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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A collection of stories from Niven's golden age, April 10, 2002
Although out-of-print, NEUTRON STAR is a book worth getting for any fan of science fiction. It collects several of Niven's "Known Space" short stories from his golden age of the late-1960s, including the Beowulf Shaeffer stories. In 1966 Larry Niven created the ultimate tourist with his award-winning short story "Neutron Star." It was the tale of Beowulf Shaeffer, a laid-off pilot heavily in debt and easy to blackmail, and how the alien race the puppeteers convinced him to make a dangerous flyby of a neutron star. In "A Relic of the Empire," Shaeffer effectively creates the Known Space universe by binding his far-future stories to the near-future epoch of Lucas Garner. It deals with an xenoarchaeologist who uses his esoteric knowledge to defeat a band of pirates. In "At the Core", the puppeteers convince Beowulf Shaeffer to take an experimental hyperdrive all the way to the galactic core, where he makes a discovery that spurs the puppeteers into fleeing Known Space. "The Soft Weapon" is the only dud of the collection, a drawn-out struggle between husband and wife pilots with the mad puppeteer Nessus (who went on to become a major character in RINGWORLD) against Kzinti set on revenge. The third Beowulf Shaeffer story, "Flatlander", begins with the quixotic hero as a tourist on Earth, and takes him on a journey with a millionaire to a very unusual planet. "The Ethics of Madness" is the story set earliest in Niven's chronology, dealing with the creation of a Bussard ramscoop that can accomodate a human pilot, opening the galaxy for exploration. In "The Handicapped", the reader is introduced to the sessile Grogs on the planet Down, and given several clues as to the ultimate fate of the Slaver Empire. "Grendel", the last of the golden age of the Shaeffer stories, has Shaeffer foil a kidnapping on a newly-colonized world. These stories are all excellent and are recommended reading for any fan of science fiction. Larry Niven was off a little in predicting the future, personal computing doesn't play any role in these stories and in fact one character even uses a typewriter. There are hardly any female characters, and the gender roles are certainly right out of the 1960's. The characters are all Americans and seem to have never heard of the metric system. Nonetheless, few science fiction writers have conjured up a future as colourful as Niven's, and with such fascinating hard science. Although the Beowulf Shaeffer stories can be found in the collection CRASHLANDER (a highly disappointing book because of the poor quality of Niven's recent material), I'd recommend NEUTRON STAR, which offers the golden-age Shaeffer tales with other Known Space wonders. It is also necessary back story for understanding Niven's great novel RINGWORLD.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest collections of all time, October 5, 1997
I normally stay away from short story collections mostly because I would rather read novels than quick little tales. Larry Niven is one of the few writers I believe can write the short story and novel with equal ease and this collection more than proves it. The tales are all founded on mostly hard science, but still maintain a flavor all their own, even with the task of fitting them in his Known Space series. They range from funny to scary to introspective to everything in between. All are excellent examples of what science-fiction has to offer.
Lately Niven hasn't been doing too well in the novel department, so maybe the time is right for him to release another short story collection. Even if they're only half as good as these, it'd be a great piece of writing. Highly recommended.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Science Fiction short stories. Almost 5 stars., November 3, 2002
Larry Niven is a major science fiction author, and probably the leading name to emerge in the 1970s. Neutron Star is a collection of his well-known "Known Space" short stories. The stories are interesting, feature pretty good prose, and a dazzling and optimistic vision of the future. My main criticism of this collection is that one or two stories drag a bit, primarily "The Soft Weapon." However, overall this is a wonderful collection. The short story "Neutron Star" which won a Hugo, is simply outstanding. The quality of Niven's writing deteriorates almost linearly as functions of two variables: 1) time; and 2) the length of the story. Most of his novels tend to be tedious, and novels seem to highlight Niven's weaknesses as a writer: poor character development and characters who don't act like real people. Niven hasn't written anything worth reading in many years, in my opinion. It is almost as though he forgot how to write. On the other hand, Neutron Star, one of Niven's early works, lacks the foregoing deficiencies and mainly highlight's Niven's strengths: a vivid vision of the future, and skillful use of science and speculation.
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