Customer Reviews

A World Out of Time

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had read darn near everything Niven's written, and finally got around to this novel.
I wish I'd read it sooner!

Lots of action, a sense of discovery around every corner, and with every turn of the page a new puzzle to solve within the plot of the story. Of course it also has the big big science that Niven is famous for. What a treat after his less than spectacular recent efforts. If I had one bad thing to say, it's that a small portion of the science no longer holds up to current theories--but that's a small price to pay for such fun!

If you're a sci-fi fan, and haven't yet read Niven, I highly recommend this book for your first read. Every bit as good as "Ringworld", with none of the overhead of that novel's "Known Space" universe to catch up on. If you're already a Niven fan, and haven't yet experienced this novel--read it now before you run out of time!

AWOoT was the first Niven book I have ever read (at age 15). My family owns a convenience store/newsstand in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in 1977 my father received a batch of SF books in consignation for the store's book section. He brought home three of them for me, 'The Space Machine' by C. Priest--a very enjoyable pastiche of H.G.Wells' 'The Time Machine' and 'War of the Worlds', another one so bad I do not remember even its title, and 'A World Out of Time'. At the beginning I was skeptic. The blurbs on the back cover sounded kind of 'New Wavish' and even freakish. Being a hardcore-SF fan weaned on A.C.Clarke and I.Asimov, I was militantly anti 'New-Wave' SF (the fashion in Argentinian SF publishing at the time) or 'unscientific'. I did not want to waste my time on another 'character' story or fantasy tale. I wanted at least planetary size action and ideas...Man, I got them in spades and of Galactic size!!! To say it blew me away it is too little to express the impact of this book on me. It was like an intellectual sledge-hammer crashing on my brain. Only J.Varley's 'The Persistence of Vision' collection had a similar effect on me--and only because I was ten years older and wiser at the time. I read and reread the books more times than I remember. It was also humongously popular with my HS friends--but I suspect more due to the then 'titillating' sex scenes than the gigantic space and time range of the plot, action and ideas. After that, Niven entered the Pantheon of 'hunt for' SF authors, so 'Ringworld' and "Tales of Known Space' (plus everything he has written alone or in collaboration) followed, increasing my awe and admiration for his work. But AWOoT is still my most beloved Niven's book.

Jaybee Corbell's adventure begins after he dies. Rather than return to dust, Corbell has himself frozen in the off-chance that future science might find a cure for his cancer. Corbell's gamble pays off and he is decanted two hundred years in the future, but into a radically different world where the all-powerful State treats people like objects and into the body of a condemned criminal. The State decides that Corbell's one function is to be a "ramship pilot" who will spend three hundred years seeding Earth-like planets with Earth-like "reducing atmosphere" with algae, in order to cause them to develop an Earth-like atmosphere in the next sixty to seventy thousand years.

Being a rebellious guy from the 1970s, Corbell hi-jacks his ramscoop and decides to journey to the center of the galaxy. Corbell is hijacked in turn by his State-appointed "loyalty checker" who takes him on a long, long journey from the massive black hole at the center of the galaxy and back.

Corbell returns to Earth three millions years after his departure and discovers that Earth is orbiting Jupiter, the sun is a swollen red giant, Jupiter is emitting way too much energy, a new gas giant is orbiting the sun in a wild angle, and - oh, yeah - Ganymede is completely missing.

Also, it seems like nobody is home.

What happened?

The bulk of the story involves Corbell's investigation of Earth, his encounter with a crazy old woman desiring eternal youth, his discovery of the end result of the ultimate battle between Boys and Girls, and the answers to his questions.

It's all done in Niven's inimitably efficient and captivating style. I remember reading the first part - the ramship pilot episode - in Analog back in the '70s. I think that I was disappointed that it was not part of Niven's "Known Space" cycle and didn't read the novel when it came out, but some things stuck with me, such as the black hole at the center of the galaxy and the idea of a "water empire" (which probably made its way into several of my high school and college term papers.) It's interesting how Niven's postulate about the black hole at the center of the galaxy has made its way from science fiction to accepted science in the last forty years.

I found "A World Out of Time" to be an engaging, page turning read that held up after forty years. I found myself keenly wanting to know what happened to our solar system, and I was satisfied with the resolution of the questions.

A final point: it is interesting how Niven seems to have a knack for depicting grand planetary engineering projects - e.g., Ringworld and moving Earth to Jupiter - after their collapse, when all that is left are ruins and people with some stories about the Good Old Days. The idea of a people with unimaginable power collapsing back into savagery seems to have been a theme that captivated Niven.

This is an excellent novel. It does everything you would expect of a novel. It entertains; it surprises and motivates thought. This book covers 3 million years of time through the viewpoint of one personality. I say personality rather then person, as it is not necessarily the same thing for the purposes of this novel. The author does an excellent job of not getting bogged down in the vast areas of change that happen in 3 million years and only shows us things that are relevant and aid the telling of the story rather then bog it down.

Basically, the story is that of humanity and its cycles of evolution. All of this is told through one mans viewpoint and gives us a 1970's perspective on the rest of future humanity. A very well told story that is told succinctly and with the correct level of pithiness. A definite recommendation on my part. The only reason that I give this book four stars instead of five is because although it has aged well over 25 years I do not believe the story survives completely independent of the science in this case and that has aged less well. A very entertaining read.

