The Man-Kzin Wars (Mass Market Paperback)

by Larry Niven (Author), Poul Anderson (Author), Dean Ing (Author) "The Warriors" wasn't just the first tale of the kzinti..." (more)
Key Phrases: kzin warship, birthing bower, kzin ship, Miss Kitty, Sun Defier, Jim Davis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
." . . grimly funny . . . irony and heroics. . . ."

Product Description
Once upon a time, in the earliest days of interplanetary exploration, an unarmed human vessel was set upon by a warship from the planet Kzin. But the Kzinti learned the hard way that the reason humanity had given up war was that they were so very, very good at it. Thus began the Man-Kzin Wars. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 289 pages
• Publisher: Baen Books (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416532838
• ISBN-13: 978-1416532835
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #365,284 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Man Meets his Match!, June 8, 2000

By	Richard Rivera "rarivera3" (Plantation. Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Kzin Wars (Man Kzin Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to warn readers of this novel! You will become addicted! Prepare yourself to buy all books in the Man Kzin war series!

Humankind is still in the infancy of type 2 civilization and is still lumbering around in Reaction Mass Relativistic Starships, not having discovered how to manipulate gravity yet. At least we have learned to control our own predatory inclination toward war. Or so we thought.

In the middle of nowhere, humans encounter a technological race. Assumptions about star faring civilizations nearly cost us our hides, literally. The Kzin are not only aggressive, they are carnivorous. Man learns war all over.

Larry Niven uses the concept of parallel evolution to create a world in which the Great Cats, not primates, evolve into intelligence. The Kzin bring back the ancient battle between primitive man and the saber tooth. and the excitement of the hunt.. Only this time the cat has Gravity Polarizer starships! This novel is only the beginning of the fun! read on!

Niven does not use a progressive time line in his novels. These are individual, albeit connected stories of the Man Kzin Wars. The characters might or might not know or associate with one another, and the series encompasses long periods of time.

But once you read the first book, and get hooked on the rest, You will never look at kitty the same way again!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, May 21, 2000

By	Les Baldwin (south charleston, WV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Kzin Wars (Man Kzin Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book, the publisher did a poor job of manufacturing the book, the cover came off and the book came apart prior to finishing the book. The content was excellent however.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Start then..., April 13, 2001

By	Richard La Fianza (San Bernardino) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Man Kzin Wars (Man Kzin Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Three stories in one, all on a common theme, the war or series of wars between Man and a Catlike Creature, the Kzin. How much you like each particular story will depend on how much you like that particular writer.

The first story shows great promise and potential. It is interesting for two reasons, the Kzin and the humans. In particular, we get an interesting insight into the Kzin and an equally interesting insight into humans of the future, in some ways, as alien to us as the Kzin are.

The humans, in particular, are pacifists. They wander the reaches of space unarmed and untrained in fighting or combat. They have not even fought a war in almost three hundred years. In some new area of the galaxy they find a Kzin crew, breed to fight and kill, constantly at war throughout most of their history.

Can a pacifist people, humans, fight and survive against such natural warriors, trained to perfection? It seems like an interesting question. The assumption is that the people will lose much, at first. If they can learn, however, then the Kzin will be in trouble.

The problem is, however, that while the first story shows this great potential, the next two, of three, weren't that interesting. Instead of exploring the issues developed in story 1, they talk about unconnected incident which occur after two or three great wars have occurred. All of the interesting conflicts I was hoping to see, they never materialized. Instead, they have already been resolved by time we get to the second story. Too bad.

As such, I would strongly recommend the first story. Story 2 and Story 3, they were average. I think the series shows some potential though and I will look at the other books in it. This one here, as a whole, isn't good enough to recommend. If you can read the first story on its own, however, do so. You should enjoy it.