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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maintains and lifts a splendid tradition, October 4, 2005
More terriffic stories in the Man-Kzin series, the best-written shared universe in literature.
Hal Colebatch writes the first three stories, which take up most of the book. The first, "Three at Table" is a stunner, a tale of deepening miasmic darkness, depression and horror that suddenly, in the last few words, turns into something utterly different. I did not know short-story craftsmanship still existed that could pull off this kind of emotional rocket-burst. I cried at the end, but not from sadness.
Grossgeister Swamp, the second story, is the tale of a young Kzin noble charged with caring for the lives of a party of Kzin and human students after the human liberation of Wunderland as they explore mysterious Grossgeister Swamp and the decaying hulk of a delelict Kzin battleship. The delicate human-Kzin relationship, seen here mostly from the Kzin's point of view, is beautifully done, with quite a few touiches of humor, as when the somewhat pedantic young Kzin remarks to a human companion: "You must realise that for cats our space-faring has an incongrously nautical vocabulary." The story is tense, with elements of tragedy, but a thoroughly satisfactory ending.
"Catspaws," Colebatch's third story here, is a novel of about 50,000 words, featuring characters from the first two stories and building on them (these characters also appear in his stories in M-KW IX and X, including Raargh, the tough but appealing old Kzin ex-Sergeant, Dimity Carmody, the beautiful super-genius, and the tragic Leonie Rykermann). Plenty of both action, including some gruesome battles, and believeable and generally likeble characters. It continues the overarching theme of Colebatch's previous nine stories - the slow realisation that humans and Kzin have something to teach each other and over centuries, punctuated by bloody wars, gradually learn to co-exist. There is a moral journey as well as an adventure story and a tale of character interaction from this very considerable writer.
Matthew Joseph Harrington's two stories are written in a very different style but balance Colebatch's nicely. Very science-oriented, Harrington pulls off one of the most difficult feats in SF - making a super-super-genius, the female Protector Peace, believeable in a sustained and convincing way. Harrington's compressed style contains plenty of surprise packages. Hard to say much more as I don't want to commit spoilers, but Harrington is impressive indeed and a worthy new addition to this distinguished writing team. Like Niven, he can write about BIG ideas convincingly and like the other authors remains true to Niven's "Known space" parameters. As far as I know Harrington has not published anything previously and this is a teriffic debut.
The last story, by series creator Larry Niven, tells of a hunting party of Kzin in Africa - how do the great felinoids shape up against lions and elephants? And what are they really after?
This is a long book, but I read it in a single fascinated sitting. While it is part of a series, with references to other tales and characters in Larry Niven's "Known Space" the stories can all be read seperately and can all stand alone.
Congratulations to Baen for another terriffic book!
When do we get the movie?
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you want a body count, buy a kung fu flick, November 17, 2005
I've read the whole series, and I finally had to interrupt my schedule to comment. It keeps getting better.
The stories appear to be in chronological order.
Colebatch is back with another handful of gems. He continues his habit of making the buildup so riveting that you almost overlook the enormous depth of context development: though the stress of a culture involving intelligent species trying to get along after decades of merciless war is seldom mentioned, it is a constant presence and influence, like nitrogen in the air. His plots are also becoming more surprising, which since his first story in the series was The Colonel's Tiger in volume VII is no small accomplishment. Three At Table in particular made me catch my breath. Grossgeister Swamp addresses the effects of war on its true victims. Catspaws deals with a nightmare vision in a tone of great practicality.
I can't find any previous work by Harrington. I intend to look for more. The amount of detail he puts into a short story is more than is found in many a novel, and he resolves a good many of Known Space's loose ends in the course of developing the character of Peace Corben. (He seems to be a longtime SF fan: the reference to "Cornelius Industries of We Made It" is clearly a bow to Michael Moorcock.) The title Teacher's Pet is an awful pun, and War and Peace is almost as severe; but they're the perfect titles for the stories. The tales answer the question I saw on a convention poster: "How many kzinti does it take to beat one human protector?" "There aren't that many kzinti."
The Hunting Park struck me as primarily a vivid demonstration of how the kzinti had been changed by the Wars. Kzinti honor is as strong as ever, but its focus has shifted and sharpened, and that's all I'll say as I dislike unsolicited spoilers.
I'd been under the impression this series was meant to end at ten volumes. I'm glad it didn't. I'm looking forward to the next.
EDIT EDIT EDIT
One of the things I have always admired about this series is the conspicuous absence of the media attitude. Battles occur to achieve a purpose, not to provide photo opportunities. As Sun Tzu said, "Supreme excellence in generalship is to make the enemy surrender without fighting."
Appreciating this perspective does require thought, however, and I would not recommend these books to anyone who finds that a burden.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Satisfying return to Niven's universe, but uneven writing, March 13, 2007
I have read pretty much everything Niven himself has written, and I think I have pretty much hoovered up all the Man-Kzin Wars series too. It's a way of franchising that part of Niven's universe to other writers, which seems on the whole to be good for everyone - writers, publishers, and readers. Obviously, it's in Niven's interest (and his publishers) to avoid any dilution of the brand.
This latest fix includes three stories by Hal Colebatch, two by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and a short contribution ("The Hunting Park") by Niven himself. I think Harrington's are clearly the best: well plotted, scientifically convincing, and pacily written, they accomplish the challenging feat of extending Niven's vision rather than just wallowing in it. Colebatch is good, but his style is sometimes a bit sentimental for me; to take one example purely at random, "He stroked her, whispered 'Mother', and died. Leonie moved to close his eyes". As other reviewers have said how much they like his writing, this is clearly a matter of taste. To be honest, I didn't feel that "The Hunting Park" stands out above the other stories; indeed I would go so far as to say that Harrington's stories are crisper, more interesting, and generally more like early Niven.
One thing has been puzzling me: the striking cover illustration appears to depict Vaemar and Dimity in action. He is armed with a wtsai, she with a huge gun of some sort. But how come Vaemar is shown as resembling a huge lion, instead of a tiger? Niven has stated over and over that kzinti are basically orange and look like big fat tigers. Also, the powerful impact of the picture merely serves to underline how extremely unlikely any emotional bond between these two creatures would be.
Bottom line: strongly recommended for Niven fans, and SF lovers in general. The standard of writing is really very good, and Harrington's two stories "Teacher's Pet" and "War and Peace" are fit to stand beside Niven's own books such as "World of Ptavvs" and "Protector". As far as I know, there can be no higher praise.
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