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 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.
people ( )

bit bleak but great world building. ( )

Een wat verwarrend verhaal. Was net goed te volgen, hoe wel het goede ideeën bevatte, daarom ook 4 sterren. ( )

(Original Review, 1980-07-29)

Some apparent anomalies in Niven's "Protector".

I am reasonably comfortable with Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe, however I have just finished rereading "Protector" for the umpteenth time and I am somewhat disturbed by the apparent incompatibility with other "Known Space" stories.

In "Protector" Roy Truesdale seeks out Brennan and they leave Sol for Home with the Pak scouts close behind. Brennan infects Truesdale with the modified Tree-of-Life virus just before they get there. After they arrive there, the virus spreads to all members of Home. The net result is that you have a planet full of childless protectors. Many years later ("Known Space" time) I believe We Made It buys the hyperspace shunt from the Outsiders.

How come I have never seen reference to Home being wiped out by plague (that would be a likely story for the protectors to send to Earth) or reference to protectors on Home (I have not read "Ringworld Engineers" yet and I understand that protectors have something to do with Ringworld). With the advent of the hyperspace shunt, someone should have visited Home.

Sometimes I read so fast that I miss things. If so, could someone please cite examples to get me back on track.

[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.] ( )

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. ( )