The Integral Trees: And the Smoke Ring

Centuries ago, the totalitarian State, governing Earth, sent out ships to terraform and put Earth life on other worlds. One of them, Discipline, controlled by the self-aware computer, Kendy, finds a habitable area which is not a world, but rather a habitable gas ring around a neutron star, the gas constantly being renewed by a planet spewing forth gas. In the habitable torus, life has evolved, notably trees shaped like an integral sign (an elongated S) Due to tidal effects, there is even gravity in the tufts on its end. The crew, convinced they have found paradise, explore the ring and do not return to Discipline. Kendy, unable to retrieve his crew, is out there waiting. And waiting . . . The story focuses on a group of descendants of the crew, living in the tuft of such a tree. Forced to abandon their dying tree portion, they are cast forth into the void, braving the Smoke Ring's wildlife until they fall into a jungle of vegetation. And then, they are captured by a civilization which still maintains some of Discipline's technology . . . Like many of Niven's books, this is set in a place most unlikely to occur, but which (who knows?) just might be out there. And the science is very carefully worked out. The characters (I particularly liked Jeffer, the Scientist) are well drawn, far better than the cookiecutter characters you often see in hard science fiction. A delight to read and a compelling page turner.

Are planets really necessary? This is the question that Larry Niven has asked perhaps as often as any writer in history, and he presents some more of his most fascinating answers in this marvelous sci-fi adventure novel. Somewhere in another solar system, the atmosphere from a dying planet has leaked out into a vast gas torus in which live enormous trees, anchored solely by gravity, gathering light from the sun and nutrients from the thinatmosphere, and strangely enough, inhabited by a society of hunters and gatherers. Life has been getting tougher on the tree recently; so much so that partly in desperation, and partly out of malice, the Chairman sends an adolescent boy, a student of the sciences, and a powerful young hunter up the trunk of the tree with a ragtag bunch of misfits to find food to save the tribe - or failing that, to die trying. Following the adventures of this group provides a keen insight into their unique culture and how it has survived, but gives only a few clues as to where they came from and why. Balancing the hunting party's amazing adventures is a series of interludes featuring the Checker, a distant, computerized personality who has a strange fascination with the fledgling society. Niven's combination of dry scientific records and intimate sociological observations teases the reader into playing anthropologist, trying to piece together what exactly happened to create this situation in the first place. Beyond this, there's plenty ofaction and more than a few total, out-of-the-blue-sky surprises, so readers should find this story as entertaining as it is intriguing. Moreover, Niven's ability to make his scientific points believably is unparalleled. While not as philosophically daring as Ringworld or The Mote in God's Eye, this is a top-notch sci-fi adventure for readers of all ages.

Larry Niven has a knack for creating unique worlds that are not planets. Ringworld was the first and in the Integral Trees, we are introduced to a world that is essentially a gas ring surrounding a star. It's a very clever concept and the humans (their ancestors came from Earth) who inhabit this world are truly interesting, it's fun to follow the adventures of this rag-tag tribe as their home is destroyed and they must quest to find a new one. Great book, easily Ringworld's equal.

Something weird happened and all of a sudden I have the incredible urge to re-read this book and it's sequel after 14+ years of time passing. I read my original so many times that I broke the back and started loosing pages. My searching has paid off as I couldn't even remember the author or the title. When I was reading Isaac Asimov's Robot and then the Foundation series I stumbled across this and found it to be a nice break.

Having read many Sci-Fi books in my life, I can honestly say that none can come close in originality and concept to the books 'Integral Trees' and the sequel, 'The Smoke Ring' by Larry Niven. You will instantly love this book where technology takes a second-hand place to the dynamics of human development and interactivity, and the remnants of human advancements exist as strange, unknown objects, myths, and faded social traditions. The book takes us into a free-fall environment, the remains of a gaseous planet orbiting a star in a binary system. Life has evolved there, free of the constrains of gravity. Ponds drift about as spheres of water, and multi-kilometer long trees are like small worlds containing lifeforms of numerous bizzare types. Humankind has reverted to tribal structures, the technology that brought them long forgotten. The old ways of Earth have all but dissapeared, existing only as ghosts in the speech patterns of the characters. Niven has repeatedly written books that encourage us to think differently--to think big. If you liked the awesome strangeness of 'Ringworld,' then you will have an instant favorite in 'Integral Trees.'