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| 1. The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 336
Pages
(2006-11-28)
list price: US$6.99 -- used & new: US$2.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0765347717 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (25)
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| 2. Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner | |
![]() | Hardcover: 304
Pages
(2007-10-16)
list price: US$24.95 -- used & new: US$14.38 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0765318253 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (19)
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| 3. Three Books of Known Space by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Paperback: 592
Pages
(1996-09-03)
list price: US$16.95 -- used & new: US$9.94 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345404483 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (11)
This volume is an omnibus collection of three previous books, World of Ptavvs, A Gift from Earth, and the short story collection Tales of Known Space. Niven has rearranged all the stories in chronological order according to his future history. World of Ptavvs is a decent novel - Niven's first - about an alien Slaver who attempts to escape from Earth after being trapped there for 2 billion years in a stasis field. Human experiments with stasis technology allow him to escape - but not only in his own body. When telepath Larry Greenberg attempts to communicate with whatever is in the stasis field, he comes away with a copy of the Slaver's consciousness in his own brain. A chase across the solar system ensues as the authorities attempt to capture the Slaver and the schizophrenic Greenberg. Niven's sophomore novel, A Gift From Earth, is slightly better. The planet We Made It has a single habitable feature: a plateau at the top of 40-mile-high Mount Lookitthat. The colony there is governed by a hereditary aristocracy, the descendants of the crew that piloted the two colony ships. The colonists, who arrived on We Made It in hibernation, are their serfs. "Justice" is swift and draconian, and colonists on the wrong side of the law wind up as spare parts in the crew's organ bank. Naturally, there is resentment, and A Gift From Earth recounts a rebellion by a faction of colonists after a robot spaceship arrives from Earth with a technological gift that could strengthen the crew's hold on power. The rebellion is led, reluctantly, by Matt Keller, who has begun to manifest some sort of psychic ability. The story is decent hard science, but would actually be improved if Niven hadn't resorted to giving the protagonist mysterious powers, which always strike me as a bit of a cheat. But the real treasure of this volume are the short stories. Niven's future timeline begins with the early colonization of space; the first stories are about the exploration of the extremities of the solar system. (The first story, "The Coldest Place," relies on an [admitted] major scientific gaffe by Niven: at the time he thought one side of Mercury always faced the sun, though it was already known this was not the case.) The three best stories are "Eye of an Octopus," "How the Heroes Die," and "At the Bottom of a Hole," about the colonization of Mars and the discovery of the Martians. On the other hand, "The Warriors," about first contact with the Kzinti, lacks plot and seems pointless. "There is a Tide" will be a pleasant surprise for Ringworld fans: it's an earlier story starring Louis Wu as a treasure hunter who gambles with an alien Trinoc for possession of a Slaver stasis field and its contents. Three Books of Known Space also includes a Known Space timeline, a helpful complete Niven bibliography, and numerous annotations. A lot of the stories are starting to show its age, but nonetheless this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to appreciate Larry Niven's fictional universe.
This book represents the largest concentration of known space stories anywhere, with many of the ones included now impossible to find elsewhere. The novels are both excellent stuff, but the short stories are where the book really shines. They cover over a thousand years of future history (and even a little of the past), and their topics are just as varied. You can expect to read about your favorite characters, plus a few new ones. The timeline is also indispensible to know how the stories relate to each other. All in all, you should own this book if you consider yourself a science fiction fan. It's that good.
If you are just getting into Larry Niven's Known Space series, then this would be a fantastic place to start.It contains some very short stories, some medium sized stories and two novels along with a Known Space timeline.This timeline is not completely up to date.A search on the web should turn out some more recent ones. All-in-all this is hard science fiction at its best.Larry weaves a fabric whose strands from the very beginning are encountered far into his alternate future.This gives the reader that feeling of breadth that only comes from years-long sagas. The only ding I would give this work is the novel "A Gift From Earth".Honestly, I disliked this book.It just seemed to unrealistic to me.It deals with a world in rebellion and the whole situation and subsequent developments just seemed a bit on the improbable side of things.Because of this, I would have given it 4 1/2 instead of 5 Despite that, the rest of the book makes it worth the buy.Highly recommended. ... Read more | |
| 4. A World Out of Time by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 256
Pages
(1986-03-12)
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (34)
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| 5. Crashlander by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 288
Pages
(1994-03-02)
list price: US$6.99 -- used & new: US$2.88 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345381688 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (11)
The first few stories, especially the Nebula award winning "Neutron Star," are of extremely high quality. It's something of a shock, then, that the later stories decline so rapidly. Niven's writing style changes quite noticably in the real-life years between the stories, from a more traditional space opera to something...not. I couldn't even finish "Procrustes," it was so bizarre and un-Niven that I had trouble following it. If you are lucky enough to find the book Neutron Star, which contains the first few stories of this book (in addition to a few others), go for it. It's a better buy overall. If not (this will be most of you, unfortunately), it's up to you whether the first half of the book is worth the price of admission, since the second half arguably isn't.
