Betrayer of Worlds

Amid infinite blackness, stars blazed, diamond bright. To starboard, a nebula glimmered. The universe still existed. A bit of the tension he had not admitted to having drained from his body. Which of these stars were in Known Space? Not knowing made his skin crawl. Larry Niven was my introduction to gr......more

Three and a half stars, interesting plot but I clearly was missing some context. The cover of the book said it was a prequel to Ringworld, but from the reviews on the back cover, there's another book (Fleet of Worlds) that I obviously missed. The usual set of talking heads with no bodies. Even when t......more

Betrayer of Worlds is a great example of science fiction popcorn: delicious, and you can't stop once you've started. Continuing that analogy, while it's a good snack between meals, it wouldn't stand on its own so well, and here too, where this shines is as a character study of the pre-Ringworld Loui......more

This is the story of Louis Wu and how he came to be mixed up in the Fleet of Worlds' business. If you've read the Ringworld series, you'll already know of him; I hadn't, so he was completely new to me and that was fine. Nessus brought him in to find Louis' stepfather, who we've met before in this se......more