Fleet of Worlds [Kindle Edition]

During the 1970s Larry Niven was one of my very favorite Science Fiction authors. His "Known Space" setting was the launching pad for many excellent novels and short stories, and this established Niven as a leading author of "Hard SF." The "Known Space" universe featured a dazzling, and not implausible, future for the human race and even better, the aliens of Known Space really were alien. The Kzinti and the Puppeteers, to name two of the principal alien races, are truly imaginative.

This novel is set in "Known Space" and begins at a time shortly before the human race has discovered hyperdrive, although most of the story occurs after that time. A group of humans in space is essentially kidnapped by the Puppeteers, who intend to use these humans and their descendants as a slave race, albeit a fairly well treated one. The Puppeteers will use the humans in certain labor functions, and also as interstellar scouts, since the highly risk-averse Puppeteers are not well suited for risky jobs of this type. "Known Space" junkies will recall that the Puppeteers are fleeing our Galaxy because the galactic core will eventually flood the entire Galaxy with deadly radiation.

The novel essentially revolves around two themes. Firstly, the human servants are finding out that the Puppeteers have lied to them about their origins, and about humanity. Secondly, the Puppeteers are worried that other races, humanity included, will spot their migrating worlds and threaten them. This causes the Puppeteers to act preemptively and aggressively, and frankly, unwisely and implausibly.

The real core of this novel is to give the reader far more insight into Puppeteer politics and society than we ever got before. Some of this is interesting, but not enough to carry the novel. Unfortunately, the novel also highlights Niven's enduring weakness at creating three-dimensional characters. Here the characters are flat and forgettable. In some of his other stories Niven sometimes gets around this by writing in the first person (i.e. the Beowulf Schaeffer stories), but not here, although I wonder if that might have worked here. Niven fails to capitalize on his former strengths as a writer (skillful use of scientific prognostications and the effect of technology on the evolution of society) because there really are not any interesting speculations about society or the future of humanity (or even the future of the Puppeteers) contained in this novel.

Overall, this one was good enough to finish, but not good enough to read again, and this distinguishes it from most other "Known Space" writings, which I have read many times. It is impossible not to notice that almost everything Niven has written over the past 20 years has been in collaboration with other authors. It is almost as though he is more interested in the social network of his author friends than in writing to please the reading public. That is my perception, at least, because Niven's offerings for the past two decades have not been nearly as good as his earlier writings.

Overall a disappointment, although Niven fans will probably enjoy this one.

Larry Niven, this time in collaboration with Ed Lerner, returns to Known Space, this time with a story told largely from the point of view of the Puppeteers, the three-legged, two-headed race who have featured in many of Niven's Known Space stories. About 500 years before the events of the story, the Puppeteers captured a human colony ship. The descendants of the passengers on that boat have been made slaves, called "Colonists," held in ignorance of human culture. It's a benign slavery, but slavery none the less.

Three of the Colonists are being trained as scouts by Nessus, by no coincidence the Puppeteer who has had the most contact with humans. Puppeteers aren't cowards, exactly. They are, however, extremely risk averse. As the Puppeteers' Fleet of Worlds flees an impending galactic catastrophe - the subject of earlier Known Space stories - it would be handy to have scouts, so the risk of scouting ahead for danger isn't taken by Puppeteers. Human scouts. That starts a chain of events that reveal the Puppeteers' version of Colonist history to be a tissue of lies.

Along the way we get to see Nessus manipulate Earth culture and create, almost in passing, the Birthright Lotteries, which led to Teela Brown and the events of "Ringworld." We get a bit of the truth about Dr. Julian Forward and the events leading up to "The Borderland of Sol," one of Niven's best novellas. But the most interesting bits are seeing the society and politics of Puppeteers and the Fleet of Worlds developed and revealed. In an odd way, there's even a Puppeteer love story.

Perhaps it's Lerner's influence, but plotting and characterization are far better than most of Niven's recent work. Neither is terrific, but the characters aren't cardboard cutouts, either. Nessus and Nike, the leader of the radical faction in Puppeteer politics, in particular, are nicely done. There are some nice subtle touches, too, including the influences of Puppeteer society on Colonist society.

We've never read Niven for characterization. We've read Niven for his terrific ideas and his plotting. Both are on display here. Especially if you are a fan of Known Space, this book is a lot of fund and a cut above anything Niven has written in the last 15 years. Recommended.

Short version: Buy it, read it, keep it to be reread.

Longer version follows. I'm biased, I confess. I've reread every work in the Known Space "series" for the past thirty years or so. The quality of each work can vary considerably but as a collection they may be without equal in the world of "pure" science fiction.

I believe I've read everything Niven has written, however, despite the fact I've haven't felt the need to reread any of his non-Known Space works for the past twenty years or so aside from the first Dream Park novel (which remains the only book I ever finished the last page of and then turned back to the first to read it again. Niven's other works aren't bad and are often quite good but none of them ever gave me that warm glow that some feel when they are returning to Middle-Earth, Narnia, or some other cherished place.

That said, this may be the best Larry Niven work since Ringworld itself. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kudos to Mr. Lerner for whatever part of that is his doing. The book could be considered a prequel to Ringworld save that it begs for a sequel of its own at some point, set in some future when certain constraints established by the other works in the Known Space universe have been removed. It would be interesting to see some of the human protagonists encountering Ringworld and Louis Wu perhaps, or possibly the Pak, or even Sigmund Ausfaller.

Anyhow, it stands alone fine but also fits within the history terrifically, tying into several short stories as well. Many mysteries are revealed and yet the Known Space universe is no less mysterious for it. Questions that have arisen based on legions of fans quibbling for decades over why event x in story y was important when the technology used in story z made it a non-player have been deftly answered. And finally, hey, Nessus is one of the two MAIN characters! That alone justifies the book.

I've been apprehensive that all of the Known Space works must soon seem rather quaint. I've been concerned that scientific advancement and technological development might have left Larry Niven behind. Advancement and development that has shown us the future will probably not involve much of what we once thought it surely must. This novel puts those fears to rest and shows us that Larry Niven has still got it (or at least knows where to get it).

If you just skipped to the last line: buy it, read it, keep it to be reread.