The Houses of the Kzinti (Man-Kzin Wars) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jerry Pournelle (Author), S.M. Stirling (Author), Dean Ing (Author)

Book Description

Series: Man-Kzin Wars | Publication Date: April 27, 2004

Two complete novels of the top-selling Man-Kzin Wars in one hugh volume: The Children's Hour by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling: As the war rages on between the mighty felinoid warriors from the planet Kzin and the wimpy leaf-eating monkey-boys from Earth, one Kzin commander has decided to learn from the monkeys and cooperate to conquer. But the humans know how to get the rivals of an enemy to cooperate, too. Cathouse by Dean Ing: In another corner of the galaxy, Carroll Locklear is stranded on a planet with a group of prehistoric Kzinti. To survive, he must find common cause, if not with the males, then with the females of that antiques species...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jerry Pournelle (right), a past winner of the John W. Campbell Award, has collaborated with Niven on numerous bestsellers. He has also written such successful solo novels as Janissaries and Starswarm. He lives in Studio City, California.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle were the joint winners of the 2005 Robert A. Heinlein Award.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Baen (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743488253
• ISBN-13: 978-0743488259
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great... except for the cover, December 5, 2002

By 

Mark5576 "mark5576" (Framingham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Houses of the Kzinti (Paperback)

This book contains two novels originally published (in two parts each) in the "Man-Kzin Wars" series, which by now has run into 9 books. I consider these two among the best of the series' offerings, describing psychology and family life of kzinti in great detail. The reason I am giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is the cover. It is obvious that the artist never read the book - the two aliens are not kzinti, they are oversized humans in tiger masks! Kzinti anatomy and proportions are quite different from those of humans, and sufficiently described in the book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An nice reissue, May 19, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Houses of the Kzinti (Man-Kzin Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's unclear why this book has a different ISBN from that of the same name which was issued in 2002. But anyway... Both books are a rebundling of 3 short stories that were from the Man-Kzin series pioneered by Larry Niven. The stories originally came out around 1990-92.

Of these, perhaps my favourite is the Children's novella, by Pournelle and Stirling. From the entire 10 volume Man-Kzin series, this seems the most ingenious and intricate of the plots. Has a nice combination of battle scenes and social jostling and computer hacking. Given that 2 authors wrote this, it is amusing to speculate as to who wrote which passages. The battle scenes could equally well have been done by either; they are both known as military-SF authors. The hacking may have been done by Pournelle; as per his real life experience writing computer columns.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Agree with the previous Reviewer, November 1, 2003

By 

Susan Norton (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Houses of the Kzinti (Paperback)

This is an exciting and imaginative story - the inventiveness and sense of wonder which good SF should have, with touches of irony and humor. Exciting and realistic battles. The Kzinti are not all bad - paving the way, perhaps, for the human-kzin interfaces of Man-Kzin IX and X. The idea of the "Zoo" planet is full of possibilities. But the thing on the cover is not a Kzintosh! The artist should be drafted as a wiper on a Kzin battle-cruiser with a zzrou in his back until he learns better. The female Kzinrett is OK, I guess. Nice legs, anyway.