Protector

Often overlooked in comparission to the Ringworld series of books is Protector. And this is a shame as it is one of the keys to Larry Niven's wonderland known as Known Space. The Pak race has a three stage life cycle. Childhood (self explanitory); breeder (adulthood) and with the Tree Of Life Root becomes the sexless (both in deed and form) ultra smart Protector. Phssthpok is a childless (meaning he will die soon) Protector who has traveled from the galaxy's core to save a lost colony of Pak Breeder whose Protectors have died out. What is this lost colony? Well it is the third planet from a medium yellow star. Phssthpok sets into motion a set of events that will change all of Known Space. You can read other novels of Known Space without ever reading Protector but reading it makes the expierence all the more richer. Would you trade away some of your humanity to become faster, stronger, smarter and nearly immortal? This is one of the things you will ponder as you read this novel. A very enjoyable read.

This story, set early in the "Known Space" period, is an important part of Larry Niven's future universe, full of his accustomed ingenuity in both the plots and the science. The Protectors don't fit quite comfortably into the "Known Space" Universe, and have raised some problems later, for example in the famous "Man-Kzin Wars," where the "Known Space" universe has been shared by other writers, including Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle, SM Stirling and Hal Colebatch, but the story is fine space opera and entertainment, and has a genuine sense of strangeness and wonder that all too often is lacking from contemporary SF.

I first read this book over 20 years ago, and I still think it's the novel by which other works of science fiction should be judged. It's conceptually enthralling, leaves plenty of loose ends, but has a driving logic behind its narrative, as well as an incisive wit.And now I want to read it again.And I want someone to pick up the film rights, now the CGI is up to the job, and that goes for Ringworld, too!

What can you say about this tale to someone who hasn't read it? How about that if they want to get to know excellent science-fiction, or if they just want a story with crackling dialogue, pages bursting with ideas, and an essential part of an ongoing Future History, or an combination of the previous, then they don't have to look any further than this novel? I might even consider this book better than Ringworld, mostly because I can comprehend the ideas better and the plot was easier to follow than the other book. Also, this novel is one that most of the other Known Space stories refer to, making it a must for any Larry Niven fan. The story of the Pak Protectors is also essental to the Ringworld saga, as anyone who read The Ringworld Engineers would know. But I don't want to spoil the surprise, or the sheer joy of reading a classic novel for anyone. Just go out and buy the book, borrow it from the library, or steal it from a friend, already! What more do you want?

I enjoyed this book. I would have given it a 10 but felt it was just a notch below "Ringworld" & "Mote in God's Eye" which I did give a 10 rating to. I recommend reading "Tales of Known Space" (a series of short stories) first, to give a nice background for "Protector" & Larry's other fine stand alone novels. - BH Dixon