Customer Reviews

Smoke Ring

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Chances are, when you think of a good Niven book, you don't recall the awe-inspiring plot or earth shattering dialogue exchanges or any of that sissy stuff . . . it's the ideas that hold your attention and make the book worth reading. Which leads to a love or hate relationship with the man . . . if you like your SF "hard" he's about as hard as they come and when he's "on" you'll find yourself dazzled even if you're trying to resist. And then there are those times when he's so in love with his ideas that he forgets to write a story to go along with it. This isn't that bad but it almost comes close. I'll admit the original concept of the Integral Trees was mind boggling, an entire civilization of human beings adapted to a zero gravity environment in a cloud of atmosphere that orbits a neutron star. It's been a few years since I read that book and so forgiveable that I don't quite remember what happened . . . but that concept. Whoa. Niven revisits it here, bringing back some of the people from the first book, adding some newcomers and exploring the world a little bit. The plot, when they bother with it, is fairly straightforward and really doesn't build to any sort of climax or peak, it hovers somewhere around episodic without even congealing into anything memorable. However, the ideas, those are the meat of this book and Niven whips them out on almost every page, taking full advantage of the scenario and running with the ball for all its worth. If you read your SF for the "science" part of it, you're in luck, he gives enough stuff here to keep a generation of physics graduate students busy for quite some time. Thankfully you don't need a doctorate in a higher science to understand all of it but like I said, ideas are basically all this book has. The characters are merely mouthpieces to put forward the ideas, the plot itself is merely a showcase for the ideas . . . it's a textbook with dialogue sometimes. Still, I finished it despite all of that and even if in a week I won't be able to tell you a single thing that happened in it (but boy can I explain the concept) while you're reading it you will probably find it highly entertaining, like I did. So, no it's not a classic but it can be fun. Niven gets points for originality (even if it is a sequel) even if that's all he has here. Try it anyway.

This novel describes the life of human colonists in a very peculiar alien world. They live in the atmosphere of a neutron star that has no habitable planets!!. Although this the sequel to the novel "Integral trees", one does not need to have read it to get a grasp of "The smoke ring". The story has no real plot, but is very gripping nonetheless. The author reveals details of the world and way of life of colonists bit by bit, so one is always finding new concepts in every chapter. It is very good exercise for the imagination. This a mandatory reading for all hardcore SF readers.

This is a nice follow up to the Intregal trees. Now, Larry built a quasi-universe with an all controlling "State" that was established in the novel "World out of time", a very odd novel that Larry took years to write from the time of 1975 until the late 1970s.

The Intregal trees is the immediate follow up to the Smoke world, people live in a zero G enviorment that looks like a giant Smoke Ring (or it's a Ring World less a ring). Basically, it's still Larry's flat characters in a world that is fantastic by any part of the immagination. Personally, I didn't think there was much of a story here. It was more a story about a tribe of humans adapting to life with no gravity. Since I'm a big Niven fan that's not a large deal. Also, since about 90% of the reviewers here are Niven fans it's no big deal. Now, if you're not a Niven fan the book is dry and not with a lot of purpose. If you're part of the Niven fan club then the book is a four. If you're not then the book is a two star book. On average the grade is three stars, a C grade.

Looking back on this book I'm a little perplexed on how the Smoke Ring could work. The radiation from Jupiter would be fatal to any human life in a matter of days. "Gold" is a good part of the mass of Jupiter, if Gold's radiation was a fraction of Jupiter, the radiation would kill off all life in the smoke ring in a matter of weeks.

But this is still a fair book. The characters are interesting. We get to see a tribe of teenagers turn into a group of responsbile working adults. Larry takes care of a question of the fatherhood for one character. Also, Larry gets rid of one of the most annoying computers since the infamous HAL of 2001. Somebody said they didn't get the ending. Actually, there is an ending. The last part of the State has to leave the humans. Read the book and you'll get it.

I hope you enjoy this book. You'll read my last Niven review in "Fleet of Worlds" which is ready for release this coming Fall of 2008. My 28 years of reading Larry's books will be at an end.

