which book it was. I went through quite a few of Robert Hienlien books before I figure out it wasn't him. I remember it being vey good so I wanted to read it again.
Again it was incredably good, intreguing, thought pervocing, and always interesting. It was less technical or detailed then I like, it was still impossible to put down, I read it in about 6 hours one straight shot. Very well written.

2009-09-17 | pet (vader) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A Three Million Year Journey
Corbell died of cancer in 1970. Only to be reawakened more than two hundred years later after having been frozen. Governing the entire world is the State, a benign dictatorship that rules the world. Corbell is expeditiously retrained (using advanced methods) to be a starship pilot, his task is to seed other worlds with life, in the hopes that humanity will find them suitable to colonize at some point in the distant future. But Corbell does not take orders well, after commandeering the ship for his own purposes (and due to relativity) Corbell winds up three million years in the future.

Corbell returns to a Solar System and Earth that are drastically different. Among the changes are Earth's orbit and immortal (barring injury) Boys. Not to mention a nearly-mad old woman, who swears she was once stunningly beautiful and insists there is an immortality potion somewhere on Earth...but can't find it and coerces Corbell into hunting for it.

With the plot devices above and some pretty nifty scientific postulating (especially towards the end of the book), A World Out of Time makes for a fairly easy, page-turning tale. However, there were points when I wish Niven had gone into a bit more detail. Along with the immortal Boys, there were also immortal Girls. While Niven answers the primary questions he sets up around the Boys and Girls, I would have liked a bit more background on their opposing cultures and points of view. Overall, however, A World Out of Time is certainly recommended, especially to those, like myself, who had yet to pick up a story by Niven.

2009-07-15 (Georgetown, TX) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Typical Niven, reworked from short story
This book is actually the first book in the "series" for The State.The following two books are Integral Trees and Smoke Ring, which only have to connection to this story (besides have The State as a government).

First three chapters were good (Niven's short story Rammer was the 1st, yet altered a bit to fit the format). This was very interesting as it dealt with space exploration, the State and exploration of earth +3 million years. Those three chapters alone I give 5-stars. Thereafter, storyline changed... it slowed, dragged and barely held my attention. Needed more twists, which is common for Niven novels and it comes now as an expectation. I didn't fancy Ringworld for the same reasons.

For better Niven reading, I suggest his short story collections of Neutron Star and Tales of Known Space. Of his novels, I recommend his novels which were in partnership with Jerry Pournelle- Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer and Oath of Fealty.

2009-01-15 | 2theD (Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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A story that takes 3 million years and 246 pages to tell
This is an excellent novel. It does everything you would expect of a novel. It entertains; it surprises and motivates thought. This book covers 3 million years of time through the viewpoint of one personality. I say personality rather then person, as it is not necessarily the same thing for the purposes of this novel. The author does an excellent job of not getting bogged down in the vast areas of change that happen in 3 million years and only shows us things that are relevant and aid the telling of the story rather then bog it down.

Basically, the story is that of humanity and its cycles of evolution. All of this is told through one mans viewpoint and gives us a 1970's perspective on the rest of future humanity. A very well told story that is told succinctly and with the correct level of pithiness. A definite recommendation on my part. The only reason that I give this book four stars instead of five is because although it has aged well over 25 years I do not believe the story survives completely independent of the science in this case and that has aged less well. A very entertaining read.

2008-04-17 (Grandville, MI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Protector

Description

Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before...

Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first...

He was never seen again -- at least not by those alive at the time.

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Customer Reviews

Lame and redundant
Basically everything you learn in this book about Known Space is already in the Ringworld series, so if you liked Ringworld and wanted to learn more this book isn't what you're looking for. Also the entire plot is summarized rapidly in the Ringworld series, so there are no surprises. And we've seen the climax before, only with Teela Brown instead of Brennan...

The book ages poorly too. What was Niven even thinking? Newspapers are audio tapes that you put in a tape player. The Mars base is -inflatable-. Apparently it's feasible to zoom around the solar system in a matter of hours with virtually unlimited fuel.

2010-05-12 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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An all-time favorite
I love this novel. It's stayed with me for years, so I bought it again and it still packs a punch. There is one scene in particular, a doctor is doing a biopsy on a copse and finds a chunk of the yam-like tuber involved inside the corpse's stomach. Beyond temptation, the doctor eats the piece of root while the nurses stand-by aghast. Yuck! But it made the point of how driven by instinct we can be. A lovely thought that the idiocy of mankind is attributable to a stalled adolescent development. An intriguing thought of what it would be like to grow up.

