@Numberland, Larry Niven I enjoyed

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:32:09 GMT

Different people like different Larry Niven. I'm going to set out what I remember here, without regard to what you've already read, because it may be useful for me for posterity.

1. Mote in Gods Eye and the sequel. A space adventure, with a space navy heavily inspired by Hornblower-esque navies, when they have an existing human empire, but discover the first intelligent alien species. I really loved them, although if you are likely to be put off by (a) the detailed but probably inaccurate biology of the species (b) the upper-class-heroes male-dominated navy you will probably hate it.

2. Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers, which almost everyone has already read.

3. Gil Hamiton, the ARM books. Set in a near-future, about the UN cop fighting organleggers. Incorporated into his known space universe where most of his books take place

4. One or two short story collections set in the Draco Tavern, a sort of academic Mos Eisley, the only pub near the landing site of aliens passing Earth.

5. Legacy of Hereot. Questionable politics and possibly biology, but one of the first I read and I found very very tense.

6. Three or four Magic Goes Away short stories and novellas, about a prehistoric world where the prevalent magic is being used up, and excellent example of magic being treated in a rational way rather than "whooosh bang". Hard to get hold of the full set.

I did not especially like most of the Known Space books before Ringworld, or his more recent novels, and several I found actively boring, although many are very interesting if you've already read some of the Known Space novels, and many are worth reading, and a few (Dream Park) I enjoyed, and many people prefer some of them to the ones I've mentioned here. I'm not sure if there's any consensus on which ones I didn't like but are quite good, and which ones if any are tedious.

comments

jack

@Numberland, Larry Niven I enjoyed