Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed but still Niven
Review: Something has happened to Niven in the last few years, his writing is still great for novel ideas but its getting hard or perhaps less enjoyable to read. Rainbow mars fits this mold. The plot includes a fascinating idea for getting into orbit, but his writing skips and jumps and is a little hard to follow at times. Its almost as if he is publishing a first draft (well maybe a second). In Rainbow mars we can see the new story and the old and compare the writing. We have the old time travel stories, finely crafted with excellent well thought lines (for example) "it was terrible in its beauty, the flight of the horse" (describing the gallop of a unicorn) a quote that stays with you. Nothing similar exists in the new story. Still worth buying though.
Rating: 
Summary: For Niven "Collectors" ONLY!
Review: The book Rainbow Mars is a collection of 5 short stories along with the 260 page mini novel "Rainbow Mars." Nowhere on my paperback editions front or back cover is that mentioned. Tor Science Fiction knows how poorly short story collections sell, and were hoping to cash in on the "Mars Trend" set in motion by other current authors -Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear, Ben Bova, etc.What we are left to read through is a watered down sci-fi time travel novel with numerous fantasy/adventure overtones. The dozens of poor reviews on amazon.com do well to indicate just how "bland" Rainbow Mars is. Without rehashing what other have raged about, the most annoying aspect about Rainbow Mars, is Nivens attempt at humor. Very annoying. Is this the same author who helped flesh out "The Mote in God's Eye"? Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Niven
Review: The story: totally absurd
The telling: Niven at his best
Recommendation: Don't question it, enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: Another writer falls into the Mars morass
Review: Theres something about the word Mars in a sci-fi title that fills me with fear. And much as I like larry niven, this justified my fears. A terrible mistake, directionless and annoying. Finished it with a struggle and shudder.
Rating: 
Summary: Niven - 75% new, the rest old.
Review: Thinking that this would be a good Niven tale I sprang for the full hard cover book. The main novel ended abruptly after 224 pages. The story could have been finished with success at Mars, leaving room for future work. Instead the remaining ninety pages are filled with reprints of old short stories on Svetz's time travels. I was very disappointed, if I could of opened a window on the jet I would of thrown it out.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and adventures in Time and Space with Hanville Svetz
Review: This book is a great deal. The first part of the book, Rainbow Mars, is a new Svetz novel (novella? novelette? Whatever). Svetz is sent back to Mars in a time machine to find out if there was ever life there, of course since the time machines in Larry Niven's world don't work in a nice, linear fashion he finds out that there was life on Mars, life that was described in the stories of C.S. Lewis, Robert Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells and Raymond Gallun, and that's where the fun begins. In addition to the new story this book also includes all of the Svetz stories that were originally printed in Flight of the Horse, all in all a good read and a lot better than the other books that Niven has written in the last few years.
Rating:
Summary: Not for those who are Sci-Nonfi.
Review: This book is certainly not meant for those who have minds rigid set on science-fact and who have no concept of or interest in fantasy and humor. It was refreshing to see a new spin put on some old Martian concepts, and it was a delightful twist to see the way in which time-travel/paradoxes and parallel-dimensions were reinterpreted as realms-of-fantasy. True this is different then most of Niven's books, but it was enjoyable to read and certainly not deserving of all the harsh criticism give by the others.
Rating: 
Summary: wow, what a GREAT book
Review: this book is truly unique, a work only Niven could come up with
Rating:
Summary: Return to Malacandra, Barsoom, & the Mars of your childhood.
Review: This is a very enjoyable read. Larry Niven takes you back to the classic Mars portrayed years ago by C.S.Lewis, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G.Wells, and Ray Bradbury. A Mars that has been made extinct by the progress of science. If you liked reading Sci-Fi and get reminiscient remembering reading about Mars under the covers with a flashlight, then this is a book you will love! It is as much a tribute to older sci-fi as it is a fantasy about Mars. Niven pulls from his own stories the charecter of Hanvilee Svetz. He is sent back from an overpolluted Earth to contact Martians, but his mission changes to retrieve the World Tree, A plant that stretches out of a planets atmosphere. Sometimes you get what you don't expect though. Svetz does in his tree and the reader will as well. Don't expect a scientifically accurate portayal of Mars that is very popular today. But rather travel back in time to the Mars of your childhood. And as a bonus you get the short stories written in the 60's and 70's about Svetz animal collection days. Read it for great fun, and don't take it too seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Poor
Review: This is actually a fantasy book disguised as SF. That, of itself, isn't a bad thing. But Niven's writing style is very disjointed and erratic; it has none of the polish that his novels with Jerry Pournelle (and Steve Barnes) have. It's as if Niven is writing with a wink and a nod to his huge fan base--the wink being for "in" jokes and a nod given to the hard-core fan who understands what he's writing about. He writes in such a way as to leave things out, such as transitional phrases or descriptions, assuming (I think) that the reader will fill in the rest. This was an awful book in a great package. Tor seems to be doing this lately: great packages for lousy novels (Card is one, Williamson is another).
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