Rating: 
Summary: Wow, what a boring book
Review: This book had so much potential; interesting ideas and concepts are plentiful in its future world. Unfortunately, the authors did not develop those ideas and as a result the book reads more like a romance novel.The reviews and descriptions would lead one to believe there is an element of excitement to the book: war, riots, ninjas, pursuit. As one review put it, "Lenore is in a race for her life against a truly formidable foe." Well, she's not. She's largely ignored by the foe except for a brief section. In fact, there is very little tension throughout the whole book. There's a lot of exposition and discussion of the characters flaws, too much in fact (the whole thing about Kato's 1st wife could have been removed with no affect on the story or on his development as a character). It's as if the authors spent so much time on setting up the story they forgot to actually write the story itself (except for that parts that read like a romance novel). The writing is a bit melodramatic as well...in places I felt the descriptions were worthy of entry in the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest. To sum up: no interesting action, over-characterization, occasionally ham-handed writing = avoid this book. There are too many better books that need to be read.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, what a boring book
Review: This book had so much potential; interesting ideas and concepts are plentiful in its future world. Unfortunately, the authors did not develop those ideas and as a result the book reads more like a romance novel. The reviews and descriptions would lead one to believe there is an element of excitement to the book: war, riots, ninjas, pursuit. As one review put it, "Lenore is in a race for her life against a truly formidable foe." Well, she's not. She's largely ignored by the foe except for a brief section. In fact, there is very little tension throughout the whole book. There's a lot of exposition and discussion of the characters flaws, too much in fact (the whole thing about Kato's 1st wife could have been removed with no affect on the story or on his development as a character). It's as if the authors spent so much time on setting up the story they forgot to actually write the story itself (except for that parts that read like a romance novel). The writing is a bit melodramatic as well...in places I felt the descriptions were worthy of entry in the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest. To sum up: no interesting action, over-characterization, occasionally ham-handed writing = avoid this book. There are too many better books that need to be read.
Rating: 
Summary: good sf-mystery, not as crazy as niven can be
Review: this is a straightforward science-fiction mystery story. Evil men in power connive cunningly; clever good folks are interestingly brave in their struggle to uncover and defeat said evil. Niven doesn't play with the ideas as crazily as he could. Maybe the setting is too near-future? Maybe 'the theory and practice of instant learning' didn't click into the cybernetic conflict scenes like I expected...
Rating:
Summary: Good book, abrupt ending
Review: This is exactly what I would expect from Niven and Barnes: cool science, page-turning plot, interesting villians, and great entertainment. However, the book ends abruptly. Let's hope there's a sequal, because they didn't finish the story! It was five stars before the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping
Review: This is some of the best fiction I have read from Niven and Barnes. It is a long novel, but went by so quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Nice to know Niven can keep up with the times
Review: This was an excellently paced read containing some nice tidbits of not-so-far-out tech. The story pulls you in somewhat gradually, then about half-way through, in the space of a page, you remember: "This is Larry Niven" - the thing grabs you and locks you down. Just so I don't slight Steven, this *team* has done it again - Larry alone, and Steven alone could not create this wonderful and engaging piece. It has the same blend of hard sci-fi, mystery and sensitivity to human interaction that earmarks a Larry Niven/Steven Barnes novel. In the gadget bag there's nanotech, augmented awareness, and computer conciousness. All excitingly attainable. If you are a Niven fan, or just out for a good read, you will not be dissapointed - even considering you will have to buy this book and the other new release "The Buring City".
Rating:
Summary: Nice to know Niven can keep up with the times
Review: This was an excellently paced read containing some nice tidbits of not-so-far-out tech. The story pulls you in somewhat gradually, then about half-way through, in the space of a page, you remember: "This is Larry Niven" - the thing grabs you and locks you down. Just so I don't slight Steven, this *team* has done it again - Larry alone, and Steven alone could not create this wonderful and engaging piece. It has the same blend of hard sci-fi, mystery and sensitivity to human interaction that earmarks a Larry Niven/Steven Barnes novel. In the gadget bag there's nanotech, augmented awareness, and computer conciousness. All excitingly attainable. If you are a Niven fan, or just out for a good read, you will not be dissapointed - even considering you will have to buy this book and the other new release "The Buring City".
Rating:
Summary: Promising start quickly deteriorates.
Review: What began as an exciting mixture of cybernetics and AI soon became a romance/chase seen that never really challanged the reader. Stereotypes abound and I never found myself attached to any of the "human" characters. "The Integral Trees" by Niven was far more interesting. Nothing new in "Saturn's Race."
Rating:
Summary: Promising start quickly deteriorates.
Review: What began as an exciting mixture of cybernetics and AI soon became a romance/chase seen that never really challanged the reader. Stereotypes abound and I never found myself attached to any of the "human" characters. "The Integral Trees" by Niven was far more interesting. Nothing new in "Saturn's Race."
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but empty in the center
Review: You start with a great protagonist, and follow her through adventure and discovery and then she gets 'lobotimized' and the character switches to her 'mentor'. That great story ends and characterization [ends]. His story is about as interesting as an auditor trying to find who's embezzeling money by digging through documents. It's boring and never picks back up from there. I enjoyed Dream Park and other collaborations, but this one is just lacking something for me.
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