Destroyer of Worlds

Destroyer of Worlds (2009) is the third SF novel in the Worlds subseries, following Juggler of Worlds. In the previous volume, Sigmund realized that he was no longer paranoid. Nessus went to the Outsiders and Sigmund found him there. Achilles tried to destroy a world and Baedecker stopped him. Faithful Penelope wore hot pink. In this novel, Sigmund Ausfaller is a professional paranoid. Initially a midlevel financial analyst within the UN, he was recruited into the Amalgamated Regional Militia. ARM agents are treated to become paranoid; he, on the other hand, had to be treated to become sane. Eric and Kirsten are humans born on Nature Preserve 4, now known as New Earth. They were scouts for the Citizens, but now work for Sigmund. Nessus is a Puppeteer. He is unsane, for normal Citizens are much too cowardly to travel into space. Yet his unsanity is valuable to the Concordance, for it needs scouts to explore the dangers of space. Baedeker is a Puppeteer. He is unsane, but not as much so as Nessus. For example, he doesn't trust anyone who is not a Puppeteer and at times not even his fellow Citizens. Er'o is a Gw'o, a five-limbed sapient shaped somewhat like a starfish. He is an element of a sixteen member merge called Ol't'ro. With their tentacles interconnected, they think as one mind. Thssthfok is a Pak Protector. At first he had been a Breeder, but he ate tree-of-life root upon becoming old enough. The virus changed him into the protector form and he lives only to protect clan Rilchuk. In this story, Thssthfok is part of a Protector group checking nearby stars for possible colonization. He is drilling core samples through the ice when the recall is passed to him. Apparently all Protectors are being recalled to Pakhome. The galactic core has exploded and Pak are fleeing from the spreading wave front. Rilchuk has few ramjets, so they make a deal with a clan in the asteroid belt to rescue their kinfolk. Then they join the exodus away from the galactic center. Sigmund, Eric and Kirsten are going to Jm'ho in response to a message from the Gw'oth. Sigmund has convinced Baedeker to come along. Upon reaching the system, the Gw'oth contact their ship directly via a comm laser and they agree to meet at the place where the normal space radio was located. The Gw'oth have detected the oncoming Pak starships. Sigmund decides to check out the ships. Er'o asks for the Gw'oth to go along and Sigmund agrees. They discover that the slower-than-light ships are destroying advanced civilizations along the flight path. The Pak destroy possible dangers before they can cause any harm. And the Fleet of Worlds and Jm'ho are inside the flight path. The Puppeteers are faced with possible extinction. Naturally, the Citizens first think of flight, but their worlds are moving too slowly. So they decide to hide and hope that the influx of destroyers will not notice them. The New Worlders are willing to fight, but have few starships. Of c

Sigmund Ausfaller reprises his role as primary point-of-view character from Juggler of Worlds, but this Sigmund is a family man now. He has...daughters! No longer the bachelor with no hope of a breeding license on Earth thanks to his clinical paranoia, he finally has the family he always dreamed of. On a world where his paranoia is a critical asset to the domesticated New Terrans recovering culturally from their servitude to the Puppeteers. Then he takes on a Pak "house guest," in whom he may have met his match. Kirsten, Eric, and Omar are back as well, and get a few powerful scenes, but any character development for them is squeezed by the four-way power struggle between the Puppeteers, Sigmund, the Pak guest, and the Gw'oth. Sigmund bites off way more than he can chew in this one, and takes some risks he never would have considered in his ARM days back on Earth (when he remembered where it was). Never threaten Sigmunds' daughters. Also, the Gw'oth are (finally) used to very good effect. There is an uneasy alliance with the emerging and intellectually acquisitive Gw'oth species from Fleet of Worlds, the struggle to minimize their exposure to various Known Space technologies. And we learn a bit more about the ending of Protector, and the fate of Brennan. A quality addition to the Worlds series, and Known Space as a whole.

Although the races in this book are familiar to anyone who has read of Known Space or Ringworld, there is a rich new complexity to them all. The Pak, whose overarching militancy has only been portrayed in limited setting up till now, come to vivid life as several dominant tribes of truly deadly xenophobes who will destroy everyone in their paths, including eachother. Galactic locusts on a grand scale. The first two books in this series were a marvelous setup for this finale. Niven and Lerner have sharpened their prose and delivered the kind of rich tapestry that the first two books only hinted at. The Gwo'th, a new species first encountered in Fleet of Worlds, have reached out to contact the Concordance, a fact which causes great alarm for the Puppeteers. They come with some bad news: the Concordance is in the path of a tremendous invasion fleet coming at them from the galactic core. Sigmund Ausfaller, former ARM on earth, now the head of New Terra's secret police, must deal with the incoming threat using the preternaturally brilliant Gwo'th as his untrusted allies, within the delicate framework of Colonist-Concordance relations. In other words, everything is going off the rails at once. The book also ties into, and expands upon, Niven's book Protector. For anyone who ever wondered what happened at the conclusion of that story, an epilogue of sorts is an integral part of Destroyer of Worlds. Ausfaller has his work cut out for him. And he gets the kind of up-close and personal view of the Pak that can truly inspire a paranoid for another thousand years. It's a real treat to read a book that so neatly balances marvels of hard science with stimulating and thought-provoking interspecies dynamics featuring dynamic characters. This book fires on all cylinders. Compared to Ringworld, Destroyer of Worlds is a much better book, the work of two writers in their primes, though the backstory from the previous two books in the series certainly helps in enjoying this, the payoff. And the story is obviously not done yet. (SPOILER?) It's obvious that at some point in the future, Sigmund Ausfaller will become a protector. Personally, I can't wait to read about it.

This book brings us back to the world 10 years after the end of the 'Juggler or worlds' It lets us follow those characters for a while longer and throws into the mix the Gw'oth and the Pak; the ultra-smart, ultra-ruthless 'ancestors' of humanity. Of course the Pak are fleeing the galactic core explosion and they are very frightening with their extremely dangerous attitude of destroying all other life forms, thereby making their own offspring more likely to succeed; but the Gw'oth with their hive minds are growing technologically at a prodigious rate too! It's a great book, it gives us more of that universe we've come to love, from the 'Known Universe' books of Larry Niven. If anything, for those of us who have read his previous books, it's kind of dull to have to read an extra few pages of things we already know each time Niven has to bring new readers up to speed, but I guess that's needed to give the book a greater appeal. *****************You do not have to read this part, it's something about this book but not a review************ How Sigmund Ausfaller could get back to earth: 1. Puppeteers are cowards. 2. We know the location, direction and acceleration of the fleet of worlds. 3. Therefore, we can know the original location of the Puppeteer world. 4. Since the puppeteers are cowards, why didn't they take their worlds in a straight line, away from the center of the galaxy and the expanding radiation? ie- why did they move towards galactic north? 5. Because they are avoiding danger; an immediate danger, such as other populated worlds. 6. Therefore 'known space' and earth are easy to find, just go to the point where the fleet of worlds originated and from there directly towards the outside of the galaxy.

This is one of the best collaborations I can recall between a "classic" established author and an up-and-coming pro. These books are very nearly if not completely equal to the standard of the original Known Space novels. This went immediately to the top of my reading list.