The Burning City [Paperback]

Larry Niven (Author), Jerry Pournelle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2007

Set in the world of Larry Niven's popular The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports readers to an enchanted ancient city bearing a provocative resemblance to our own modern society. Here Yagen-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of fire, alternately protects and destroys the city's denizens. In Tep's Town, nothing can burn indoors and no fire can start -- except when the Burning comes upon the city. Then the people, possessed by Yagen-Atep, set their own town ablaze in a riotous orgy of destruction that often comes without warning.

Whandall Placehold has lived with the Burning all his life. Fighting his way to adulthood in the mean-but-magical streets of the city's most blighted neighborhoods, Whandall dreams of escaping the god's wrath to find a new and better life. But his best hope for freedom may lie with Morth of Atlantis, the enigmatic sorcerer who killed his father!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have created a unique and believable world set in the universe of Niven's The Magic Goes Away. The story begins nearly 14,000 years ago in Tep's Town, located on the future site of Los Angeles. Tep's Town is a city held captive by the slumbering god of fire, Yagen-Atep. Awakening only occasionally, he commands selected men to begin Burnings by giving them the ability to start fires coupled with consuming anger.

Whandall Placehold grows up in the stagnant, three-class society of Tep's town, part of a gang of thieves. No one gets in or out, since the town is hemmed in by a malevolent forest. But when Whandall is chosen by Yagen-Atep to start the Burnings, he resists the compulsion and, aided by Atlantean wizard Morth, escapes through the forest with a group of children he saves from certain death.

As the years pass, Whandall builds an empire, buys wagons and bison, and builds a trade route all along the California coast--except for Tep's Town. Life is good for Whandall and his bride, Willow, until they get a message from a desperate Morth: he convinces Whandall to return to Tep's Town and help eradicate, once and for all, an ancient magical being from Atlantis who has been trying to kill Morth for many years.

The Burning City is a lively book that deftly integrates social concerns of today with the magic and mythology of yesterday. Cameo appearances by the Native American god Coyote and the Norse god Loki add to the mischievous nature of the book. With a well-thought-out system of magic, characters with depth, unicorns, and swashbuckling adventure, this book is sure to please hardcore fantasy readers and fans of Niven and Pournelle. --Robert Gately --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling authors Niven and Pournelle (Footfall; The Gripping Hand; etc.) have produced yet another hefty fantasy (set in Niven's The Magic Goes Away series) sure to delight fans of sword, sorcery and male superiority. In the implausibly organized Tep's town, populated predominantly by a welfare/warrior class that steals from the Kinless artisan class and is given alms by the higher-class Lords, lives young Whandall Placehold. He is the son of a thief who was killed by the wizard Morth of Atlantis, during one of the town's many burnings, conflagrations that occur when the town's god Yangin-Atep possesses men and gives them command of fire and the rage to use it. As the god is losing his power, the fires are escalating in scope and duration, and the town is slowly turning to ashes. Whandall, who wants to grow up to be more than a short-lived thief, finds his path becoming inextricably tied to that of the wizard. When the opportunity arises, Whandall and Morth escape the town in the company of a family of Kinless ropemakers containing the inevitable beautiful, virginal, marriageable daughter. Years pass, Whandall breeds and becomes a warrior merchant, but he must return to the town of his birth in the company of Morth if his burgeoning family is to prosper. There, Whandall uses all his cunning and strength to aid the wizard in his battle against a magical nemesis from Atlantis. Fun in a formulaic kiss-or-kill fantasy kind of way, this adventure has enough swordplay, magic and unicorns to please those looking to tread the old, tired pathways again. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books (August 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416575081
• ISBN-13: 978-1416575085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Absorbing, March 23, 2000

By 

Jessica Mulligan (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burning City (Hardcover)

Unlike Ms. Bartholomew, I found the book charming and quite a bit of fun. And that is how it was written, I believe; somewhat tongue-in-cheek, a fun romp through someone else's garden.

I don't really care that the main themes harken to our own era and Los Angeles's particular peculiarities; it makes for an interesting arc and wrap-up. The characters are intriguing and not overblown; for example, when was the last time a magician character had actual flaws and had to be helped, instead of just being the deus ex machina to pull the hero's chestnuts out of the fire? Gandalf? These characters all have flaws, as well as admirable attributes, making them well-rounded. By the time you finish the book, you want to follow their adventures some more.

If you're reading The Burning City to find the child of Tolkien, you won't be happy. If you take it on it's own merits (instead of grinding a personal axe, as a couple other reader-reviewers obviously have), the book is as good a new fantasy read as you're likely to see this year.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rather an Enjoyable Book, March 22, 2000

By 

Glenn H. Reynolds "Instapundit" (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Burning City (Hardcover)

Okay, it's not the Mote in God's Eye. But after all, it's set in a universe that's already been covered with quite a few stories, so it CAN'T have the shock of newness that Mote had. But it's quite an enjoyable story. Yes, it has cool insider references that may annoy some readers and elude others (but so did "Jurgen") but the story stands on its own. What, you read a story of heroic myth and coming-of-age and your disappointed because it fits the genre? I just don't understand these other reviews. I think that most Niven and Pournelle readers will enjoy it. I know I did.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A short commentary on BURNING CITY, June 29, 2000

By 

"33felix" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burning City (Hardcover)

In America today, there seems to be a misconception, that Science Fiction is for children. TO correct that, Science Fiction is not for children, it for anyone who would like to take a look at future possibilities. Sometimes you have to go to the past, or in this case a Mythical one. BURNING CITY does this.

Set 50 years after the sinking of Atlantis on a Major continent half a world away, there is a city that burns itself every few years. A culture of rigidly set societal levels that is strikingly somewhat like those seen in cities today, exists in an almost frightening mirror of what urban life could easily become.

This book is an exploration into the possible and perhaps Probable of urban life as we know it and invites the reader to explore their own attitudes towards what can and cannot be tolerated.

In a satirical vein, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle take a HARD look at where we could easily be going and offer some hope.

If you like Social Commentary wrapped in a whacking good adventure story, complete with rites of passage and fascinating detail, you will enjoy BURNING CITY.

I read it, I liked it, I will reread it to see what I missed the first time through.

Frank Gasperik