A Gift from Earth

Great book! It deals with all kinds of fun, interesting technologies, with enough action to keep anyone hooked. Also some really good discussion of ethics. This book is wholeheartedly suggested

On a planet where the only habitable place is the plateau on a mountain rising fifteen miles above the acidic, roiling surface, a brutal and unjust aristocracy lives long lives on the organs of the people of the lower classes, (colonists), who had committed even the smallest transgressions, while the rich, (crew), do as they wish with no fear of consequences of repercussions. On this world a young colonist with a very strange mental power, that of making himself invisible in others' minds, is about to unwittingly set off a revolution. I said it before, I'll say it again. Cool.

Niven has had so many great works that this one is often overlooked. However, I would rate it as his best solo novel (yes, including Ringworld). It deals with the organ-bank problem (what is that? Read the book) and solves it instead of whining about it. I recommend it.

One of the earliest books in the "Known Space" Universe, 'A Gift From Earth' brings us to a struggling colony scratching out a difficult existance on a high plateau- the only habitable spot on the planet! Along with the technical gizmoes thet Sci-Fi fans love, Niven makes some interesting points on the nature of human social interaction. Niven also delves into the paranormal, in a realistic, believable manner. I've read this book many times over the years- I keep coming back to the intriguing storyline and universe that Niven has constructed.

Many of Niven's fans found him through Ringworld, or through the Towering-Inferno-styled paperweights such as "Footfall" or "Lucifer's Hammer". A Gift from Earth" was my own introduction to Niven's Known Space series. As in much of his early works, the panorama of Known Space is somewhat blurry; "A Gift from Earth" takes place primarily on the colony world of Plateau, a Venuslike planet with a single habitable mountaintop rising above the poisonous mists. On Mount Lookitthat, the human colony is divided into two castes, Crew and Colonists, and the inevitable social and political tension between the two groups (on a colony where criminals are taken apart for organ transplants) is the core conflict of this novel. In recent years, Niven's prose has, it seems to me, been heavily overlaid with his present-day political and social ideology (witness the "Think of it as evolution in action" slogan of "Oath of Fealty" or the soapbox opportunities allowed Cadmann Weyland in the Avalon novels. "A Gift from Earth" has none of that overlay. Its protagonist, Matt Keller, falls in with a rebel Colonist underground almost by chance (or so he thinks), and is swept along in the story both by events beyond his control and his own undiscovered talents. The prose is solid, the characters believable within this particular slice of Known Space, and Niven even manages to get through a love scene or two with some class. Internal consistency within a universe which could conceivably be is the foundation of any good science fiction novel, and Niven acquits himself well along these lines in "A Gift from Earth", and provides a solid easing-in to readers new to Known Space.