Convergent Series

Rating:
Summary: Clever, thought-provoking, but not really all that good
Review: Larry Niven's Convergent Series is a pleasant little collection of 21 stories ranging from science fiction and fantasy to almost everyday stories of Los Angeles. Aside from the handful of "short shorts" involving the chirpsithtra, Niven's yarn-spinning aliens, these stories have no real connection to any of his other works. Generally, the long stories are the more satisfying, as with the space mutiny in "One Face", and especially the hard-nosed Private Investigator fiction of "The Meddler" (which features perhaps the most memorable character in a book weak on characterization), while the shorter works such as "Mistake" and "Convergent Series" come off as, at most, clever. Perhaps the best stories are those that deal with the complexities of time travel, where Niven lets his logical gifts wrestle with the standard paradoxes of cause and effect with interesting, and for once almost believable, results. Sadly, the short story format leaves little or no room for what is surely Niven's greatest strength - constructing vast new worlds, new races, and new social orders populated with unusal beings that stay with us long after the book is finished. Instead, we see Niven trying out different kinds of stories, with varying results. Fans of Niven's work will find that some of these stories are wryly amusing, others are seriously thought-provoking, and others are perhaps overly precious. Despite its breadth, however, this collection is not strong enough overall to serve as a good introduction to Niven's work because the individual stories themselves aren't that great. If you aren't already a fan of Niven's "hard" science fiction, start off with one of his fine novels instead of this book of second rate stories.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, thought-provoking, but not really all that good
Review: Larry Niven's Convergent Series is a pleasant little collection of 21 stories ranging from science fiction and fantasy to almost everyday stories of Los Angeles. Aside from the handful of "short shorts" involving the chirpsithtra, Niven's yarn-spinning aliens, these stories have no real connection to any of his other works. Generally, the long stories are the more satisfying, as with the space mutiny in "One Face", and especially the hard-nosed Private Investigator fiction of "The Meddler" (which features perhaps the most memorable character in a book weak on characterization), while the shorter works such as "Mistake" and "Convergent Series" come off as, at most, clever. Perhaps the best stories are those that deal with the complexities of time travel, where Niven lets his logical gifts wrestle with the standard paradoxes of cause and effect with interesting, and for once almost believable, results. Sadly, the short story format leaves little or no room for what is surely Niven's greatest strength - constructing vast new worlds, new races, and new social orders populated with unusal beings that stay with us long after the book is finished. Instead, we see Niven trying out different kinds of stories, with varying results. Fans of Niven's work will find that some of these stories are wryly amusing, others are seriously thought-provoking, and others are perhaps overly precious. Despite its breadth, however, this collection is not strong enough overall to serve as a good introduction to Niven's work because the individual stories themselves aren't that great. If you aren't already a fan of Niven's "hard" science fiction, start off with one of his fine novels instead of this book of second rate stories.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad little intro to Niven.
Review: Larry Niven, Convergent Series (Del Rey, 1979)

Convergent Series is half previously published material and half new material written for this book, including five new Draco's Tavern tales and some new Known Universe stuff. (Some of the previously published stuff is proto-Known Universe material, as well.) If you're a Larry Niven fan, you know what that means. If you aren't, what it means is that this is a pretty good place to get to know Larry Niven.

There is (as there is in most science fiction; about 90% of this collection is solidly in the sci-fi vein, while a story or two is more in the straight mystery genre) a little of the annoying "this was put in just to make this sound like a science fiction story" claptrap here, but it's kept to a bare minimum, and Niven allows the stories to be carried by the characters and the plots within, rather than relying on gadgetry and technology to do the work for him. As such, Niven's science fiction is more accessible than a good deal of the hard stuff, and he's easily as readable as, say, Greg Bear. If you've not managed to glom onto Niven yet, thirty-five years into his career, this collection is a fine way to start. ***