2010-03-11 (Half Moon Bay, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Intriguing idea, less impressive execution
Like many of Niven's books, this is based on a big idea: suppose you take the "selfish gene" theory (that evolution compels people to favor the survival of their genes) and took it to an extreme: a species that is obsessed with their descendants' survival, to the point that they have no free will and no ethics, and end up actually harming their descendants. Combine this with the notion that humanity is a "failed" version of that species (but actually more successful, because they HAVE developped free will and ethics).

All of the good stuff is in the first half, which alternates between the thoughts of the Pak (who thinks he has come to "rescue" humanity) and the 23rd century humans who don't know what to make of the situation. When Brennan kills the alien he saves humanity, yet there is a tragic side to the Pak's death.

The second half is consistently the most uninspired in the Known Space series, and I can't believe that Niven wrote this just after Ringworld. It's as if he thought "oops, I've got to explain why the Martians and the Pak never appeared afterward in Known Space, so I better write a story about it". There's almost nothing new, unless you get a kick reading about military technology (I don't). At the end Truesdale says "it seemed best to novelize this story" -- why? He's supposed to be convincing the readers that they are in terrible danger! It sounds like an idea Niven suddenly had when writing the conclusion, not a real interpretation of the story.

Lots of reviews here stress the fact that this story leads into RINGWORLD. I think a story ought to stand on its own, and the first half does.

2009-12-16 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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My all-time favorite Science Fiction Story. THE "sci fi" of my life
"Goodbye and Good Luck. I Love You."
These, are the final words of the novel, "Protector".

-unless you have read it you can have -NO CONCEPT- of what leads to those words.
And it's IMPOSSIBLE for you to guess, it is TRULY an original drama AND mystery. No, it's not a mushy LOVE-story. This is hardcore Old School SciFi and it's GOOD! And... the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a salesman from a shoe store who hates his job.

This is a story about a humanoid species from the center of the galaxy.
They call themselves, "Pak".
Their language is a series of hisses and clicks, because they have a beak.
The story begins from the point of view of a Pak, named Phssthpok.
He's actually on a mission of mercy and he just wants to help us.
He's bringing food-plants and fertilizer.
He's coming to HELP.
He's been traveling in space for 32,000 years, alive AND conscious.
He sat in his cockpit, and FLEW for 32,000 years.
Watching the stars crawl past his window.
He'd occasionally stop to exercise.
As he rushed to Earth...
Just to save us.
By himself.
He had received a distress call, so he's obligated to come.
His species is very tough, and very smart.
He built his own starship to come to us.
His people do not build starships -Usually- ...unless they have a reason to.
Like this mission.
-of mercy.
And, he's very dedicated to his species.
But when he finally meets us...
He's not going to like us.
He'll have to kill us.
All of us.
He has to.
At least, he'll try.
And he has NO choice in the matter.

We're LUCKY he's just delivering food plants, and fertilizer.
Because there's a WHOLE PLANET- With millions more, JUST LIKE HIM, who are at war.
...and THEY won't like us, either.

The Pak, have 3 stages in their lives: Child, Breeder, and Protector ('Protector' being the adult-stage). If humans were to meet the breeder stage face to face we would call it... Homo Habilis.

The beauty of this STORY is the human drama of 2 men, Jack Brennan, and Roy Trusedale. There is a threat that the entire human species faces, but is entirely and HAPPILY unaware of. Both Jack and Roy end up drawn into something they can NOT control, is FAR larger than themselves, and they have NO power over. Yet, at their fingertips, is the fate of humanity. By the END of the story, you realize the human race NEVER ever knew of the threat! They are so well "Protected". The manner in which Larry Niven crafts originality out of scientifically accurate and common facts, YET is able to redraw our ENTIRE human history --is what makes the story compelling to a smart reader. The STORY, is truly original.

This book, -IS- believe it or NOT, a ROMANTIC NOVEL about the human condition. Larry Niven turns the stage of Old Age, into one of power and control. It is set, in a True Blue, Hard Core, Old School, Sci-Fi Universe of Larry's creation.
This would make an AWESOME Movie.
Just because of the Human Element.
And the Novel stands alone Very Well, as a story (or movie!) in it's own right.
And I- would want to PLAY Jack Brennan OR Roy Truesdale -hint-

"I Love You" The last 3 words of the Novel, and it's the ONLY time they are said.
And unless you are a FAN- You have NO idea of what KIND of "Love" it is.
You have NO IDEA of where those words leave you HANGING, as in. What's NEXT?
For that- you have to have read his series.

