A GIFT FROM EARTH

Rating:
Summary: Solid "Known Space" without the soapbox.
Review:

Many of Niven's fans found him through Ringworld, or through the Towering-Inferno-styled paperweights such as "Footfall" or "Lucifer's Hammer".

A Gift from Earth" was my own introduction to Niven's Known Space series. As in much of his early works, the panorama of Known Space is somewhat blurry; "A Gift from Earth" takes place primarily on the colony world of Plateau, a Venuslike planet with a single habitable mountaintop rising above the poisonous mists.

On Mount Lookitthat, the human colony is divided into two castes, Crew and Colonists, and the inevitable social and political tension between the two groups (on a colony where criminals are taken apart for organ transplants) is the core conflict of this novel.

In recent years, Niven's prose has, it seems to me, been heavily overlaid with his present-day political and social ideology (witness the "Think of it as evolution in action" slogan of "Oath of Fealty" or the soapbox opportunities allowed Cadmann Weyland in the Avalon novels. "A Gift from Earth" has none of that overlay. Its protagonist, Matt Keller, falls in with a rebel Colonist underground almost by chance (or so he thinks), and is swept along in the story both by events beyond his control and his own undiscovered talents. The prose is solid, the characters believable within this particular slice of Known Space, and Niven even manages to get through a love scene or two with some class.

Internal consistency within a universe which could conceivably be is the foundation of any good science fiction novel, and Niven acquits himself well along these lines in "A Gift from Earth", and provides a solid easing-in to readers new to Known Space.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting view of ethics and society .
Review: A GIFT FROM EARTH was a great precurser to the later Known space stories. The story suprised me: I was expecting a fairly typical hard sci-fi story. But GIFT is more than that, it includes an excellent look into ethics how they changes as a socirty develops.I recamend this!

Rating:
Summary: One of Niven's worst novels, an improbable tale of rebellion
Review: A GIFT FROM EARTH, the second of Larry Niven's full-length novels set in the Known Space universe, is a tale of a rebellion on the colonized world Plateau. It's also one of Niven's weakest works.

Plateau is a Venus-like cauldron with only one habitable area, the giant mountain Mt. Lookitthat. When the slowboats sent by the UN reached it, the crew, who had worked hard for 30 years to bring the ship to Plateau, decided to set up a dictatorship over the colonists, who were frozen in statis during the journey. The Crew's power over the Colonists is their control of the Hospital and their ability to punish criminals by the death penalty and extract their organs to prolong the life of those loyal to the Crew. This story is set in the first half of Niven's Known Space universe (2000-2400), and shows the same obsession over the death penalty and organ transplantation as other works of that era, such as the Gil "the Arm" Hamilton stories collected in FLATLANDER.

Change comes to Plateau in the form of a UN ramrobot carrying blueprints for improved alloplasty (using gadgets instead of organs). Such a development threatens the existence of the status quo and the Crew scrambles to deal with the situation. The Sons of Earth, a Colonist rebel group, decide to seize the moment. Their new hero is Matt Keller, an unassuming young man with a physic power of invisibility through making others not notice him.

The novel is full of improbable developments, and Matt's power essentially makes him a superman, which means there's little intrigue or depth because Matt can get through anything. The characters seem like they came out of 1960's America, as the women are submissive and everybody has American names, plus nobody seems to use the metric system. This novel was published in 1968 and it's difficult to see why it is so immature, considering that at the same time Niven wrote a number of Known Space short stories that were really excellent. Perhaps A GIFT FROM EARTH was simply an early work that he couldn't get published until years later. In any event, it is so pulpish that it is difficult to read.

A GIFT FROM EARTH is one of the last books to read in the Known Space universe. I'd definitely recommend reading the Gil "the Arm" Hamilton stories collected in FLATLANDER, which gives a history of organ transplanting highly helpful to understand A GIFT FROM EARTH, and Niven's most acclaimed novel RINGWORLD.

Rating:
Summary: Great sci-fi adventure romp
Review: Great book! It deals with all kinds of fun, interesting technologies, with enough action to keep anyone hooked. Also some really good discussion of ethics. This book is wholeheartedly suggested

Rating:
Summary: Great sci-fi adventure romp
Review: Great book! It deals with all kinds of fun, interesting technologies, with enough action to keep anyone hooked. Also some really good discussion of ethics. This book is wholeheartedly suggested

Rating:
Summary: An underrated classic
Review: Niven has had so many great works that this one is often overlooked. However, I would rate it as his best solo novel (yes, including Ringworld). It deals with the organ-bank problem (what is that? Read the book) and solves it instead of whining about it. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Intersting, and yes, cool.
Review: On a planet where the only habitable place is the plateau on a mountain rising fifteen miles above the acidic, roiling surface, a brutal and unjust aristocracy lives long lives on the organs of the people of the lower classes, (colonists), who had committed even the smallest transgressions, while the rich, (crew), do as they wish with no fear of consequences of repercussions. On this world a young colonist with a very strange mental power, that of making himself invisible in others' minds, is about to unwittingly set off a revolution. I said it before, I'll say it again. Cool.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, classic 'Hard-Core' Sci-Fi
Review: One of the earliest books in the "Known Space" Universe, 'A Gift From Earth' brings us to a struggling colony scratching out a difficult existance on a high plateau- the only habitable spot on the planet! Along with the technical gizmoes thet Sci-Fi fans love, Niven makes some interesting points on the nature of human social interaction. Niven also delves into the paranormal, in a realistic, believable manner. I've read this book many times over the years- I keep coming back to the intriguing storyline and universe that Niven has constructed.

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, but nothing special
Review: This is my first Niven novel and, given his popularity, I have to assume its not one of his better works. The explanation for the hero's talent was a bit too far-fetched and his motivation for penetrating into the dangerous Hospital was extremely weak. There was also that annoying streak of fascism that surfaces so often in science-fiction, particularly that of the "Old Masters." Both oppressor and oppressed alike seem the recognize a need for capital punishment and concealing from the public the true circumstances surrounding it. It is up to extraordinary individuals to make rational choices about what is good for the common man.

I give it three stars for its solid prose and the imaginative story that kept me reading despite the above-mentioned flaws. Still, maybe I should have begun with "Ringworld."

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, but nothing special
Review: This is my first Niven novel and, given his popularity, I have to assume its not one of his better works. The explanation for the hero's talent was a bit too far-fetched and his motivation for penetrating into the dangerous Hospital was extremely weak. There was also that annoying streak of fascism that surfaces so often in science-fiction, particularly that of the "Old Masters." Both oppressor and oppressed alike seem the recognize a need for capital punishment and concealing from the public the true circumstances surrounding it. It is up to extraordinary individuals to make rational choices about what is good for the common man.

I give it three stars for its solid prose and the imaginative story that kept me reading despite the above-mentioned flaws. Still, maybe I should have begun with "Ringworld."