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The Flight of the Horse – Larry Niven

In this, hilarious short story collection, time traveller from the future Svetz has to go back in time and collect fauna from our time in order to populate the ruler’s zoo. Unfortunately, the time machine has the unexpected side effect of making him chase after mythical creatures. The horse is actually a unicorn and so on. The past is a fantasy version of the real past. Poor Svetz has to contend with quite a few mishaps with dragons and the like. A lot of fun, much of it with Svetz as the punchline.

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The Flying Sorcerers – David Gerrold & Larry Niven

Shoogar is the greatest wizard his primitive village has ever known. Then a strange new wizard literally drops from the sky. Of course, they new wizard comes from a very advanced culture. Mayhem ensues.

There is a lot of humor in this book as magic meets technology. There are also many more or less good puns. I enjoyed it but it is far from a must read. The joke gets a bit old.

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The Magic Goes Away – Larry Niven

In ancient times, there was magic in the world. But the supply of mana, on which magic is based, is dwindling. Creatures with magical metabolisms, such as dragons, are in serious trouble, and in general the world is becoming a less mystical place. A group of adventurers sets out to find the last remaining source of mana.

The idea underlying the novel is very clever. Unfortunately it is not very good. It is based on the short story Not Long Before the End but the idea doesn’t scale very well to a full length novel.

 

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The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring – Larry Niven

Set in the same universe as A World out of Time but only very tenously connected to that novel, these series of two should be read as a set. The novels are set in which is not really a world. A “smoke rIng” of atmosphere and biomass orbits around a neutron star, forming a huge but habitable donut-shaped space. In other words, no gravity. Humans have colonised this “smoke ring” in various ways. Enjoyable, but more for the wickedly cool setting than for the stories.

Note: These are now also published in an omnibus edition.

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A Gift from Earth – Larry Niven

Set in Niven’s Known Space, more specifically on the world of Plateau, where the only habitable location is Mount Lookitthat, an area half the size of California that rises above the toxic clouds that range the planet. The crew of the initial colony ship set up an elitist society in which “crew” are first class citizens and “colonists” are lower class. This distinction is particularly noticeable when it comes to medical care. Capital punishment is used even for small offenses. Convicted criminals are harvested for their organs, thus allowing “crew” to extend their lives with transplants. Then a ship comes from Earth with some disruptive new technology.

While not one of the more flamboyant Known Space novels, it is cleverly constructed around some very intriguing ideas. Classic Niven.

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A World out of Time – Larry Niven

This novel is an expansion of the short story Rammer from the collection A Hole in Space. Jaybee Corbell wakes up after having being cryogenically frozen after death  Now he must repay his debt to society (being cured of his cancer and woken up cost a lot of money) by piloting an exploratory ramship to seed planets around the galaxy, a mission that will take centuries. He rebels and takes his ship on a long tour of the galaxy at relativistic speeds, ending up back on earth millions of years later. Reminded me a little of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, except for the lack of a means for return.

While the short story that formed the basis is fantastic, this novel length expansion, while solid, falls a bit short of the mark.

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The Emperor of Mars – Allen Steele

Jeff, a contract worker on Mars, is told that his parents, his fiance and his unborn child have died. He cannot return home for another eighteen months. He descends into a special form of insanity.

While he has written several good novels, Steele is at his best in the shorter forms, and this novelette is no exception. In fact it won the Hugo Award in its category in 2011. This story is both charming and interesting.

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Man-Kzin Wars volumes I-XI – Created by Larry Niven

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Flatlander – Larry Niven

All the Gil “The Arm” Hamilton stories collected in one volume with a previously unpublished story. These are good SciFi murder mysteries set in the Known Space universe. It just goes to show that Niven has a devious mind. As he says himself, SciFi murder stories are tricky since the reader must know all the “rules” of the environment in order to have a shot at solving the mystery himself.

Note: Most of the stories were previously published in “The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton”.

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The World of Ptaavs – Larry Niven

Chronologically the first of Niven‘s Known Space books, and also his first published novel. An alien who has been frozen in stasis for eons is awoken. He comes from a former master race (quite literally) and poses a grave danger to humanity.