The late-60's Beowulf Shaeffer stories were classics of science fiction, mixing hard science with colourful alien races and futuristic fashion. In "Neutron Star" the reader travels with Shaeffer as he visits what was then a revolutionary concept in astronomy. In "At the Core", the puppeteers convince Shaeffer to take an experimental hyperdrive all the way to the galactic core, where he makes a discovery that spurs the puppeteers into fleeing Known Space. "Flatlander" begins with Shaeffer as a tourist on Earth, and takes him on a journey with a millionaire to a very unusual planet. "Grendel", the last of the golden age of the Shaeffer stories, has Shaeffer foil a kidnapping on a newly-colonized world. These stories are all excellent and are recommended reading for any fan of science fiction. The last two stories, however, are incredibly disappointing, nearly enough so to taint the eariler works. "The Borderland of Sol" was written after the decline of Niven's writing in the mid-1970's. It nearly repeats the theme of "Grendel" (with Shaeffer becoming something of a detective), but with unbelievable characters, B-movie shoot-outs, and uninspired futurisms. The last story, "Procrustes" dates from the 1990's and is nearly as bad as Niven's novel from the same time THE RINGWORLD THRONE. "Procrustes" has a plot that is convoluted to say the least, and none of the characters act like they have in previous stories. Most disturbing is the Robert Heinlein-esque turn into sexuality explicit scenes that Niven made in the early 90's, as "Procrustes" begins with an orgy. The frame stories were written at the same time as "Procrustes" are are just as bad. They contradict previous Niven stories (such as mentioning the Trinocs when they won't be met for another 200 years, the Puppeteer Fleet of Worlds, etc.) and end in an inexplicable murder that is nothing but a deus-ex-machina. My recommendation: skip CRASHLANDER and find the out-of-print collection NEUTRON STAR, which brings together all the golden age Shaeffer stories as well as several other fascinating Known Space short stories.
Later on, though, his adventures involve stopping criminal activities, as if he's become an interstellar cop. In the end, he's this amoral dude on the lam from the Earth government in the most convoluted plot this side of interpreted BASIC spaghetti code. The early classics are in other collections, and will endure.This effort, thankfully, will be forgotten.If you can figure what it was about in the first place.
The stories were written over a range of time,which is obvious from the internal differences - the social and moralaspects of Beowulf's world change quite a bit from first to last.And the"binder" material - the stuff Niven interpolated between thestories to bring them together, make them more cohesive - is onlymoderately successful.Frankly, Beowulf's past is just more interestingthan his present.But the stories themselves are truly gripping, and as ashort story collection, this book really works. One tiny caveat: the bookas a whole implies certain things about the origins of Louis Wu (ofRingworld fame) that contradict the beginning of the Ringworld seriesitself.Doesn't matter, of course, unless you're a real stickler fordetail. Over all, a book well worth reading for those into Niven or hisKnown Space. ... Read more | |
| 6. The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold, Larry Niven | |
![]() | Paperback: 312
Pages
(2004-04-01)
list price: US$14.95 -- used & new: US$8.98 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1932100237 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (11)
To dananbethany> It's a pun, As a mauve. Asimov.
To answer another reviewer's question would be a spoiler, but anyone who wishes to know who Purple was based on can email me at my nickname at hotmail.
