Juggler of Worlds | Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner

Juggler of Worlds | Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner | Fills in gaps

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Juggler of Worlds

	Juggler of Worlds Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner Tor Books, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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For too long, the Puppeteers have controlled the fate of worlds. Now Sigmund is pulling the strings... Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, real and potential - and imaginary - of foes both human and alien. Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others? He may finally have met his match in Nessus, representative of the secretive Puppeteers, the elder race who wield vastly superior technologies. Nessus schemes in the shadows with Earth's traitors and adversaries, even after the race he represents abruptly vanishes from Known Space. As a paranoid, Sigmund had always known things would end horribly for him. Only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all had eluded him. That fog has begun to lift... But even Sigmund has never imagined how far his investigations will take him - or that his destiny is entwined with the fates of worlds.

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For the real fans

After I said in my review of "Fleet of Worlds" that it ". . . begs for a sequel of its own at some point, set in some future when certain constraints established by the other works in the Known Space universe have been removed. It would be interesting to see some of the human protagonists encountering Ringworld and Louis Wu perhaps, or possibly the Pak, or even Sigmund Ausfaller," I should be in hog's heaven with this book where Sigmund Ausfaller is indeed the main character and DOES meet the Fleet of Worlds head-on.

It is a very enjoyable read but I suspect not so much to the-non fanboys (and girls). The writing is fairly dry as it basically details the background of nearly every known space story set between Neutron Star and the recent old story/new story hybrid, Flatlander. It isn't until the last 60-70 pages of a 344 page book that the new material kicks in.

(It is also neat seeing how everything interconnects and so many minor disconnects of earlier works are explained away.)

I love all of Niven's stuff but from a reader's point of view, what I really like to see in a work of fiction is a character I can identify with. It can be a white, educated, middle-aged male from the North America of 2008 or a female mollusk from an alternate universe but, if written right, It will make me identify with the protagonist completely, exulting in triumphs and cursing or dispirited at setbacks.

While we care about Sigmund in this book, it is simply not at that kind of level. Paranoid psychopath or not, we should, at least while reading the book, identify with him. This is kind of more like some God's view unbiased newspaper coverage of events. I liked it but it won't be for everyone and certainly not for folks who haven't read a lot of Niven before - a whole lot.

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Fills in gaps

This book fills in gaps and gives an alternate view point to many of the events from some earlier Niven Known Space short stories.

What is a little strange is that the feel of the book and dialog of the characters is not as crisp as the Niven originals.

I enjoyed Fleet of Worlds better. Perhaps since it involved new human characters, the change in writing style was not as noticable.

I would still recommend it to fans of "Known Space."

What's my Motivation?

Niven and Lerner's "Juggler of Worlds" starts a bit before their Fleet of Worlds, intertwines with it (and with other works) for a stretch, and then finishes a tad after it. If you're going to read the pair, "Fleet of Worlds" should come first as the latter part of this book depends on what happened in the other book.

*Technically*, the writing, science and linkages to Niven's "Known Space" are very good. But, that linkage leads to this book's downfall. It feels more like a connect-the-dots chronicle than a story in its own right. Specifically, for two thirds of the book, there's really no explanation of why we're reading the book. It's just one thing after another relating to material in other Niven works with nothing explaining where THIS material is going. It's not until the last third of the book (after "Fleet of Worlds" ends) that anything resembling a motivation appears.

It pains me to have to rate the book down since it should have been a very good book. But, its choppiness and lack of motivation mean I can only rate it at an OK three stars out of 5.

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A Curious Trip back to Known Space...

When is Larry Niven's "Know Space" future history not really Larry Niven's "Known Space"? When it is in collaboration with Edward Lerner.
This follows in the footsteps of their last collaboration, "Fleet of Worlds" wherein we delve deeper into the uber Machiavellian mechinations of the aliens we (rightly) call the Puppeteers and revisit many familiar characters from the pre-Ringworld discovery (like the cover says... "200 years before the discovery of Ringworld), this book covers the Earth years of 2637 thru 2660.
It feels like someone else is driving around in Larry's cool Universe/car and they didn't treat it as well as the owner would have.
On the one head (read the book, you'll see this isn't a typo) this novel does an extremely clever job of threading together many of Niven's wonderful earlier Know Space short stories into a deeply disturbing overall work... I really couldn't put it down, but the dry level of menace and threat that are present here really made me long for the sunnier/gee-wiz Niven-only tales from when this future history was more entertaining and full of wonder. I'm a long time fan of Niven, the Ringworld series is one I reread about once a year, just because nothing new comes close to the jawdroppingly amazing altered reality that has been constructed and populated so well. I miss what Niven used to write and I know that styles and outlooks change and evolve in an author, but I honestly like him best when he writes alone... that being said, I have pre-ordered the Next Niven/Pournelle book 'cause I'm that big a fanboy.
If you want a more in depth return to Niven's old haunts, to see a different spin on Beowulf Shaeffer, Carlos Wu, Sigmund Ausfaller, the Outsiders and Nessus, then by all means buy this book, and if your only exposure to Known Space is "Fleet of Worlds" then really you have no excuse not to buy it... like I said, I couldn't put it down... of course now, I Just HAVE TO reread all of the original stories that are linked so expertly to rediscover the joy that a clever and imaginative story teller can impart... after all, Larry Niven is the true Juggler of Worlds.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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