The Burning City

Rating:
Summary: Has the well gone dry?
Review: As a four-decade science fiction fan, I count Niven and Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye" as the single best SF novel ever written. Their other work has always been at least passable, and some of it, such as "The Legacy of Heorot" is excellent.

But I suppose all good things must come to an end. I struggled to stay interested in this book, and almost made it to the end. But with fifty pages to go, I haven't picked it up in six weeks. I just don't care about the characters or the outcome of the plot. They've drifted through about thirty years of their lives to this point, and none of it has been particularly interesting. I don't really care if I ever find out what happened to them.

I read "The Magic Goes Away" (which is set in the same "universe") years ago, and liked it pretty well. It set some interesting rules on the idea of magic, and then operated logically within those rules - a different approach from most fantasy. But this book does not build on those precepts. The "magic" is much more random, and there's not really any clever use of it to advance the plot.

So even if you are a big Niven/Pournelle fan, skip this one. Try any of the others, and you'll probably at least finish the book.

Rating:
Summary: Has the well gone dry?
Review: As a four-decade science fiction fan, I count Niven and Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye" as the single best SF novel ever written. Their other work has always been at least passable, and some of it, such as "The Legacy of Heorot" is excellent.

But I suppose all good things must come to an end. I struggled to stay interested in this book, and almost made it to the end. But with fifty pages to go, I haven't picked it up in six weeks. I just don't care about the characters or the outcome of the plot. They've drifted through about thirty years of their lives to this point, and none of it has been particularly interesting. I don't really care if I ever find out what happened to them.

I read "The Magic Goes Away" (which is set in the same "universe") years ago, and liked it pretty well. It set some interesting rules on the idea of magic, and then operated logically within those rules - a different approach from most fantasy. But this book does not build on those precepts. The "magic" is much more random, and there's not really any clever use of it to advance the plot.

So even if you are a big Niven/Pournelle fan, skip this one. Try any of the others, and you'll probably at least finish the book.

Rating:
Summary: Was his car payment due?
Review: First, I am a long time fan of just about everything Jerry Pournelle has done. I finished this book, but I didn't enjoy it.
If Jerry needs money this bad, he should finish the Janissaries
series and not force loyal fans to buy stuff like this.

Rating:
Summary: The book had a great start
Review: I am both a SF and a Fantasy fan. I love their earlier science fiction works. This book had me very excited for the first 300+ pages. Then it jumps 23 years into the future and I just couldn't get back into it. I treid like a 100 more pages and I put it down and started a different book.

Rating:
Summary: Wake up Jerry!
Review: I read books based on author and I picked this one up because Jerry Pournelle, in large part, wrote it. I loved his Janissaires series, which he never finished (grrr!), but this one I just can't get into. Vacuous and disjointed are the best descriptive words I could come up with.

Mr. Pournelle, and I'm sure his pubisher feels the same way, needs to FOCUS more on his book writing and less on such frivolous use of his time prattling on about the mundane on his web site. And finish Janissaires! I could have written the damn thing myself by now...

Rating:
Summary: A short commentary on BURNING CITY
Review: In America today, there seems to be a misconception, that Science Fiction is for children. TO correct that, Science Fiction is not for children, it for anyone who would like to take a look at future possibilities. Sometimes you have to go to the past, or in this case a Mythical one. BURNING CITY does this.

Set 50 years after the sinking of Atlantis on a Major continent half a world away, there is a city that burns itself every few years. A culture of rigidly set societal levels that is strikingly somewhat like those seen in cities today, exists in an almost frightening mirror of what urban life could easily become.

This book is an exploration into the possible and perhaps Probable of urban life as we know it and invites the reader to explore their own attitudes towards what can and cannot be tolerated.

In a satirical vein, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle take a HARD look at where we could easily be going and offer some hope.

If you like Social Commentary wrapped in a whacking good adventure story, complete with rites of passage and fascinating detail, you will enjoy BURNING CITY.

I read it, I liked it, I will reread it to see what I missed the first time through.

Frank Gasperik

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy eludes them ...
Review: In the light of the quality works previously produced by Niven and Pournelle, this book (The Burning City) is a gross disappointment.

Everything about this book is half-hearted. i.e:
Characters start to be developed with a hint at depth, then never appear again.
Story threads frequently break off in odd tangents then abruptly disappear.
Entire chapters seem to have been written as filler. They do not add to the substance or depth of the story, or provide story or character development.

Crude references are made to customs and mythology recognisable to the modern reader, but there is no finesse. The substance of this book could have been written in about 150 pages and will no doubt appear one day in a successful Readers Digest version.

The ability to write fantasy eludes Niven and Pournelle. A shame considering their Sci Fi is such classic work.

You have been warned.

Rating:
Summary: Will the Real Larry Niven Please Come Home?
Review: Niven and Pournelle have written some of the best science fiction and fantasy there is. I share the late Robert Heinlein's opinion that "The Mote in God's Eye" might be the finest single "pure" science fiction novel ever written. It's an unsurpassed First Contact novel. "Footfall" is an excellent "alien invasion" book. Even "Inferno," which marked Niven's descent into extended travel brochures instead of novels, was fun.

This novel is set in Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" universe and, boy, has the magic gone away. There is little in the story to recommend. The society in which events occur is implausible. The flaws that underpin "mana" as a limited resource for magic stand out like Las Vegas neon. The rigrous logic and plot development that used to be the mark of Niven and Pournelle's work is mostly missing. You may not believe this, but the book is difficult to read. Ponderous and polemic by turns; it's a serious disappointment.

I think I'll re-read "Mote" to get the taste of this out of my mouth and restore my high opinion of these authors.

Rating:
Summary: I wanted it to be good, but it wasn't
Review: Niven has taken his previous worst book "Destiny's Road", and rewritten it in a new context. The characters are the same, the journey is the same, and the disjointed and dead ended plot line writing style is the same.

Aweful...just aweful. This is from a reader who thinks Niven's previous work is some of the definitive Science Fiction works in existance.

Rating:
Summary: Wicked social commentary in a plain brown wrapper
Review: The authors of 'The Mote in God's Eye' and 'Footfall' have indulged their political id in crafting this novel. While it satisfies as a fantasy yarn it is really a weasel in the hen house of our modern American society. It holds up a mirror to the L.A. riots and Rodney King ethos to show our alter selves in a light that isn't pretty... but -is- entertaining.

The allegory may not be instantly apparent but at a certain point you will begin remembering particular images and events from the recent past depicted in the story. It may make you laugh or it may anger you. Or it may very well do both.

Enjoy!