Solid adventure SciFi with some very clever concepts.

Note: Various editions have the title with or without initial “The”.

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The Bohr Maker; Deception Well; Vast – Linda Nagata

These three very loosely connected novels span thousand of years. Nagata writes competently about a future in which humanity is first technologically lifting itself off earth, and finally scattered about a hostile universe. I enjoyed them even though Nagata does two things which annoy me. The first is that the novels are in parts rather boring. Nothing much happens. The other thing is that she can be very  depressing. Vast especially makes me feel just a bit too small in a vast (heh) universe.

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They Also Serve (Society of Humanity III) – Mike Moscoe

The third and final book in the Society of Humanity series sees Ray Longknife leading a exploratory expedition, and getting lost. The expedition finds the descendants of a ship’s crew thought lost three hundred years ago. But all is not as it seems. The planet is literally alive with remnants of an ancient civilization. And it’s not happy.

Unlike the somewhat flawed predecessor volumes, this is a very respectable story. The “planet as supercomputer” elements are interesting, as well as the evolution of the individual characters components of that computer. The contrast between the arriving expedition and the locals is also well done, with a good grasp of factional politics. All in all, a great conclusion to the series.

Note: Mike Moscoe is more well known under the pen name Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set in the same universe as the Kris Longknife books, but several decades earlier.

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Storm Front (The Dresden Files I) – Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden is a private investigator of sorts. He is actually a wizard living in modern Chicago. In this novel, a mysterious woman hires him to find her husband. At the same time, in his capacity as police consultant on “unusual” cases, he is called in to assist in investigating a mysterious murder and soon finds himself implicated. To make matters worse, the White Council, a governing body of sorts for wizards, thinks he is guilty of crimes against the laws of magic.

The novel reads like a noir detective story, down to the lack of funds and burning of bridges with the police. The wizard and magic aspect makes for an interesting wrinkle. Unfortunately, however, it does not make the book interesting enough. Dresden is a interesting character and well crafted, but after a while the book became a bit predictable. The whole thing is too deeply steeped in noir thriller cliché. Shame really, as the whole thing is based on a cool concept.

The Dresden Files series formed the basis for a short lived TV series of the same name.

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The Price of Peace (Society of Humanity II) – Mike Moscoe

After the war, Izzy Umboto (a minor character from the first book) is given independent command and a mandate to keep the peace on the rim. She and her crew uncover a slavery plot.

Compared to the first book, this one is far more focused. There is a clear feeling of moving forward instead of flying about all over the place.

Note: Mike Moscoe is more well known under the pen name Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set in the same universe as the Kris Longknife books, but several decades earlier.

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The First Casualty (Society of Humanity I) – Mike Moscoe

The Society of Humanity, more or less representing the “core” worlds, is at was with the “rim” worlds, where political power is wielded by a ruthless dictator. We follow protagonists from both sides of the conflict.

While it has some interesting battle scenes and good characterization, the plot is scattered and weak. As in the early Longknife books, I was left reeling by a rich backstory which wasn’t adequately fleshed out. I had to pay real attention to seemingly throwaway comments from minor characters to fill in the social and political background. The book did serve as a decent introduction to the next two installments, introducing the main players.

Note: Mike Moscoe is more well known under the pen name Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set in the same universe as the Kris Longknife books, but several decades earlier.


 Mike Moscoe is more well known writing as Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set several decades before the Kris Longknife books.

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Woken Furies – Richard Morgan

The third Takeshi Kovacs novel is just as violent and X-rated as the previous installments. Morgan has not lost his gift for film noir cool and deep cynicism. So far so good. However, while Altered Carbon was a tightly written masterpiece and Broken Angels had an intriguing plot device, Woken Furies is much less focused. Sometimes it seems like Morgan is just taking the reader on a guided tour of Kovacs’ old stomping grounds on our hero’s native Harlan’s World. Granted, the guided tour is very very good, and Morgan’s prose flows smoothly, but some plot elements deserved more attention and it all seems a bit contrived. For starters, more could have been done with the duplication of Kovacs.

