Description
An absorbing mix of problems and puzzles and conflicts, space battles and interrogations and negotiations, shot through with fresh takes on familiar tropes and themes. It more than holds its own in the Known Space canon, which ought to be recommendation enough. -- "Locus" Good, old-fashioned SF, packed with ideas, philosophical musings, and plenty of space action. -- "Library Journal" Old-fashioned cerebral science fiction, with a huge array of fascinating aliens, subtle interactions between them, and knotty problems for them to solve. -- "Kirkus Reviews" The plethora of aliens and action will appeal to Niven stalwarts and fans of old-fashioned hard SF. -- "Booklist" LARRY NIVEN is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science-fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf's Children, co-authored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times best-seller. He lives in Chatsworth, California. EDWARD M. LERNER has degrees in physics and computer science, a background that kept him mostly out of trouble until he began writing SF full-time. His books include Probe, Moonstruck, and the collection Creative Destruction. Fleet of Worlds was his first collaboration with Larry Niven. He lives in Virginia with Ruth, his wife of a mere thirty-five years.
Features & Highlights
- This book is a prequel to the Ringworld series (200 Years before the Discovery of Ringworld) The newly liberated humans of the Fleet of Worlds now face a new threat besides the sly Puppeteers: the Pak, a very smart and utterly ruthless species who are fleeing the exploding galactic core in an armada of ships at near light speed. The Pak are headed towards the Fleet of Worlds, having destroyed entire planets in their wake. Sigmund Ausfaller, who had been transported by the Puppeteers from Earth to the Fleet, is now sent with his human allies to reconnoiter and divert the Pak. A Pak is captured, but even a well-guarded Pak prisoner can be lethal. Sigmund and the human colonists must cope with many unpleasant surprises between the manipulative Puppeteers, the brilliant, violent Pak, and a new species called the Gw'oth, who seem to be allies but have their own agenda.