I first read the short story this novel is based on when I was 12. I loved it.

When I was 21 I found the novel I felt it couldn't be as good - but it was better.

Whilst Niven's strong point has never been dialogue or characterisation - what he does excellently is keep you interested. One plot twist follows another - whilst all the time adding more and more scientific ideas.

I liked the final plot twist and I only wish I could forget it so I could read it again with genuine surprise. But my absolute favourite part is still the first chapter which is virtually word-for-word of the original short story.

If you're looking for believable characters and witty dialogue - look elsewhere (sorry Larry!). But if you like a plot that keeps you guessing and a future world that's packed full of ideas - and above a story that'll entertain you - then this book is hard to beat.

World-out-of-Time grew out of a short story written by Niven for the science fiction magazine, Analog, in the mid-1970s.

This reviewer had met Larry Niven (Lawrence Van Colt) back in 1983 at a science fiction convention in Midland, Michigan. Larry was alway perplexed by the much more successful "Known Space" books. Why? Larry views "Known Space" as pure science fantasy and the "World" time line as much more possible. Indeed, at least three other books were spun out of this time line. There are "Intregal Trees" and its successor. At least two other books use the "World" timeline and science. Bluntly, "WOOT" spaceships are possible with our science.

Personally, this review is a big Niven fan and wishes he would keep on writing at the brisk pace he set for himself in the '70s to the mid-1990s period. But Larry really only produces a book year and he is slowly retiring from writing. Still, this particular book is an old friend and I like it.

The main character - Corbell - has terminal cancer in the early '70s and is frozen to keep from the grave. His DNA and RNA is combined to introduce a new personality in a criminal that has had his mind erased. It's the mind of Corbell in a new body.

The first chapters of this book keeps much in common with the original analog story of the mid-1970s. Peersa, the main computer, runs the starship under Corbell's command. Corbell says that all empires die from barbarians; the analog is given of Rome. Niven could use a little more help with history because Rome fell from lots of reasons and not just barbarians. Anyway, you've got to wonder about Peersa at that point because he (it) has no memory or data tapes of Earth's history.

Anyway, Peersa keeps the Starship from Earth until long after the state's fall: about 3 million years. Corbell is quite old but because of the ship's close to speed of light velocity he is only a very elderly man when returning to earth.

When Corbell arives at the red giant that is the Sol system the story gets really good and is one of the best that Niven has ever wrote. First, because of various wars the earth is hardly habitable. The reasons for that is covered later on in the book. Second, Corbell discovers the last human on earth and she is both quite insane and well armed. Third, human beings have mutated drastically in three million years to a breeder type of human and the ruling children that are divided up into boys and girls. However, the boys and girls are fantastically old due to a DNA treatment that gives them near immortaltiy.

The boys are the rulers of earth and Corbell spends a good part of the novel either under their control or trying to escape from the boys. These parts of the reads are fast and fun. The typical reader will enjoy this part.

The sex, bluntly, is a little contrived. It's Niven's world and he may do with it as he wishes. However, this part of the book was written for the market of teenage boys of the '70s. It's a little distracting for adults of the 2000s.

But this book is fun and fast paced. The science is quite good and Larry has a great command of the science needed for near-fast-as-light driven space ships.

The real gem of this book is how Larry moves worlds. Few can do it so good. Larry gives us this feel of moving worlds in "Ringworld Engineers", in many of his known space books, and in this book. Basically, if you build an rocket engine as big as a small moon and use Uranus as a "fuel tank" then it's amazing what a person can move in space.

Larry can never go wrong in one of his old novels. This is a solid 4 star book and the typical reader will have it done in just a night.

I will miss Niven's writing quantity of the '70s to the '90s. However, he will have the novel "Fleet of Worlds" coming out in Fall of 2007; it's the 5th Ringworld novel. Perhaps I'll have the chance to talk with Larry again like in 1983. In 2007 I'll look forward to buying another Niven novel and donating it to my favorite High School.

Yes, I like his writings and you should be able to enjoy this novel.

I have hunted down and read all of Larry Niven's published short stories, novellas, novels, and collaborations. This is the one book of his that I continue to re-read every year or two. Excellent ideas and a neat twisting plot keeps everything moving. By far, my favorite novel by my one of favorite authors.

A fun read, yes, but so much more. This is what SF is all about. Combining a good story with ideas that stretch the mind. Ideas worth thinking about, worth pondering. Ideas that make us grow intellectually.

This was the first Niven work I had ever read, and then re-read. Wow. Absolutely breath-taking in its scope, prodigious in its use of hard sci-fi, you virtually feel like the protagonist Jaybee Corbell. Niven's descriptions of the far-future world are astounding, and you genuinely feel for (and root for) Corbell all the way. No previous knowledge of other Niven works is required to fully enjoy this (like Ringworld). If you only ever read one Niven novel, make it this one.

What a great book. This was one of the first sci-fi books I ever read, having borrowed it out of my older brother's bookshelf, and I was blown away. I've read it several times and each time I was amazed at how easily it read and how quickly I buzzed throught it. You won't want to put it down!