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Broken Angels – Richard Morgan

Takeshi Kovacs is back in a new sleeve. This sequel to the incredible Altered Carbon puts Takeshi in the middle of a little war. The plot is not as strong as the one in Altered Carbon. While the previous novel is a film noir/detective story, this one learns more towards a Clarke-esque sense of wonder story. Unlike Clarke, however, it is focused of the failures of humanity to leave its flawed past of violence and greed behind. The characters are very strong and the prose is top notch. Still, it left me with a feeling that Mr. Morgan tried to stick a story around a thought he had, and the revelations at the end are a bit too construed to add coolness to the plot.

Still, if you like action filled cyberpunk, you will enjoy it.

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Stupid White Men… and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation – Michael Moore

Written by the director of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, it is a very funny series of essays pretending to be a complete book. If you don’t feel much sympathy for President George W. Bush (denominated “son-of-a-Bush” in this book) and the American political/societal system in general, you will probably enjoy this. It takes some tragically fun true facts about America and just plain tells it the way it is. I found myself nodding a lot, and being sad a lot. Despite the humorous language, the subject matter is deadly serious. America is in bad shape, tells us Michael Moore.

The book has a big left-wing bias, but it is thought-provoking and a fun read. Satire becomes Mr. Moore.

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Victory Conditions (Vatta’s War V) – Elizabeth Moon

This book concludes the Vatta’s War series. Moon rather predictably ties up the loose threads and (not really a spoiler) the good guys win.

I enjoyed reading it, but nothing really surprising jumped up at me. While the series is worthwhile entertainment, it will never be remembered as groundbreaking or fantastic. The universe Moon has crafted is a bit too cute, a bit too orderly. The idiosyncrasies of the various cultures are a bit too manufactured and corny and the series suffers from it. There is little real societal tension. All of a sudden the great big enemy pops up, seemingly out of nowhere without any real reason for doing so (apart from stereotypical lust for power) and bam! Big fight. Good guys win. The crowd goes wild. It’s a fun adventure series, but it is lacking in depth.

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Command Decision (Vatta’s War IV) – Elizabeth Moon

In the fourth book of Vatta’s War, Ky proves her worth as a commander, defeating a pirate flotilla with the helper of newly developed tactics made possible by shipboard ansibles. As a consequence, the Slotter Key government decides to put its large fleet of privateers under her direct command. Cousin Stella successfully gets the Vatta trading concern back up on its feet, and is able to start producing hardware vital to the war effort

After the somewhat disappointing “Engaging the Enemy“, this book sees a resurgence in action. The story starts moving decisively forward at a decent pace, leading up towards the conclusion.

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Engaging the Enemy (Vatta’s War III) – Elizabeth Moon

The third book in the Vatta’s War series suffers from a bit of “middle-book-itis”. There is no decisive action, just a skirmish tacked on at the end. Ky’s cousin Stella is angry with her. Then they reconcile. The possible romance with roguish Rafe goes nowhere. A least by the end Ky is set up as a privateer.

It’s not a bad novel. It’s just a bit more dull than it’s predecessors. Trading in Danger could stand on its own. Engaging the Enemy cannot.

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Marque and Reprisal (Vatta’s War II) – Elizabeth Moon

The second book in the “Vatta’s War” series starts off exactly where Trading in Danger ends. After the initial tentative volley, the war on the interstellar status quo begins in earnest. Ansibles, used to communicate instantly between stars, are sabotaged and destroyed in a successful attempt to destabilize and weaken trade. Vatta Transport becomes the target of a concerted attack, and most of Ky’s family is killed. Ky herself encounters the black sheep of the family, and (as borne out in the title) becomes a privateer.

The tone of this novel is quite similar to the first. In fact, the books feel not so much like a series as volumes of the same narrative. The characters, especially Ky, continue to develop in both expected and unexpected ways, as Moon builds an intricate web of relationships backed by skillfully described internal thought processes. The action contained in this installment ensures it doesn’t really feel like an interim book.