Rating: 
Summary: Niven, Niven
Review: Pretty good stories, and since they're not a trilogy, Niven can't do what Niven does best...leave you hanging witha horrible series ender. It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't such a good writer (on display here).
Rating:
Summary: Niven, Niven
Review: Pretty good stories, and since they're not a trilogy, Niven can't do what Niven does best...leave you hanging witha horrible series ender. It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't such a good writer (on display here).
Rating: 
Summary: Great book to start reading Niven with
Review: This collection is some of his best works. The World of the Ptavvs was Niven's first novel, and I think one of his best. His short stories in Tales of Known Space are also excellent. Niven at his best is an imaginative science fiction writer with good character development and a gift for storytelling. He creates new worlds and populates them with sometimes interesting, sometimes annoying characters. This book is an excellent introduction to his writings and his style, and a huge bargain as well. I guarantee that if you read this book, you will want to go on to read his other works.
Rating:
Summary: Great book to start reading Niven with
Review: This collection is some of his best works. The World of the Ptavvs was Niven's first novel, and I think one of his best. His short stories in Tales of Known Space are also excellent. Niven at his best is an imaginative science fiction writer with good character development and a gift for storytelling. He creates new worlds and populates them with sometimes interesting, sometimes annoying characters. This book is an excellent introduction to his writings and his style, and a huge bargain as well. I guarantee that if you read this book, you will want to go on to read his other works.
Rating:
Summary: Lots to Ponder.
Review: This is a really fascinating example of how the creative process takes hold within the mind of Larry Niven. The reader is given a smattering of short stories, two novels, a complete bibliography and a detailed time line of the events of Niven's known space. Already a feast for the mind, we are treated to notes which Niven uses to link the various writings into a historical document of sorts. This was my first time reading Niven and I am delighted with introduction to his universe
Rating:
Summary: Take a break from reality.
Review: World of Ptaavs offers an enlightening glimpse into the billion-year past of the Niven universe -- the time when the Slavers and their Tnuctipun slaves ruled the galaxy. The Tnuctipun were masters of technology, but couldn't resist the mental might of the Slavers. But, they planned covertly to win! As their plans to overcome their masters became apparent, the Slavers planned to exterminate all life in the galaxy. Some -- Slavers and Tnuctipun alike -- survived in stasis boxes or fields. Kzanol the Slaver was one of these "lucky" ones. He's discovered on Earth and is inadvertantly set loose! What will happen in the 22nd century -- some 1 billion years later (Kzanol's time)?A Gift From Earth takes place on the human colony of Mt. Lookitthat (or Plateau, as it is sometimes known). Society is divided into "Crew" and "Colonist." The Crew (and their descendants) are those who braved space to pilot their human "slowboat" through 30 years of travel time to the planet of Plateau. The Colonists all got to sleep in suspended animation. Crew began to think this was inherently an unfair situation -- they do all the work, and then the Colonists get to enjoy the fruits of their labor upon arrival at the new colony. So they devised the "Covenant of Planetfall" which stratified society into the privileged (Crew) and the common (Colonist). Organ Banks exist to serve the Crew -- and most the Bank's organs come from Colonists! This apartheid-like situation remains, until a wild card -- Matthew Keller -- discovers he has a unique psychic ability. That, and a "package" has arrived from the home planet of Earth (hence the story's title) which threatens the Crew's way of life.
| 
