Destroyer of Worlds

Maybe I'm just falling into a wonderful trap that was made by a Pak protector, but I loved being thrown into that particular worldview again. It gave me many months of delicious dreams in my college years, extrapolating and dreaming up new ways I might outsmart one. I know, hella unlikely, but still, what a rush. I am beginning to like this later collaboration better than the previous two, but maybe I'm just prejudiced in favor of the subject matter. Perhaps I'm just a huge Pak fiend. Who knows?

"Destroyer" feels less Nivenesque than "Juggler" on the whole (his books didn't run to family-man heroes, and that's what Ausfeller has become, to his own surprise and ours). It does, however, have lots of Puppeteers, lots of Pak, and even some Gw'oth. My husband loved the Gw'oth the best, and I think they're a worthy addition to Niven's alien species. I don't think either of us will soon forget a Pak being subdued by a two-foot-tall starfish/octopus. I didn't find the ending particularly satisfying, but that's probably due to it being an entry in an ongoing series.

I listened to this as an audio book rather than actually read it. The alien names really messed with the flow of the reading but notwithstanding this minor concern, I found the novel quite entertaining. Niven/Lerner contrive situations where various alien species must apply their distinct intellectual approaches to affect the outcome, sort of like the McGyvver TV series. This a gentler Niven in that everyone survives except for an AI and seems to imply more sequels since the characters still have threads that need developing. To those not used to the terse, dense writing style, this could be a hard read. Listening to it helped me since the audio really slowed down the novel enough for me to catch up with the various logic and show more technological mazes. For now, I'd like to take a break from Niven and read my favored over writers such as Peter F. Hamilton or Alastair Reynolds for a change. show less

Second read of this book and it felt better than the first time. The different types of aliens are very believable and this time Ausfaller paranoia seems just right. Although travelling with a prisoner across the galaxy on multiple trips does feel a bit stretched. Very enjoyable.

Yes, well after reading book 2 I had conjectured whether the series would be one that ties other Niven novels together into a whole. I was right about that. When the book starts it is with a Pak which any Niven reader will recall. This is not a bad thing at all and I rather enjoyed it.

Great book, very engaging. I love how this series fleshes out some of the repeating characters in the known space books. Can't wait to read the next one.

Not my kinda book. DNF.