Protector (Mass Market Paperback)

by Larry Niven (Author) "He sat before an eight-foot circle of clear twing, looking endlessly out on a view that was less than exciting..." (more)
Key Phrases: thalium oxide, trailing pod, gravity polarizer, Nick Sohl, Flying Dutchman, Roy Truesdale (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before...

Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first...

He was never seen again -- at least not by those alive at the time.

From the Inside Flap
Phssthpok the Pak had been traveling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years before...

Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days -- Brennan figured to meet that ship first...

He was never seen again -- at least not by those alive at the time.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (September 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345353129
• ISBN-13: 978-0345353122
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,178 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Known Space Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The wild ideas make this novel worthwhile, April 2, 2001

By	"colinbi" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Even in the world of hard science-fiction authors, Larry Niven is a bit peculiar. His ideas, while always grounded in the physical sciences and defensible, are frequently beyond any kind of normal, logical leap. Niven's longtime collaborator Jerry Pournelle ("The Mote in God's Eye", among others) has been quoted as saying that he writes with Niven because Niven "is the crazy one."

"Ringworld" is Niven's most enduring work, but "Protector" is, in some ways, a better example of his talent for amazing logical leaps. Niven has described the premise this way: "Every symptom of aging in man is an aborted version of something designed to make us stronger. In particular, we lose intelligence with age because we were supposed to grow more brain tissue, when the thymus gland dissolves around age 42-45."

In "Protector," this thesis is demonstrated by the appearance of the first alien species to contact humanity: the Pak. We learn that Earth was a failed Pak colony; homo habilis is the Pak breeder stage. At about middle age, homo habilis was supposed to eat a certain plant that would trigger the change to the sexless, armored, highly intelligent protectors. Pak protectors have other notable traits as well, some of which may come as a surprise to those used to more traditional tales of immortality.

This is an early Niven story, and plotting was not his strong point until relatively recently. Mainly the plot is a thinly-veiled excuse to learn more about the Pak. Of the characters, only centegenarian Lucas Garner and belter Jack Brennan seem to be more than placeholders. The ideas in the novel, however, make up for many of the more obvious flaws.

I'm not qualified to comment on the scientific plausibility of Niven's ideas. I will note that some linguists have ridiculed Niven's use of "Pak" and "Phssthpok" as words invented by a species with a hard beak for a mouth, and no lips. More recent fossil discoveries have suggested that our evolutionary heritage may be far more complex than was known in 1973, but Niven can hardly be blamed for not anticipating new scientific discoveries in the interim.

Other reviewers have noted that this novel was later referenced heavily by Niven's "Ringworld" novels, particularly "Ringworld Engineers" and "Ringworld Throne." You don't need to read this one to enjoy the Ringworld novels, but it's definitely more fun that way.

For Niven fans, I recommend this book without hesitation. For those who haven't yet met Larry Niven, pick up "Ringworld" first.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A crucial book to fully understand Ringworld, April 23, 2000

By	Michael Delaware (Battle Creek, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews

This is a crucial book to read to gain the full picture of what is involved in the Ringworld novels. The Pak Protectors are quite a race. They are both complicated in origin, but simple in purpose. This book was very interesting, as it describes the evolution of the protectors more than the Ringworld novels do. Larry Niven is a genius at the technical side of Science Fiction, and this novel was facinating and filled with action. I enjoyed it from many angles.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Protector One of the Keys to Known Space, December 11, 2004

By	M. B. RENTZLER (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Often overlooked in comparission to the Ringworld series of books is Protector. And this is a shame as it is one of the keys to Larry Niven's wonderland known as Known Space.

The Pak race has a three stage life cycle. Childhood (self explanitory); breeder (adulthood) and with the Tree Of Life Root becomes the sexless (both in deed and form) ultra smart Protector.

Phssthpok is a childless (meaning he will die soon) Protector who has traveled from the galaxy's core to save a lost colony of Pak Breeder whose Protectors have died out. What is this lost colony? Well it is the third planet from a medium yellow star. Phssthpok sets into motion a set of events that will change all of Known Space.

You can read other novels of Known Space without ever reading Protector but reading it makes the expierence all the more richer.

Would you trade away some of your humanity to become faster, stronger, smarter and nearly immortal? This is one of the things you will ponder as you read this novel.

A very enjoyable read.