No, The State isn’t part of Known Space. The first part of A World Out of Time is set in the same time frame as many of the Known Space stories (like ‘Protector’ and ‘World of Ptaavs’) and is very different - one of the most notable differences are that in the Known Space stories a cryogenically frozen person can be revived sometimes, while in A World Out of Time this is impossible because of the cell damage (which is more realistic), frozen people are ground up and their memories are extracted through harvesting RNA or something like that (when I read it I knew it didn’t make much sense with anything more advanced than a planaria).
The Known Space series is actually a bit of an alternate history, as some of the earlier stories of manned exploration of the solar system are set in the 1970s and '80s, and Niven didn’t change the chronology later when it was clear we weren’t going to be sending men to Pluto in the 20th century.
I really liked ‘Destiny’s Road’, it was different from his earlier stuff but was a great story despite this. It seemed a lot more mature than his earlier work. One thing that’s different about it is that it has a character growing old realistically, Niven had this fear of aging when he was younger and many of his stories feature very old people who are in perfect health and don’t seem old in the way they act and think.
Lots of good suggestions. I’m not going to recommend what you should read, because I haven’t read that much Niven. But I would recommend that you do NOT start with N Space. While there are some great short stories in there, there are also about four book excerpts that don’t really make all that much sense in isolation. Which is ironic, because I’m sure they were put in there to make us want to read the books.
I have read a number of the novels already suggested. Some of them are good, some of them not so good, imho, but all of them quite long and dense. If you have a limited time budget, I suggest his two collections, “N-Space”, and “Playgrounds of the Mind”. Some excellent stuff in both, although you should avoid the book excerpts as Enderw24 suggested.
Also, I strongly recommend “The Magic Goes Away”. Easily his best novel, not bloated at all. It is not sci-fi, though. It is…I think I would call it “hard fantasy”.
He has done a number of stories in the setting of ‘The Magic Goes Away’. Mostly short stories (like ‘What Good is a Glass Dagger?’) but he also did another novel, ‘The Burning City’, which I thought was very good.
“A World out of Time” is a good starting point, too.
Didn’t I hear that Niven wrote something similar to “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”, but concerning Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl? Or is this just my warped imagination?
I’ve read quite a bit of Niven’s stuff, including with Pournelle, and his inspired stories written by other authors of the Man-Kzin wars. All of what I’ve read has been quite enjoyable, and I’d say better than most Asimov and Heinlein I’ve read (no flames please, I like the old masters too). I do know he has been very ill the past few years, but The Gripping Hand is the only recent thing of his I’ve read, which I enjoyed, but wasn’t up to the Mote in God’s Eye.
C.H. Cherryh is a must for science fiction fans (and does fantasy too). Her characters are as good as any I’ve seen short of Shakespeare. Even her quickie just for contract sequel novels are a delight.
Just caught this, you were correct. I knew the order too, I just had a brain fart (I’m thinking maybe I was thinking ‘prequel’ when you said ‘sequel’). Anyway, ‘The Integral Trees’ DOES come before ‘The Smoke Ring’.
RINGWORLD is a great novel, but you really have to read NEUTRON STAR to understand it. So, I’d say NEUTRON STAR is the place to start.
Sadly, reading RINGWORLD will probably propel you to its execrable sequels. THE RINGWORLD ENGINEERS is a thin plot bound together by sex scenes. The introduction of every new town is an excuse for Louis Wu to drop his pants and engage in sex with freaky homind species. THE RINGWORLD THRONE…is just plain awful. It’s one of the most incoherent novels ever written. I personally doubt Niven even wrote it, it’s possible he hired as ghostwriter (perhaps Brenda Cooper)?
THE INTEGRAL TREES is good if you feel intimidated by the bulk of the Known Space stories. It’s somewhat juvenile, but the setting is even more exotic than the Ringworld.
I agree with the Neutron Star/Tales of Known Space/Protector/Ringworld sequence, although I started with Ringworld and suffered no confusion. I loved Ringworld Engineers, because I liked the tense situation between Louis, the Hindmost and Chmee, and how they reverse-engineered the Ringworld’s technology to come up with the ending.
You guys make me want to get out Borderland of Sol and read it again. IMO, this is his finest short story, maybe even capable of being fleshed out into a movie. Whaddaya think?
Short reviews of a selection of his short stories which you can buy for a buck or so. Also a good source for other SF, fantasy & horror writers.
IMHO Niven seems able to write both fantasy and SF well. I am more partial to his short stories, proabably because I’ve been on a short story SF kick in general, lately.
I enjoyed Ringword and Integral Trees and REALLY like the Dream Park series. Started Lucifer’s Hammer & The Mote in God’s Eye a couple of times, but couldn’t get into them. Maybe it’s time to try again.
Has anyone mentioned the Gil Hamilton series yet? I’ve only read a few, and tho I’m not a bit detective/mystery fan, I found them rather compelling.
I’ve read all the Gil the ARM stories, I really like them. One of my favorite periods in Larry Niven’s Known Space future history is the late 21st and early 22nd century, before man encountered the Kzin.
