Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven

Rating:
Summary: An easily forgettable compilation of second-rate material
Review: TALES OF KNOWN SPACE was the second collection of stories in Niven's "Known Space" universe. It is now out of print as a single volume, but can be found in the compendium THREE BOOKS OF KNOWN SPACE. Unlike the first collection, NEUTRON STAR, it is lackluster. NEUTRON STAR collected the golden age Known Space stories of the late-60's. TALES OF KNOWN SPACE, on the other hand, was compiled after the decline in Niven's writing and collects material from both before the golden age (1964-65) and after (1972-75).

Several of the stories are among the earliest in the chronology of Known Space stories, charting Man's exploration of Venus and the outer planets from 1975-1990 (Niven was a little optimistic). They suffer from poor science and bad characterization (everyone's American, there are no female characters, and no one seems to have heard of the metric system), and it's painful to think that these stories are in the same universe as NEUTRON STAR and RINGWORLD. Next are a couple of stories about Mars, and a couple with Lucas Garner, all of which are instantly forgettable. There's a look at a social experiment, the "anarchy park" in the 1972 story "Cloak of Anarchy," and also one of the worst Beowulf Shaeffer stories, the unbelievably awful "The Borderland of Sol." The short "Safe At Any Speed", set in 3100, is supposedly about how the spread of the Teela Brown luck gene will change human society; strangely the story was written before Niven even introduced the concept of genetic luck.

There are a few okay stories. "The Jigsaw Man" is one of Niven's earliest stories to deal with the theme of organ transplantation and expanded use of the dealth penalty, with its protagonist condemned to death for mere traffic violations. "The Warriors" marks the first appearance of the Kzinti, who went on to become a major part of Known Space. "There is a Tide" introduces Louis Wu, who went on to become the protagonist of RINGWORLD.

Bottom line: pick up TALES OF KNOWN SPACE if you've already read NEUTRON STAR and RINGWORLD and want to know more about the history of Known Space. Nonetheless, it's often pretty disappointing reading.

Rating:
Summary: For Niven fans only
Review: The first story in the book, which was Niven's first published
story, was obsolete before it was even published. And that,
unfortunately, set the tone for the rest of the book. These
are really some forgettable stories. All are early efforts by Niven, and some of his worst. However, I did find the last
story--about an encounter between a flying car and very large
bird--to be really very funny. The rest of the stories are
uneven, but none are excellent. If you're a fan of Niven, sure,
pick this collection up. But, otherwise, I can't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Still captivating
Review: This collection is all the more remarkable given that most of these stories were written more than forty years ago. If you enjoyed Ringworld, you should definitely check out Niven's short stories, like the ones collected in this volume. Niven's basic formula is to put a character in an impossible situation and make them find a way out of it. It's repetitive, but it works.

The writing style is not going to win any awards, but this isn't supposed to be great literature. These stories are thought-provoking, exciting, and a lot of fun.

I also highly recommend The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton, also by Niven.

Rating:
Summary: Known Space Rules! Interesting as hell, too.
Review: This collection of stories was the first book of the now renowned Known Space Series. A lot of the stories are from a long time ago, so they seem kind of outdated, but most of them are still pure Niven, pure cool. Especially liked that one, "Hole Man" I believe it was, where the scientist on Mars murders someone with a black hole. Man, this is some good stuff.