This is -REAL- science fiction. We are talking survival of the species, because with THOSE words at the End, a huge inter-species war is about to start. And whats more, is the Humans are Never even aware it is happening! They are... "Protected" by stronger beings.

We didn't even KNOW we had "relatives" elsewhere in the galaxy.

Larry Niven has created a universe and a space opera that goes FAR beyond this Novel. In fact it could be the basis for a whole series of great movies. THAT is how HUGE this is. You've GOT to read the story. IF you like classic fiction, you'll most likely LOVE this. The attraction is in the details of this SciFi-drama. Larry re-crafts human origins, very intelligently in this story.

Larry Niven, is my absolute favorite author. And No I do not spend every day living/breathing Niven. NOT HARDLY. I have not even re-read Protector in years. But I HAVE re-read protector as well as many of his "Known Space" series. I absolutely LOVE his humane / decent / civilized / educated and scientifically and technically accurate style. I absolutely LOVE the "known-space" series, (which this novel is -part- of). The internal CONSISTENCY and Accuracy of all his writing is something that naturally drew me from the start. It is an opera "up there" with Asimovs Foundation and Robot lines. The human -romance- of THIS PARTICULAR NOVEL "Protector" --spoke-- to me from my early years. I was a teen-ager, when I read this book. A top-scoring science geek, so I truly appreciated his accurate science and technology. In this book, we discover that Humans did NOT originate on Earth. We come from a planet closer to the center of the galaxy. We also learn that there are actually 3 stages in the "proper" life of a Human, as lived by our ancestors on our planet of origin. Child, Breeder, and then Protector. Here on Earth we do not have the proper "food" that allows us to make the change to the final stage. As originally evolved, on the planet of our origins, the "Breeder Stage" is a barely sentient animal that exists to perpetuate the species. Upon Breeding, we then age, lose interest in Breeding and a biological switch flips. We suddenly have the URGE to eat a specific root, that before now, was repugnant. The root comes from a plant known as "The Tree of Life" There is a virus in this root, that causes a bodily change. The root also contains hormones, and necessary supplementation to aid certain biological processes- (remember Niven first wrote this as a short story, in 1967 where it appeared in 'Galaxy' magazine in June under the name, "The Adults"... And, he was writing popular fiction about Viral modification of genetics!) We are suddenly drawn to eat the root- Upon ingestion, the virus affects massive physiological and psychological as well as intellectual reformation. We fall into a coma, as the somatic changes occur. Our skin wrinkles and toughens, teeth fall out and gums fuse with lips to form a beak, of sorts. Our joints enlarge, (sound familar? like symptoms of Old Age maybe?...) our larger joints give a greater moment-arm for greater muscular torque right at the joints (we become massively stronger) our skull softens, and our brain grows... we become more INTELLIGENT... and wake up from the coma. Look around TRULY and fully AWARE--

To quote Larry. "My premise was a cute one: that every symptom of aging in man is an aborted version of something designed to make us stronger.... Once I accepted that premise I was in deep water."

Humans, DO have a Protector stage. And even tho' OUR breeder stage are intelligent, the Protector stage is even More So. And with a re-ordered species-driven initiative. An instinctually driven set of urges.

From the Novel,

"Every human protector must wake this way.

A Pak wakes sentient for the first time. But a human protector has human memories. Now he wakes clear-headed, with even greater intelligence, and remembers, and thinks with a certain amount of embarassment: "I've been stupid". ... And If this message reaches you, then a Pak fleet that was tough enough to destroy us is following just behind this laser pulse, at near lightspeed...

...Now MOVE!"

2009-10-01 | L Steven Richards (stvrich) on HubPages com (Long Island) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Protector: Library Edition (Audiobook)
The Protector book is a good book to read, but not listen too. This audiobook implementation of Larry Niven's book exceeds a threshold of spits, clicks, and tits, that any non-ARM prisoner should be forced to listen too. Unfortunately, we are held in the cell while ARM agents cover us with grating irritating noises in our desire to experience the Known Space basics.

An errant Protector finds earth and, much to his dismay, fails in either attempt to re-solve a new colony or eliminate a deviate one. Larry Niven integrates the science into the background when it should be and let's the human element guide the story. From the asteroid belts to the earth, we learn why we exist and what our place in the universe was supposed to be.

As far as a read, it's clearly a 4, but this Blackstone audiobook only rates a 1.

2009-09-27 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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