Fleet of Worlds

200 Years Before the Discovery of the Ringworld

By: Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Fleet of Worlds marks Larry Niven's first full novel-length collaboration within his Known Space universe, the playground he created for his best-selling Ringworld series. Teaming up with fellow SF writer Edward M. Lerner, Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at Human-Puppeteer (Citizen) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel.

Kirsten Quinn-Kovacks is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from.

A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy's core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking their planets, the Fleet of Worlds, with them.

Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. Under the guiding eye of Nessus, their Citizen mentor, they explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet's path - and uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds.

©2007 Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner (P)2007 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Niven is an undisputed master in the field." (David Gerrold)
"For three and a half decades, nobody's done it better than Larry Niven." (Steven Barnes)
"Great storytelling is still alive in science fiction because of Larry Niven, and his finest work is the Ringworld series." (Orson Scott Card)

Not bad...

This is a prequel set in the Ringworld universe. It does have interesting stories that are layered in complex and surprising ways. Having said all of that I rarely connected to the characters and was not seriously drawn into the book at any time. I would only suggest buying this one if it was on sale.

Good writing; not-so-good listening

When I read a book, I visualize the locations and the characters and... their voices. When I'm lucky, the person narrating the book will let me hear and imagine the story without imposing their own personality.
Sadly, this presenter's voice didn't match my expectations. While he has an impressive, "big", deep voice, his tendency to prolong the final word of every other sentence was at first distracting, then just an annoying drawl.
Or, as he might have said it, "...then just an annoying drawwwlll..."
The focus should be on the storytelling, not the storytellerrr.

Known Space just got very interesting

I have been listening to Known Space series from World of Ptavvs, and this book feels like the nucleus of the series, bringing all the details of the past books together. However, it is soon to say something.

My mother tongue is not English, but the narrator is easily intelligible.

A great story.

Loved it. I is compelling to learn how manipulative the puppeteers are, and they seem to live forever.

Dastardly Puppeteer doings

Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M Lerner is the opening offering in a five volume series set in Niven's 'Known Space' universe. The Puppeteers are moving their worlds away from the exploding galactic core. There are two parallel plots running simultaneously. The Puppeteers had previously intercepted a human spacecraft with human embryos. They subsequently have ‘raised’ the humans as a sort of ‘semi-slave’ race. One woman suspects that they are not being fully truthful with them and pursues that investigation. At the same time, Nessus is running an operation to hamper Earth’s efforts to locate the Puppeteer home world. Also introduced is the discovery of a new intelligent species, the Gw’oth.

Lerner and Niven craft a compelling and engaging tale that fleshes out the strange and bizarre behaviors of the Puppeteers. The detective work on the part of the humans to ferret out their own origin story is well executed. Finally, the political machinations of both the Puppeteer and Earth bureaucracy are well outlined.

The narration is well done with excellent character distinction.

Another great peace of SF

Niven’s known space universe is one of the most vivid and compelling SF settings ever devised never failing to entertain and provoke flights of fancy. Ringworld is a must for any one interested in SF or just good writing.

Fleet of worlds goes back to the beginning and brings a new thread to the rich tapestry this rich tapestry of tails and characters.

200 years before, but 42 years after its sequil

So if you dont know thi sis a prequel of sorts for the book "Ringworld - 1970" by the same author so you might have read that some years ago, if not then even though its 42 years old (as of Oct 2012, did we survive past Dec 21st 2012 lol) its not dated that much if at all, I am 30 years old and I dont like much of anything older than the 90's when it comes to entertainment but I suggest you read Ringworld after these 4 books that take place 200 years before.

There is a problem I will note right off, the narrator is someone to get used to and he really trails off with the end of words like "world" is "woorllldd" and it takes a while to get used to that - also there is another major problem with the pronunciation of the name of a, well, not major character but not a minor one either since when he comes up in the 3rd book hes back in a semi-major roll - the name is "Baedeker" but in this book its pronounced as "bed-a-ker" but in the latter books its pronounced as "beta-ker" - also aliens called "Gw'oth" pronounced as "gwa-auth" becomes "guat-ta-oth" or something like that, this is stupid and if the cause was that they were pronounced incorrectly in this the first book then in the next ones where its changed it needs to be mentioned in a forward by the reader.

Now with that out of the way, the review.

This book and the ones that follow it all pretty much follow a story that although it changes it will lead up to the discovery of the ringworld which is awesome - in this book you are introduced to the characters that the story will follow for the following 3 books and learn that one of the "races" isnt what it thinks it self to be.

Humans from a colony star-ship find out the truth behind there history, even that fact that they are called "humans" - there ship was captured by the "Puppeteers" and the survivors were in gene banks and were implanted into the living humans left and the babies were told a lie when they grew up, but the truth is found out and then things get good.

Without giving much away here the humans are looking for Earth and will do anything to find it, they break into secure places and all sorts of cool things that are made easier by the fact that the puppeteers are not very good at security and easily scared so they get away with lots after they are found out.

Read this and the 3 that follow, then go on to "Ringworld - 1970" and I guarantee you wont believe that Ringworld was written in 1970 because it feels just like these books which are only a few years old

Hurrah!

I only need one word to review this book: Puppeteers!

Excellent

If you could sum up Fleet of Worlds in three words, what would they be?

Excellent Detailed Unique

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are very deep and they become favorites

Which character – as performed by Tom Weiner – was your favorite?

HE does a great job with all of them.

Lacks the fire of the old stuff

Fills in some of the gaps from Crashlander and other Niven Known Space stories. A bit slow and less complex than I am used to. Only reason I gave it 4 stars was the fact that it exists - first Known Space thing I have seen in a while.