The Descent of Anansi [Mass Market Paperback]

Steven Barnes (Author), Larry Niven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1991

It's the American Revolution all over again. But this time it's a ragtag band of space colonists vs. the United States. And the fate of the world hangs by a thread--200 miles above the earth.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

LARRY NIVEN is the award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces, and fantasy novels including the Magic Goes Away series. He has received the Nebula Award, five Hugos, four Locus Awards, two Ditmars, the Prometheus, and the Robert A. Heinlein Award, among other honors. He lives in Chatsworth, California.

 

STEVEN BARNES’ first published collaboration with Larry Niven, The Locusts, was nominated for the 1980 Hugo award.  He has also written several episodes for The Outer Limits, Baywatch, and other television shows.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (April 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812512928
• ISBN-13: 978-0812512922
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,881,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( N ) > Niven, Larry

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, August 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Descent of Anansi (Mass Market Paperback)

Wonderful book ! Pay no attention to other carping comments.The book that made me understand about tides. It has believable characters, great plot, tension--this should be made into a movie. I'm already casting the principal characters in my mind...

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Descent of Anansi, August 29, 2000

By 

Eddie Guimont (Glastonbury, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Descent of Anansi (School & Library Binding)

In the not-so-distant future, Falling Angel Industries is headquartered on a Lunar-orbiting space station, constructed from used STS External Tanks. FA has just produced 1,400 kilometers of the strongest cable ever produced-single-crystal iron suspended in an epoxy matrix, .8 millimeters thick. Two companies- Brazil Techimotores-Electronics and Oyama Construction have bidded for the cable, and Oyama has won. Transporting the cable from Falling Angel to LEO via the Space Shuttle Anansi/Ion Drive Tug Gabriel, the six-day voyage gives BTE enough time to join forces with a group of Iranian terrorists. Stealing and launching a Soviet Prometheus ground-to-orbit missile, they destroy the Gabriel and cripple the Anansi and cable re-entry pod, also killing an Anansi crewmember. With the Anansi stranded in orbit, with no way to re-enter and no way to get back to Falling Angel, BTE launches two Space Shuttles. Their mission: retrieve the cable, and finish the job that the missile didn't complete . . . . Destroy the Anansi and her crew.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great concept, difficult to follow story, November 15, 2010

By 

Philip J. Herman (NYC area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Descent of Anansi (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this paperback in my piles of old books. I have no memory of ever reading it before. It feels like it is written today, although it is from 1982. I had trouble understanding what was going on until halfway through the story, when I was finally able to picture the two shuttles connected by a thread and orbiting the Earth, each of them getting further and further apart as the ANANSI ( shuttle ) descends. Either the title should be changed or there should be a diagram on the cover of the book. The concept alone is so good and my visual in my head is so cool that the story is great. It would never work as a movie, though. The cable is too thin and the action is in real time... very slow. The concept of Muslim terrorists, Hispanic space mercenaries, end of the shuttle program, nano-cable, products produced in zero gravity, rock-like pot-metal that burns off in re-entry, smelly spacesuits, and former and current love affairs in space close quarters are fabulous. Good to have in your memory bank. Also reminds me of the very first Niven story that I ever read, Neutron Star... TIDES !