Customer Reviews

The Best of All Possible Wars

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you haven't read any of the Man-Kzin Wars books, then this is a good introduction to the series. If you have, then don't bother with this one. The four stories in this book appear in volumes 1,2,4,and 5. If you want to read All the stories that qualified for the books, then I definitly recommend reading each of the other books.

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The Man-Kzin Wars is probably the best -- and most successful --
of the shared-world series. Now up to #8, it has spawned a "best-
of", and it's pretty good: two Niven shorts, a Bear/Stirling
novelette, and a Pournelle/Stirling short novel.

The Niven opener, "The Warriors"(1966) has a certain clunky
charm - it was his first Kzin story *and* the first story he tried to
sell. He dreamed it up in math class, working up to flunking out
of Caltech, and rewrote it for years, "trying out what I was learning
from my correspondence writing course." It's enough to give an
amateur writer hope.

Niven #2, "Madness Has its Place" (1990), is professional but
minor. In "The Man who would be Kzin"(Bear & Stirling, 1991), a
powerful projective telepath leads the Kzin Second Invasion Fleet
into disaster. It's clever, logical and smoothly-written. I enjoyed
rereading it.

Pournelle & Stirling's "In the Hall of the Mountain King"(1992)
occupies 2/3 of the book. It's not flawless, with a pointless Buford
Early/ARM-as-Illuminati subplot, plus it's a sequel (to "The
Children's Hour") -- but it moves smartly (after a slow start) and if
the ending doesn't raise up the hair on the back of your neck, you
probably shouldn't be reading this stuff.

I believe all 8 of the Man-Kzin collections are still in print, and
the publisher obviously hopes you'll go out and buy more after
reading this "teaser" collection. Be warned -- they're habit-
forming. The series remains high-quality throughout, tho there
are a few clunkers. It's pretty much required reading for Known
Space fans. My personal favorite is Dean Ing's "Cathouse" &
"Briarpatch", actually a novel, awkwardly split between MKW#1
& #2.

Review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman

My main concern on getting this book via mail was that the main stories were not written by Niven. I almost sent it back as I imagined that no one could possibly produce stories by proxy. The fist two are by Niven and are a couple of short illustrative tales that explain about the Kzin and the events that led to the war. The last two make up the body of the book and are by the guest authors. If you have not read Niven before start with N-Space (a collection of short stories that will get you addicted), however the guest authors really add value and produce an excellent read. I would recommend this book but you have to know the species and background of the Niven universe to get the most out of it. I would "buy it again".

Dear Larry Niven: I have been a science fiction fan my entire life, and consider you the best SF writer ever, better and more imaginative than greats like Asimov, Bradbury, Clark, or Heinlein. I own every one of your books, except this one, including all the Known Space and Man-Kzin Wars.

I think "The Best of All Possible Wars" is a rip-off, however, as every single story has been published elsewhere. I understand that you like to repackage stories, and I don't blame you, but every book should have at least something new!

I hope you will take kindly this friendly admonition from your
most loyal fan. To all others: you should buy all his other books; they are great reading!

This book has a great collection of short stories. THere are some that deffinately outshine outhers. It gives you a nice taste of the Man-Kizin Wars series.