Fleet of Worlds: 200 Years Before the Discovery of the Ringworld

Fleet of Worlds is the unabridged audiobook rendition of Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner's joint science fiction prequel to Niven's first Ringworld novel. The intelligent and driven Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs serves the Citizens, a gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship out of gratitude; when a cosmic catastrophe threatens all life in the galaxy, the Citizens flee along with their planets, the Fleet of Worlds. Kirsten and her crew volunteer to serve the Fleet as a scout, but their search to uncover possible threats bears unexpected fruit, revealing a hidden secret that will transform all they know about the galaxy and its inhabitants. Larry Niven lives up to his award-winning reputation in this enthralling saga sure to please science fiction fans everywhere. 9 1/2 hours, 8 CDs.

Fleet of Worlds (2007) is an SF novel in the Known Space universe, following Ringworld's Children. The prologue takes place about five centuries before the disappearance of the Puppeteers from Known Space. The main body of the work occurs after the flight of the Puppeteers. In this novel, the Long Pass -- a manned interstellar ramjet -- is taking a human crew, hibernating passengers, and frozen embryos from the Solar System to a new planet. The course varies to take advantage of denser clumps of hydrogen gas within the void. The navigator -- Diego McMillan -- is plotting the thickness of the gas in potential courses when he notices an anomaly. Diego calls a meeting of the crew to present his results. After an elaborate introduction, he shows them that something is making a shock wave in the interstellar medium. Further search finds a full sized planet only a lightyear away and accelerating through the void. The crew sends a message to the planet with their communications laser. A year later, they assume that a response will soon be sent back to them. To their surprise, a ship appears and their hull is punctured in various places. Strange creatures roam the corridors and stun the crewmembers. In this story, five centuries later, the descendents of those onboard the Long Pass mostly live on Nature Preserve #4 within the Puppeteer Fleet of Worlds. They know nothing about their ancestors except that the Citizens had saved them from a plundered spacecraft. Neither do they know anything about their native planet. The Citizens select three Colonists in a trial of their abilities to become scouts for the Fleet in its journey out of the galaxy. Under the leadership of the unsane Nessus, they take the Explorer -- built on a General Products #2 hull -- to check out radio signals emitted from an Ice Moon near the path of the Fleet. They find a species of small marine starfish-like sapients busily constructing a technology above the ice. The radio signals have evolved into television and digital transmission within the past decade. The progress of the Gw'oth is fantastic, even enough to frighten the Citizens. Nessus commands the Colonist crew to prepare a comet to slam into the Gw'oth planet upon command. Navigator Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs argues about the need for destroying the alien civilization. Then she begins to wonder about the things she has been taught and is being told. She discovers a listening device in the pilot board that is monitoring their conversation and suspects other such devices elsewhere on the ship. Kristen informs the other two Colonists about her suspicions. Captain Omar Tanala-Singh obviously knows some of this, since he blocks a sensor that Kristen has previously deactivated. However, all this is new to Engineer Eric Huang-Mbeke and he is very reluctant to accept her speculations. Then Kristen gains temporary access to the computer via the superuser logon of Nessus and creates a similar account for herself.

Having read and re-read Larry Niven's books on Ringworld, I was intrigued by the addition of a prequel to the series which takes place 200 years earlier. It was of further interest to meet Nessus, the Puppeteer who plays such a big part in the later books. Niven and Lerner have written a page turning tale of intrique and deception which held my attention to the last page. It was so good that I gave a copy to my son for his collection. The race of Puppeteers have deceived the humans who live on their worlds for generations; but that deception is about to be discovered. I recommend it highly to anyone who has enjoyed the Ringworld series. If you are a science fiction fan and have not discovered the Ringworld series I suggest you have a treat in store.

Having read all of Niven's Known Space novels, I found this one quite refreshing. Although a four hand effort, it feels like an original. Niven does partnerships very well and Edward Lerner seems to be a good match. We get to know more about the Pierson Puppeteers and they are a fascinating bunch of aliens. Nessus, a sketchy character in some of the previous books is now a complex one. The plot is beautifully developed and like all good science fiction, makes one wish it could happen.

Short version: Buy it, read it, keep it to be reread. Longer version follows. I'm biased, I confess. I've reread every work in the Known Space "series" for the past thirty years or so. The quality of each work can vary considerably but as a collection they may be without equal in the world of "pure" science fiction. I believe I've read everything Niven has written, however, despite the fact I've haven't felt the need to reread any of his non-Known Space works for the past twenty years or so aside from the first Dream Park novel (which remains the only book I ever finished the last page of and then turned back to the first to read it again. Niven's other works aren't bad and are often quite good but none of them ever gave me that warm glow that some feel when they are returning to Middle-Earth, Narnia, or some other cherished place. That said, this may be the best Larry Niven work since Ringworld itself. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kudos to Mr. Lerner for whatever part of that is his doing. The book could be considered a prequel to Ringworld save 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. Anyhow, it stands alone fine but also fits within the history terrifically, tying into several short stories as well. Many mysteries are revealed and yet the Known Space universe is no less mysterious for it. Questions that have arisen based on legions of fans quibbling for decades over why event x in story y was important when the technology used in story z made it a non-player have been deftly answered. And finally, hey, Nessus is one of the two MAIN characters! That alone justifies the book. I've been apprehensive that all of the Known Space works must soon seem rather quaint. I've been concerned that scientific advancement and technological development might have left Larry Niven behind. Advancement and development that has shown us the future will probably not involve much of what we once thought it surely must. This novel puts those fears to rest and shows us that Larry Niven has still got it (or at least knows where to get it). If you just skipped to the last line: buy it, read it, keep it to be reread.