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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
Mediocre first contact / seeding the galaxy story from the '70s. I'm always surprised how badly the sci-fi authors in the 70's missed the internet and the miniaturization of computers - Niven definitely does this. Really, it's just a boring story though. It's fine. Not awful, not great.
A solid, hard scifi classic. It felt a little rushed at the end but that didn’t ruin the experience.
One of the best Niven books, the scale is smaller than any Ringworld book and easier to relate to. The characters are better developed and not so much of the book is driven by the unexposed thought processess of the protagonist.
Good book, especially if you like the Ringworld universe.
Good book, especially if you like the Ringworld universe.
Larry Niven's concept is strong, but "Protector" often fails in its execution. Although any one of my basic criticisms might seem trivial if taken by itself, together they detracted from my enjoyment of this sometimes frustrating novel.
First, praise: The idea that human beings might represent a mutated form of extraterrestrial life is a basic premise so rich in possibilities that I'd be surprised if Niven was the first to think of it. Regardless, he runs with it admirably. Although some might fault the 220-year disconnect between the two halves of the book -- which necessitates a different cast of characters in each -- I thought the storyline provided sufficient continuity to warrant this device which, incidentally, dispenses with the need for linking material which might otherwise have descended into the realm of filler.
Now for the criticisms: Niven spends nearly the first half of the novel on exposition. It is only as we approach the midway point that all of the references and conventions within the universe he's constructed add up and make sense. That leaves the reader with 100 pages of uncertainty and confusion, which, needless to say, is far from ideal.
Niven is overly fond of the ellipsis. I have never seen it used as compulsively as it is here. As a writer who is, himself, fond of its use, I think I will be making a concerted effort to break myself of this habit.
A similar criticism applies to Niven's incessant use of the term "yah" to mean "yeah" or "yes," a choice I have never encountered in any other writer's work. It has the unfortunate result of lending the characters Canadian accents in the mind's ear.
Although not a major flaw, Niven is prone to the unfortunate tendency of earlier sci-fi writers to invent names which cannot be pronounced. The central character in the first half of the book is named Phssthpok. While this may seem a petty criticism, Niven's choice seriously detracts from the readability of the novel. Every time the reader encounters this unpronounceable moniker, the rhythm of reading is broken.
Finally, the last few pages are jarring, as Niven abruptly switches to a first-person voice and "breaks the fourth wall," retroactively recasting the entire novel as a memoir penned in "novelized" form by Truesdale. One can't help but feel that this denouement, which primarily serves to set up a sequel, could have been handled in a more organic fashion.
In short, this is a potentially strong novel which is weakened significantly, but not fatally, by a series of minor flaws.
First, praise: The idea that human beings might represent a mutated form of extraterrestrial life is a basic premise so rich in possibilities that I'd be surprised if Niven was the first to think of it. Regardless, he runs with it admirably. Although some might fault the 220-year disconnect between the two halves of the book -- which necessitates a different cast of characters in each -- I thought the storyline provided sufficient continuity to warrant this device which, incidentally, dispenses with the need for linking material which might otherwise have descended into the realm of filler.
Now for the criticisms: Niven spends nearly the first half of the novel on exposition. It is only as we approach the midway point that all of the references and conventions within the universe he's constructed add up and make sense. That leaves the reader with 100 pages of uncertainty and confusion, which, needless to say, is far from ideal.
Niven is overly fond of the ellipsis. I have never seen it used as compulsively as it is here. As a writer who is, himself, fond of its use, I think I will be making a concerted effort to break myself of this habit.
A similar criticism applies to Niven's incessant use of the term "yah" to mean "yeah" or "yes," a choice I have never encountered in any other writer's work. It has the unfortunate result of lending the characters Canadian accents in the mind's ear.
Although not a major flaw, Niven is prone to the unfortunate tendency of earlier sci-fi writers to invent names which cannot be pronounced. The central character in the first half of the book is named Phssthpok. While this may seem a petty criticism, Niven's choice seriously detracts from the readability of the novel. Every time the reader encounters this unpronounceable moniker, the rhythm of reading is broken.
Finally, the last few pages are jarring, as Niven abruptly switches to a first-person voice and "breaks the fourth wall," retroactively recasting the entire novel as a memoir penned in "novelized" form by Truesdale. One can't help but feel that this denouement, which primarily serves to set up a sequel, could have been handled in a more organic fashion.
In short, this is a potentially strong novel which is weakened significantly, but not fatally, by a series of minor flaws.
