Destiny's Road [Hardcover]

Larry Niven (Author), Michael Whelan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

An award-winning author creates a new world in the form of Planet Destiny, where Jemmy Blocher kills a laborer and flees for his life along the long road forged by the mysterious Cavorite and its crew, who disappeared more than 250 years earlier. 100,000 first printing."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Humanity tried to conquer the stars and failed. Then it was time to try again, on Destiny. But even as the new colony was taking hold, the settlers were in revolt against one another. While some stayed on the new planet with what equipment they could keep, others fled back to the stars. Now the settlements are falling into decay, and the old technology is breaking down. Spiraltown is better off than most, and Jeremy Bloocher is lucky that he will someday head the family farm there. But there is trouble, Jeremy must flee, and neither he nor Destiny will ever be the same.

From Library Journal

On the planet Destiny, which has been settled by Earth colonists, Jemmy Bloocher lives in Spiral Town at the far end of the peninsula. After accidentally killing a man from one of the caravans that supply trade goods and the essential potassium-rich speckles, Jemmy flees down the road into the unknown, assuming new identities to avoid capture for 27 years. Curious about what happened to a second landing spaceship, Jemmy traces its route 200 years after it first landed. He discovers what really befell the ship, that there are other towns along the road Spiral Town residents never knew about, and the secret of speckles. This realistic tale of power, deceit, adventure, and awakening by Hugo and Nebula Award winner Niven is highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 351 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312851227
• ISBN-13: 978-0312851224
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,350,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LARRY NIVEN is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. He lives in Chatsworth, California. JERRY POURNELLE is an essayist, journalist, and science fiction author. He has advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science. Together Niven and Pournelle are the authors of many New York Times bestsellers including Inferno, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and Lucifer's Hammer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one of the author's better books., February 22, 1999

By 

Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Destiny's Road (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an average book, and not one of the author's best. The plot seems to ramble. Without a prelude to explain the planet, the characteristics are left to be picked up in bits and pieces. The author creates a planet with essentially a 32 week year, but then forgets where he is on the time-line. A man leaves home for a few months, and then returns to find his wife remarried with a child, a major evolutionary leap in 240 years. There are far too many improbabilities (e.g., people don't visit, and are not aware of, the next town, a bicycle ride away). the main character wanders, leaving various people behind, and the book seems to end without a solid conclusion. There are major gaps in the account in the later part of the book after minute detail in the early part. Perhaps the author plans a sequel, but I doubt that I would buy such a sequel.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back Larry!, April 26, 2000

By 

Rand Higbee (Hager City, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Destiny's Road (Hardcover)

Let me start off by saying that I am a big fan of Larry Niven. To be more specific, however, I am a big fan of the 1970s Larry Niven. The Niven of the past ten or so years seemed to have little in common with that 70s Niven. He had lost something. Books like "The Ringworld Throne" were pale imitations of his previous works. Where had the real Larry Niven gone?

So it took my quite a while to pick up a copy of "Destiny's Road." But I finally did so, and I'm happy to report that my faith in Larry has been restored. He is back. Big time.

"Destiny's Road" is one of Niven's best ever, and it may be the best science fiction novel to come out of the 1990s.

The plot, briefly, is this: Young Jemmy lives in Spiral Town, an isolated community on a distant planet that mankind has colonized. Because of an accident Jemmy must flee Spiral Town. As he goes where no Spiral Towner has gone before, he uncovers many mysteries and, finally, many answers.

Other reviewers have complained about the rather clipped style in which the book is written. I, however, appreciated that aspect of it. The tale is told from Jemmy's (why isn't the name Jeremy?) point of view. And as the story is slowly revealed, you learn why Jemmy thinks in these short, clipped thoughts.

Yes, Larry Niven is back. But it is a more mature Niven than the writer we knew in in the 70s. I believe he will now be writing in much more depth than he did in his younger days. That may turn some people off, but I now very much look forward to what he will be writing next.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It had some potential, June 29, 2003

By 

Rachel Watkins "Rachel Watkins" (Joshua, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Destiny's Road (Mass Market Paperback)

Destiny Road is an interresting outline of what could have been a really great story with some charachter development, plot development, and some real feeling. However, it reads as a technical/historical account of someone who wanders along a road on the planet Destiny, and meets people in different places and experiences some hardships. I never really felt I could connect with any of the charachters.

The plot lacks any real momentum, and the story jumps in places, near the end a full 27 years, during which time he marries, has children, and a stable life.....but when his wife of 16 years dies from a tragic accident, he gets on with things and finds someone new to 'rub up with' in a matter of days. Finding the 'great terrible secret' of Destiny life is little more than the protaginist surfing the net on a library computer and reading entries on various topics. No real conflict, no real suspense. There are also inconsistancies in the book which others have pointed out in many places. It's books like these which reinforce the idea of using the library to read books, and only buying the ones I really want to keep.