Mick Darling's posterous http://mickdarling.posterous.com All my blogging in one spot. (mostly) posterous.com Sat, 16 Jul 2011 09:38:51 -0700 My reading guide for Larry Niven's Known Space novels (Sci-fi) http://mickdarling.posterous.com/my-reading-guide-for-larry-nivens-known-space http://mickdarling.posterous.com/my-reading-guide-for-larry-nivens-known-space

There is a Science Fiction series of stories written mostly by Larry Niven that are collective known as being in the "Known Space" series.  They have had two major bursts of writing associated with them from Larry Niven, the 60's to late 70's and mid 90's to present.  There were a very large number of short stories in the intevening time mostly publishe don the "Man-Kzin War" series of anthologies.  

This later series of novels is quite good and feels like a return to form for Larry Niven.  My father has heard me talk about the new stories and how they cleverly fix, sidestep, or completely retcon some of the older problems of the earlier stories.  The pervasiveness of computers now and in any likely Known Space universe seemed to be missed completely by the early stories.  The new stories sidestep this by pointing that computers are practically as uiquitous as air and therefore leaving out references to them in the older stories is the equivalent of not describing the electrical outlets in a room.  In some of the newer stories computers are actually plot points and therefore get to be spoken about.

So, after hearing me talk about the stories, my father wants to reread the older stories and then the new stories but in the best order.  There are a lot of cross references in the new and older stories. Some of the new stories show the events in 30-40 year old stories from two or more different character's perspectives.

There are a few possible good reading orders for core Known Space novels and major collections.

( Mostly) Chronological order:

  1. Protector
  2. Fleet of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  3. Crashlander (collection)
  4. Juggler of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  5. Destroyer of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  6. Betrayer of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  7. Ringworld
  8. Ringworld Engineers
  9. The Ringworld Throne 
  10. Ringworld's Children

That order is good for people who have read most of the older Ringworld stories once before. The in jokes and veiled references to other events in the "...Worlds" series will make sense.

A cross referenced reading order:

  1. Protector
  2. Ringworld
  3. Fleet of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  4. Crashlander (collection)
  5. Juggler of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  6. Ringworld Engineers
  7. The Ringworld Throne
  8. Destroyer of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner) 
  9. Betrayer of Worlds (co-authored with Edward M. Lerner)
  10. Ringworld's Children

This is a reading order that jumps back and forth chronologically but addresses certain interelated ideas and plot points in order.  There is also the problem that "The Ringworld Throne" in my opinion and a lot of others is the weakest novel of any of these by a large margin, but so many plot points about the Ringworld and main characters are addressed it really can't be bypassed.  This reading order has three nearly self contained stories for the first three, then starts to show the interconnectedness of the series in "Crashlander" and "Juggler Of Worlds".  It then goes back to the Ringworld so that much of the backstory and details about the events in the last three novels all connect well together.

I fully expect another story or two to fit between Betrayer of Worlds and Ringworld and the Ringworld's Children, but for now this is a the reading I am recommending for the main novels.  I hope that the Worlds series will involve the Thrint so that will be an excellent opportunity to go back and read World of Ptavvs too.

 

 

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