This is definitely a'G'-rated title in my book. ... Read more | |
| 7. Ringworld Throne by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 368
Pages
(1997-03-30)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$2.59 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345412966 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Amazon.com Customer Reviews (102)
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| 8. Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner | |
![]() | Hardcover: 352
Pages
(2008-08-19)
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Editorial Review Book Description | |
| 9. Protector by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 224
Pages
(1987-09-12)
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (47)
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| 10. Legacy of Heorot: Legacy of Heorot by Larry Niven, Steven Barnes, Jerry Pournelle | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback:
Pages
(1989-08-01)
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Customer Reviews (51)
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| 11. N-Space by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Paperback: 544
Pages
(2007-08-21)
list price: US$15.95 -- used & new: US$7.50 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0765318245 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (15)
What's unique about this collection isn't that it includes a foreward with comments by other authors and fans, or that the author comments on each piece within the collection.Those are commonplace.But in Niven's world, he likes to let you into his world in a special way, perhaps by dishing some dirt on an SF mag who rejected a story that turned out to win a Hugo, etc.He openly questions his finished product, saying that "Today I'd write this story differently," etc.As if we could lift the lid on his cranium and step inside for a moment, seeing how the stories are crafted.Very interesting. Not as interesting as the work, however, another unique thing about this collection:Not only short stories are collected here, many of which only appeared in one issue of some now-defunct SF mag or other, dating back to the mid 1960s upward to 1990 when this book was first published.He also includes essays, such as an unforgettable commentary on the problems Superman would have if he tried to mate with Lois Lane, as well as excerpts from his published novels at the time.A terrific sampler of a terrific author, whose early-70s work "Ringworld" stands as one of the most brilliant works of speculative fiction of all time.Intelligentsia still debates the validity of its scientific assumptions, and while even Niven admits that most of these have been disproven, how many SF works do you know that sparked so much debate while still being so widely admired? Niven is far, far beyond any alien shoot-em-up author.This ain't "Star Trek."This is real scientific fiction told by a natural storyteller who loves what he does.We readers love him for it.
Oh boy, did I ever get my wish!I soon discovered that "N-Space" is not a straightforward science fiction novel, but rather a mega-compilation of short stories, novellas, and outtakes from novels, spanning Niven's (apparently) decades-spanning SF career.I spent the fall and winter of 1992 totally falling in love with Niven's various universes, and the characters that inhabit them.Moreover, I fell in love with the 'hard' aspect of Niven's work, which compared to the space opera I had been previously reading, was rigorously rooted in the realities of physics and science.I was enchanted by the idea that you could stick to real science (mostly) and still tell amazing and adventurous science fiction stories.In fact, much of Niven's hard SF ranks superior to a great deal of softer material precisely because of its 'realistic' flavor.The generic, and often rubbery gadgets and technology of softer fare is religiously replaced in Niven's work by concrete extrapolations, based on what we understand about the universe in the present time. Now, with that in mind, I would caution younger or less experienced readers, where "N-Space" is concerned.Especially since the book is not a novel unto itself, it's easy to get lost or distracted in this book.So many different ideas, concepts, times, places, and characters, are all hurled at you at once.If you're not ready to hang on for the ride, you're liable to get thrown off!Thus, if you're brand new to science fiction, or if you were like I was, and only familiar with media SF or military/opera, you need to understand that "N-Space" is a very different kind of book that gives a very different kind of read. Still, Niven has enormous talent, not just for telling hard SF stories, but for telling them with wit, insight into character, and not just a little humour.His imagination when it comes to world-creation is dazzling, and his alien races and places are some of the most memorable I have ever read.Like a smorgasbord, "N-Space" gives us a healthy portion from virtually all of Larry's playgrounds, both well known and obscure.By the time I was done with "N-Space" I launched voraciously into "Playgrounds Of The Mind", which is essentially the second half of "N-Space"; the two books serving as the first and second parts of one, giant collection. I've since gone on to explore the majority of the works that "N-Space" touches upon, and after a decade of consuming Niven I consider him to be, perhaps, my all-time favorite SF writer."N-Space" is not his best single work, it is the best from his best, and as such, makes an outstanding primer for anyone who has never read Niven, but wants to becoming broadly and deliciously acquainted with his work.