Thanks for all the fun time, Mr. Van Colt. It has been a pleasure.

Signed

Bill Hensler

While I enjoy Niven's imagination, I didn't feel like I got enough of it in The Smoke Ring. The story left everything incomplete- don't expect to feel like you have a handle on the story arc when you're finished. I found myself repeatedly skimming sections that talked about everyday life, but in a rather bland way. There was no real emotional depth here, and no well-developed characterization. The characters don't grow, or surprise you. What you expect is what you get.

Yet still I recommend this book, because of the imagination of Niven. True, it only peeks out from time to time here, but those are bold peaks. Niven has an intriguing use of science which he applies to novel situations. He slowly builds more of the possibilities of what it is like to live in the smoke ring. I just wish he'd built that up more- or at least given us a sequel sometime in the last two decades.

Descendents of a starship crew populate the Smoke Ring, a ring of atmosphere surrounding a neutron star. The starship, Discipline (from a totalitarian state) and its self aware computer, Kendy, are still out there. . .

Twenty years have passed since the events of The Integral Trees, and the first native generation of Citizens Tree is reaching adulthood. When a merchant ship crashes from a civilization known as the Admiralty, the citizens' wanderlust is again piqued, and several head towards the Admiralty on a scouting venture. The mission: find out what they can, bring back supplies and knowledge, and try to avoid Citizens Tree's technology from becoming known . . .

A very good hard science fiction novel. Not perfect, though. What use does the Admiralty have for all that wood? The pieces of trunk that are brought in are often thirty kilometers long and several hundred meters in diameter. The population of the Admiralty is only a few thousand. You do the math. One integral tree would have all the wood they'd need for centuries.

Smoke Ring is a must read for anyone who has already read Integral Trees because in the Smoke Ring book Niven expounds upon the physics, layout and fauna of the system. It's a thrilling ride through the huge trees, bubble ponds and the edible varieties of brush. The same State 'government' is still an issue, as it was in Integral Trees and the other State book named World Out of Time. A post Integral Trees book needed to be written, so this is the sequel. While the plot does flow from the first book, the entire plot feels drier than the original. Character locale is disjointed, hard to follow who is where at the given time. The ending fizzled rather than banged and had some wide open ends... with no sequel in print (how frustrating is that?). There HAD been a book in the works by Niven (years ago) by the title The Ghost Ships. Looks like the story definitely dries out with Smoke Ring. Enjoy the world provided because it only exists in those two books.

Smoke ring is the story of humans who colonized a strange world where gravity fluctuates. The people of Citizen's tree are pretty much space hippies, scorning ownership of items, violence, and money. When they rescue the crew of another 'tree' from fire, they become curious about another colony of humans in a distant place called the Clump. At the urgings of an unstable AI computer, citizens set out to explore the clump and discover how backward they trully are. Will Citizen's tree remain the same? Or is their utopian lifestyle forever altered?

I enjoyed Smoke Ring for its world-building, but I was rather lukewarm about the characters. The humans of the smoke ring seemed to be cut from a Heinlein novel. They have multiple wives, live in peace and harmony, and eschew violence and property. The wives are not jealous of eachother, and seem perfectly happy to share their mates. They just did not seem human to me, without a little tribal tension. The hero Rather is an interesting fellow, but we spend most of the novel pining after two different women. The ending of the story posed some interesting questions but left me with a 'that's it?' feeling.

An enjoyable read, but what's the point of making a cool world if you don't inhabit it with characters you want to read about?

I really loved this book which I eagerly started after reading Integral Trees. This writing is technical enough to hold my attention without flights of fantasy. I am technical and the book appeals to me. I would like to read more of the smoke ring cosmos.

I read this book years ago and still remember it! I am still whating and hoping for a nother book in the series. I have read the two books several times.

I absolutly loved this book,it had me reading it till 2 in the morning and i even skipped meals just to read it!The Smoke Ring the sequel to The Integral Trees is a must for everyone to read!!!