Protector

Protector is not Larry Niven’s best book, but it is inventive and has enough plot twists to keep you guessing right to the last page. Jack Brennan, with this mohawk hairdo and erotic spacesuit art, makes me wish that Niven had written more stories about Belter culture.

Moral: if someone offers you superpowers, you really should think twice. Poor Brennan doesn’t get a choice.

Niven’s Known Space is classic. If you are not allergic to sci-fi from the pre-cellphone age, you will find a lot to like in this one.

Phssthpok needs a project. If he's not protecting the welfare of his descendents or failing that the whole Pak species, he will lose his appetite and die. Researching in the Library, he finds an intriguing reference to an expedition in space to colonise another star system, ours. He is on his way to protect the lost Pak.

I last read this as a teenager. It's still a good story but some flaws stand out a lot more than they did. The female characters are so inconsequential that the most important of them has her name flip-flopping at certain points between Alice and Sally.

Man's first contact with an alien life form turns out to be a lone Protector on a search and rescue mission - seeking out a lost colony from the Pak system. Instead of finding the Pak, he finds Jack Brennan - a miner from the belt. Brennan is everything a belter should be - brave, resourceful, smart, daring... but he's got nothing when compared to the Protector.

I enjoyed this book. I think the separations between the sections were rough and it felt like there was a whole heck of a lot of relevant information that was left to be backfilled in future sections. I thought the transition between breeder and protector was interesting. The depth with which the protectors play their games and make their plans is pretty incredible and the show more subtlety with which Brennan plays his games is just as nuanced. Probably a little overdone, but we're talking about superman, here... show less

Larry Niven is an excellent story teller . This is one of his early works written 1974 and made into an audiobook in 2004. The story takes place in universe in which humans have settled the solar system and planets around Alpha Centauri. This is story of Brennan the Belter and Phssthpok the Pak. The Pak live near the galactic core and travel by sub-light Bussard Ram spaceships. The space science fiction stuff is really window dressing for a morality play. The big question Niven explores is what is ethical behaviors valid when the life of your planet is at stake? Is it ok to convince the enemy to attack innocents on another world to protect your world. Are you willing to kill your mentor or die to allow your student to survive at the show more cost of your life? Is planetary genocide an option. The audio book gave life to the story which you would miss reading the book. The dialog is crisp and intelligent. Niven is able to cover action and themes, and development in one book which present day writers would take multiple books to cover. This was a fun story no matter which format you use. I willed more of this author's work.
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Oddly, one of my favorite Larry Niven novels. Even for aliens, I love the idea of a being dedicated to protecting others, and I though Niven did a great job with the concept.

Una nave ha aparecido en el Sistema Solar. Se trata de una nave Pak, pilotada por Phssthpok, un alienígena que lleva viajando casi 32.000 años. Su misión, proteger a los criadores que fueron enviados a este espacio hace dos millones y medio de años. Pero la nave Pak ha sido detectada por varios humanos, entre ellos Brennan, un trabajador cinturonio, contrabandista para más señas, que ve una gran oportunidad de hacerse con la nave Pak. Brennan llega primero, efectivamente, y ya no vuelve a saberse más de él...

'Protector' es una novela ambientada en el 'Espacio Conocido' de Niven. Empieza de manera prometedora pero se va desinflando progresivamente. Estamos ante la típica historia que promete mucho para después no cumplir show more ninguna expectativa. Nada que ver con 'Mundo Anillo'. show less

Basato sul concetto di una ascendenza aliena della razza umana, Il difensore è un classico romanzo di spazio profondo, che vede l'umanità combattere con i suoi demoni.
Una creatura aliena, che si autodefinisce "Difensore", entra nello spazio occupato dall'uomo, un uomo del futuro che ha colonizzato il sistema solare e ha imparato a sfruttarne le risorse.
Sta cercando la sua perduta progenie, perché ciò che lui è programmato per difendere è il proprio DNA.
Viene in contatto con l'umanità, e si rende conto che è e non è la progenie perduta, e perderà la vita, non prima però di aver trasformato un umano a sua volta in un Difensore.
Il nuovo Difensore però, ha una doppia eredità umana, e aliena, e i suoi atti risultano show more imprevedibili e pericolosi.
Il contatto tra due culture tanto diverse, e tanto uguali, non potrà non portare allo scontro totale. show less