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| 12. The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld) by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 368
Pages
(1985-11-12)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$3.35 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345334302 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (36)
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| 13. Saturn's Race by Larry Niven, Steven Barnes | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 384
Pages
(2001-06-18)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$0.90 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0812580109 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Amazon.com And that's just the setup for this well-developed, whip-smartmystery-thriller-love story from duo Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. But it'shard to imagine going wrong when you team up Niven's technology-loving optimismand legendary chops with Barnes's eclectic résumé (the guy's beeneverything from a karate columnist for Black Belt magazine to ascriptwriter for The Twilight Zone). Probably their best collaborationyet, Saturn's Race matches the pacing and unpredictability of KenMacLeod's The Stone Canalwhile evoking the anything's-possible, shiny sleaziness of a Snow Crash near future. Our protagonist--the boy-cum-grandfather--works on Xanadu, an OTEC-poweredisland-city floating just off Sri Lanka, part of a supranational corporatesuperelite. He's teamed up in a love triangle balanced by the girl who's mind hewiped and his ex-wife, a feisty security officer straight out of Stone Age Java.The population-control plot succeeds ("We can fight their grandchildren for airand water in thirty years, or we can reduce their numbers now"), but who knowswhat the puppet master behind Xanadu's all-powerful Council is really up to?--Paul Hughes Customer Reviews (27)
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| 14. Footfall by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Paperback: 524
Pages
(1997-06-23)
list price: US$25.00 -- used & new: US$18.51 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345418425 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (92)
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| 15. Man Kzin Wars V by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 336
Pages
(1992-10-01)
list price: US$5.99 -- used & new: US$33.50 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0671721372 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Customer Reviews (3)
For those of you unfamiliar with the series, I wouldn't really advise starting with this book, although it wouldn't be as disastrous a mistake as starting with book five of SOME series. All you REALLY need to know going in is that Kzinti are a sentient, spacefaring race evolved from carnivorous hunting cats, seven feet tall and 500 pounds of mighty warrior who consider it marginally dishonorable to plan an attack against so trivial an opponent as an omnivorous monkey, and whose general "strategy" amounts to "first you scream and then you leap". For this reason, and this reason alone, humanity always wins in the long run. The short run, however, can get quite unpleasant for the unwary monkeyboys. The entire series is excellent, and highly recommended.
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| 16. Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder War (Man-Kzin Wars) by Hal Colebatch | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 480
Pages
(2005-03-01)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$4.07 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0743498941 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (10)
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| 17. Destiny's Forge: A Man-Kzin Wars Novel (Man-Kzin Wars) by Paul Chafe | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 976
Pages
(2007-09-25)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$4.26 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1416555072 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Paul Chafe presents a masterpiece in the grand tradition of epic science fiction. No fan of Larry Niven's best-selling Known Space series can miss Destiny's Forge. Customer Reviews (13)
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| 18. Flatlander by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 368
Pages
(1995-05-01)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$3.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345394801 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (8)
The first three short stories are decent reading, and highly entertaining. In "Death By Ecstay," the reader is introduced to Gil as he investigates the murder of an old friend while working to bring down a major West Coast organlegging ring. In "The Defenseless Dead," the UN decides to liquidate people placed into cold storage decades before to harvest their organs; the plentiful supply of legal organs drives organlegging temporarily unprofitable, and Gil tracks down a retired organlegger, with a surprising ending. In "ARM," Gil investigates the murder of a famous inventor, and tries to unravel how a new time-accelerating invention was used in the crime. The final two stories are highly disappointing. "Patchwork Girl" and "The Woman in Del Rey Crater" date from after Larry Niven's decline in the mid-70's. Both set on the moon, they suffer from goofy, lackluster writing and don't have the gritty edge and emphasis on novel ideas that made Niven's late-60's works so revolutionary. The book has an afterword by Niven in which he explains how organ transplanting will inevitably lead to a future in which even petty crimes are punished by death. Written in 1995, this afterword is already out-of-date with the advances in cloning and alloplasty. If you enjoy Niven's writing, especially the Known Space series, I'd recommend FLATLANDER. The first three stories are really gripping reading. The last two stories, however, will probably disappoint.
These stories were written over quite a range oftime, and that's obvious, in both the social and moral overtones and thewriting itself.However, the quality is fairly consistent, and it ranks upthere with the very best Niven work.Most important, the puzzle aspect -the mystery component - is very well done, in every case; the mysteries arefair (the reader could solve them with the information given) and good (thereader has to work fairly hard to solve them before the main characterdoes). It's a pity there aren't more Gil Hamilton stories; I'd love tosee another book of these.Whether you're a fan of mystery, or SF, andespecially if you're a fan of both, you'll love Flatlander.
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| 19. Ringworld by Larry Niven | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 352
Pages
(1985-09-12)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$3.96 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0345333926 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Customer Reviews (164)
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| 20. Burning Tower by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle | |
![]() | Mass Market Paperback: 672
Pages
(2006-09-26)
list price: US$7.99 -- used & new: US$3.45 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0743416929 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
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Editorial Review Book Description Unfortunately, a fiery fate isn't the only danger the town is facing. From out of the desert come monsters -- great birds with blades instead of wings, driven by some unknown force. Although they can be killed, the threat these terror birds pose is worse than death. Danger on the roads means no trade. No trade means that Tep's Town will be no more. Sent by the Lords of Lordshills to discover the source of the terror birds, Lord Sandry and his beloved, Burning Tower, must travel into a world where magic is still strong -- and where someone or something waits to destroy them! Filled with the sweeping adventure, memorable characters, and imaginative world-building that have defined the novels of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Burning Tower is another triumph. Customer Reviews (8)
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