Fun story with somewhat strange views of aging. With the midpoint division by two hundred years and other time jumps, the book feels disjointed sometimes.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I once read a description of Larry Niven writing as regarding everything as a physics story problem with only one possible answer. As such, Niven science fiction is my literary comfort food. As much as anything, I loved this book for its vision of traveling through interstellar space by Bussard ram jet, and extended scenes of relativistic combat. Fun, old-school science fiction.
Protector was Larry Niven's fourth full-length novel in the Known Space universe, and the last Known Space work written before the series' decline in the mid-1970's. This novel is a tale of how human beings came about, a story made apparent by the arrival of an outsider in human space.
Phssthpok, a member of the Pak species, has travelled for thirty-thousand years to investigate what happened to colonists that set out from his world three million years before. The Pak have two stages of life, a "breeder" stage of limited intelligence, and a "Protector" stage which comes about once they have eaten the root "tree-of-life." Protectors are nearly-immortal, extremely strong individuals who are driven to protect their bloodline at all costs. If a protector has no progeny to protect, he either loses his appetite and dies or manages to feel that the entire Pak species is his family.
Jack Brennan, a miner of the asteroid belt, is the first to meet Phssthpok when he reaches the solar system in the 2130's. Brennan eats the tree-of-life root and becomes a protector, revealing that human beings are the remnant of the Pak colony of three-million years ago, but that colony couldn't produce tree-of-life because of a lack of thallium oxide in the soil. Phssthpok dies and Brennan, having become a monster, disappears. Thus ends the first half of the novel, which originally appeared in 1967 as the novella "The Adults."
The second half of the novel occurs two hundred years later. Roy Truesdale, an inhabitant of Earth, wakes up to find a cassette explaining in his own voice that the last four months of his life have been wiped from his memory. Truesdale sets out with a policewoman from the Belt to explain the mystery of those four months. He meets the man no calling himself the Brennan-monster and agrees to help him destroy the wave of Pak ships which left to follow Phssthpok. The ending is surprising and well-written.
Protector is not the best of the Known Space novels, that honor certainly belongs to Niven's award-winning Ringworld. However, Protector is an entertaining novel and at a mere 200 pages can be swiftly read. It also fills in a gap in the Known Space timeline (the 2300s), which fell between the era of Lucas Garner (Protector, World of Ptaavs, Flatlander, etc) and the arrival of alloplasty on Plateau (A Gift from Earth). Finaly, reading Protector is necessary to understanding the sequels to Protector. If you enjoy the Known Space universe, Protector is a worthy purchase.
Phssthpok, a member of the Pak species, has travelled for thirty-thousand years to investigate what happened to colonists that set out from his world three million years before. The Pak have two stages of life, a "breeder" stage of limited intelligence, and a "Protector" stage which comes about once they have eaten the root "tree-of-life." Protectors are nearly-immortal, extremely strong individuals who are driven to protect their bloodline at all costs. If a protector has no progeny to protect, he either loses his appetite and dies or manages to feel that the entire Pak species is his family.
Jack Brennan, a miner of the asteroid belt, is the first to meet Phssthpok when he reaches the solar system in the 2130's. Brennan eats the tree-of-life root and becomes a protector, revealing that human beings are the remnant of the Pak colony of three-million years ago, but that colony couldn't produce tree-of-life because of a lack of thallium oxide in the soil. Phssthpok dies and Brennan, having become a monster, disappears. Thus ends the first half of the novel, which originally appeared in 1967 as the novella "The Adults."
The second half of the novel occurs two hundred years later. Roy Truesdale, an inhabitant of Earth, wakes up to find a cassette explaining in his own voice that the last four months of his life have been wiped from his memory. Truesdale sets out with a policewoman from the Belt to explain the mystery of those four months. He meets the man no calling himself the Brennan-monster and agrees to help him destroy the wave of Pak ships which left to follow Phssthpok. The ending is surprising and well-written.
Protector is not the best of the Known Space novels, that honor certainly belongs to Niven's award-winning Ringworld. However, Protector is an entertaining novel and at a mere 200 pages can be swiftly read. It also fills in a gap in the Known Space timeline (the 2300s), which fell between the era of Lucas Garner (Protector, World of Ptaavs, Flatlander, etc) and the arrival of alloplasty on Plateau (A Gift from Earth). Finaly, reading Protector is necessary to understanding the sequels to Protector. If you enjoy the Known Space universe, Protector is a worthy purchase.
I read a lot of Larry Niven during my youthful years and I remember the books fondly.