The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring Review

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(More customer reviews)Having read many Sci-Fi books in my life, I can honestly say that none can come close in originality and concept to the books 'Integral Trees' and the sequel, 'The Smoke Ring' by Larry Niven. You will instantly love this book where technology takes a second-hand place to the dynamics of human development and interactivity, and the remnants of human advancements exist as strange, unknown objects, myths, and faded social traditions.
The book takes us into a free-fall environment, the remains of a gaseous planet orbiting a star in a binary system. Life has evolved there, free of the constrains of gravity. Ponds drift about as spheres of water, and multi-kilometer long trees are like small worlds containing lifeforms of numerous bizzare types. Humankind has reverted to tribal structures, the technology that brought them long forgotten. The old ways of Earth have all but dissapeared, existing only as ghosts in the speech patterns of the characters.
Niven has repeatedly written books that encourage us to think differently--to think big. If you liked the awesome strangeness of 'Ringworld,' then you will have an instant favorite in 'Integral Trees.'

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"Niven has come up with an idea about as far out as one can get. . . . This is certainly classic science fiction–the idea is truly the hero." –Asimov's Science Fiction MagazineWhen leaving Earth, the crew of the spaceship Discipline was prepared for a routine assignment. Dispatched by the all-powerful State on a mission of interstellar exploration and colonization, Discipline was aided (and secretly spied upon) by Sharls Davis Kendy, an emotionless computer intelligence programmed to monitor the loyalty and obedience of the crew. But what they weren't prepared for was the smoke ring–an immense gaseous envelope that had formed around a neutron star directly in their path. The Smoke Ring was home to a variety of plant and animal life-forms evolved to thrive in conditions of continual free-fall. When Discipline encountered it, something went wrong. The crew abandoned ship and fled to the unlikely space oasis.Five hundred years later, the descendants of the Discipline crew living on the Smoke Ring no longer remember their origins. Earth is more myth than memory, and no recollection of the State remains. But Kendy remembers. And just outside the Smoke Ring, Discipline waits patiently to make contact with its wayward children.

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Smoke Ring Review

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(More customer reviews)Chances are, when you think of a good Niven book, you don't recall the awe-inspiring plot or earth shattering dialogue exchanges or any of that sissy stuff . . . it's the ideas that hold your attention and make the book worth reading. Which leads to a love or hate relationship with the man . . . if you like your SF "hard" he's about as hard as they come and when he's "on" you'll find yourself dazzled even if you're trying to resist. And then there are those times when he's so in love with his ideas that he forgets to write a story to go along with it. This isn't that bad but it almost comes close. I'll admit the original concept of the Integral Trees was mind boggling, an entire civilization of human beings adapted to a zero gravity environment in a cloud of atmosphere that orbits a neutron star. It's been a few years since I read that book and so forgiveable that I don't quite remember what happened . . . but that concept. Whoa. Niven revisits it here, bringing back some of the people from the first book, adding some newcomers and exploring the world a little bit. The plot, when they bother with it, is fairly straightforward and really doesn't build to any sort of climax or peak, it hovers somewhere around episodic without even congealing into anything memorable. However, the ideas, those are the meat of this book and Niven whips them out on almost every page, taking full advantage of the scenario and running with the ball for all its worth. If you read your SF for the "science" part of it, you're in luck, he gives enough stuff here to keep a generation of physics graduate students busy for quite some time. Thankfully you don't need a doctorate in a higher science to understand all of it but like I said, ideas are basically all this book has. The characters are merely mouthpieces to put forward the ideas, the plot itself is merely a showcase for the ideas . . . it's a textbook with dialogue sometimes. Still, I finished it despite all of that and even if in a week I won't be able to tell you a single thing that happened in it (but boy can I explain the concept) while you're reading it you will probably find it highly entertaining, like I did. So, no it's not a classic but it can be fun. Niven gets points for originality (even if it is a sequel) even if that's all he has here. Try it anyway.

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