Man-Kzin Wars XII [Hardcover]

Larry Niven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2009 | Series: Man-Kzin Wars (Book 11)

The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives.In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures, as told by Hal Colebatch, Paul Chafe, and Michael Joseph Harrington, expanding on the concepts created by "New York Times" best-selling writer Larry Niven. A human secret agent and her hired kzin companion infiltrate a planet newly occupied by the kzin, and discover that humans were on the planet before the dawn of space travel, and claim to be part of the Roman Empire. Where did they come from - and can they survive the inevitable kzin attack? A man wakes up with over a month's gap in his memory. He remembers being hired by a mysterious woman for a job with the condition that his memory would be scrubbed afterward. Obviously, the scrub worked, but now the police suspect him of murdering the missing woman. And a kzin is threatening him with much worse than anything the police would do.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry Niven (left) is the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of such classics as Ringworld, The Integral Trees, and Destiny's Road. He has also collaborated with both Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes on The Legacy of Heorot, Beowulf's Children, and the bestselling Dream Park series. He lives in Chatsworth, California.

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

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Baen (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416591419
• ISBN-13: 978-1416591412
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changes in the Kzin, January 21, 2009

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man-Kzin Wars XII (Hardcover)

Man-Kzin Wars XII (2009) is the twelfth military SF collection in this series. The Man-Kzin Wars started with an encounter between an unarmed Terran vessel and a Kzin warship. The humans won that conflict and have continued to do so. Niven has created other stories involving Kzinti, but the bulk of the writings about these feline aliens have been written by other authors within this series.

The eleven previous volumes -- and the several spin-off novels -- have produced a large body of stories on almost every aspect of the Kzinti history, culture and biology. This series has not been a static work, relating more backstory on the Kzinti and their wars as well as changes in their society. This volume continues that tradition.

- Echoes of Distant Guns by Matthew Joseph Harrington is actually three different tales. One is about Kzinti and the Grog, another concerns an ARM weaponmaster, and the last tells of the Smart.

- Foreign Legion by Hal Colebatch & Matthew Joseph Harrington is about the Jotoki and a transplanted Roman Legion.

- The Trooper and the Triangle by Hal Colebatch relates the strange tale of a misfit Kzinti warrior.

- String by Hal Colebatch & Matthew Joseph Harrington conveys the further adventures of Richard and Gay Guthlac and Charrgh-Captain with a Slaver stasis box.

- Peace and Freedom by Matthew Joseph Harrington describes the actions of the Pak Peace Corben and the kzintosh Shleer against a Thrint and four Tnuctipun.

- Independent by Paul Chafe concerns a single ship pilot accused of murdering his passenger. Unfortunately, the contract required to him take brain blank, so he remembered nothing about the voyage.

These tales are based on others within the series. Anyone who has not read any of these volumes should start with The Man-Kzin Wars. That volume includes Niven's original Kzinti story (The Warriors, 1966).

Highly recommended for Niven fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of giant alien carnivores, cunning humans, and various surprises.

-Arthur W. Jordin

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Series is gasping for life, November 28, 2009

By 

Brian L. Hostetler (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man-Kzin Wars XII (Hardcover)

Not much of the Kzin/Man wars in this book, but rather more stories with "domesticated" Kzin working with or showing admiration for humans.

The first story, "Echoes of Distant Guns" by Harrington gives a brief story about the Pierin (The Smart) and a two other small pieces. Nothing terribly exciting, unfortunately, just short story concepts that never got off the ground.

The longest story, written by Harrington and Colebatch is about Earth Roman Legionnaires captured by Jotoki two thousand years ago and used to battle the Kzinti. That concept is stretch, but the story still just barely works. The "wacky" ARM agent was a needless distraction.

"String" provides more "tamed" Kzin with some laughs. The story provided some tension early on (the imagery of moving through a Kzin ship was nice), but after introducing several Kzin that breezily exchanged conversation with the humans, the story lost its edge and quickly descended into a comedy.

"Peace and Freedom"... I had to read the story twice to make sure I caught all the transitions. Unlike Niven's past works, where he would repeat history to bring the reader up to speed (and occasionally adding something new), this story jumped right in and left me struggling to keep track, make sense and remember. Several characters from past works were introduced or mentioned and I had to think about their history more than Niven would have allowed. And again, here we are reading a story in the far future where the characters wallow in late 20th century media and nostalgia. Still, it was a good story with some minor action.

"Independent" was a good story, providing a similar feel to Niven's writing style and mood from the original series written in the 60s/70s.

To sum up, there is less action in the series these days and more focus on the "domesticated" Kzin interacting with humans. I suppose the Known Space series has always had that human centric feel, combined with a bit of pro-human swagger, but it's too obvious in these stories. Perhaps the series has run out of gas and should be laid to rest?

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STRING - Vivid Immersion, January 30, 2009

By 

Al Terago - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man-Kzin Wars XII (Hardcover)

As readers of Man Kzin Wars are aware, a variety of writers contribute to Niven's Known Space settings. Of them I have found Hal Colebatch's style in Man Kzin storylines particularly satisfying due largely perhaps to the visual clarity of the scenes described. String is no exception. I find I get the most out of his intense, graphic style by seeing the story as a movie - as I read. Though there has always been a touch of humour to be found in Colebatch's writing - no matter how dire the circumstance - at moments in String it was a case of LOL (laughing out loud). It is hard to say (since String is a collaboration between Colebatch and Mathew Harrington) who of the two writers were responsible for the humour. Perhaps it wasn't as funny as I found it: perhaps it was simply a relief from the tension that had been built (no spoilers here) in a brilliant plot populated by players that could send friend or foe to the afterlife for the least motive or (perceived) transgression of some arcane cultural protocol. As always, I wanted more. For those with affection for the Kzin Telepaths, this story has a very unusual ending - and of course, a new beginning.