Although out-of-print, Neutron Star is a book worth getting for any fan of science fiction. It collects several of Niven's "Known Space" short stories from his golden age of the late-1960s, including the Beowulf Shaeffer stories.In 1966 Larry Niven created the ultimate tourist with his award-winning short story "Neutron Star." It was the tale of Beowulf Shaeffer, a laid-off pilot heavily in debt and easy to blackmail, and how the alien race the puppeteers convinced him to make a dangerous flyby of a neutron star. In "A Relic of the Empire," Shaeffer effectively creates the Known Space universe by binding his far-future stories to the near-future epoch of Lucas Garner. It deals with an xenoarchaeologist who uses his esoteric knowledge to defeat a band of pirates. In "At the Core", the puppeteers convince Beowulf Shaeffer to take an experimental hyperdrive all the way to the galactic core, where he makes a discovery that spurs the puppeteers into fleeing Known Space. "The Soft Weapon" is the only dud of the collection, a drawn-out struggle between husband and wife pilots with the mad puppeteer Nessus (who went on to become a major character in Ringworld) against Kzinti set on revenge. The third Beowulf Shaeffer story, "Flatlander", begins with the quixotic hero as a tourist on Earth, and takes him on a journey with a millionaire to a very unusual planet. "The Ethics of Madness" is the story set earliest in Niven's chronology, dealing with the creation of a Bussard ramscoop that can accomodate a human pilot, opening the galaxy for exploration. In "The Handicapped", the reader is introduced to the sessile Grogs on the planet Down, and given several clues as to the ultimate fate of the Slaver Empire. "Grendel", the last of the golden age of the Shaeffer stories, has Shaeffer foil a kidnapping on a newly-colonized world. These stories are all excellent and are recommended reading for any fan of science fiction.Larry Niven was off a little in predicting the future, personal computing doesn't play any role in these stories and in fact one character even uses a typewriter. There are hardly any female characters, and the gender roles are certainly right out of the 1960's. The characters are all Americans and seem to have never heard of the metric system. Nonetheless, few science fiction writers have conjured up a future as colourful as Niven's, and with such fascinating hard science. Although the Beowulf Shaeffer stories can be found in the collection Crashlander (a highly disappointing book because of the poor quality of Niven's post-1975 material), I'd recommend Neutron Star, which offers the golden-age Shaeffer tales with other Known Space wonders. It is also necessary back story for understanding Niven's great novel Ringworld.
My rating of Neutron Star is based entirely on the four stories which were not re-collected in Crashlander:The Ethics of Madness. An interesting look at mental illness, a great ending, and pretty slow getting there. [6/10]The Handicapped. This contains a great secret of Known Space and some interesting ethics, both at the end of the story. Unfortunately getting there is pretty slow. [5/10]A Relic of Empire. Though Niven's ideas about interplanetary plants are interesting, they're not enough to make a great story. [5/10]The Soft Weapon. An interesting bit of SF archaeology, in the manner of Arthur C. Clarke. However this story really shines in its look at kzinti and slavers. [7/10]The coolest element of these stories is that they reveal a heretofore unknown story in Known Space's history, about the Slavers and their final war. Everything but "The Ethics of Madness" focuses on this. The downside is that other than "The Soft Weapon" they're pretty mediocre stories, and that's what influenced my rating here.=====For the Beowulf Schaeffer stories collected within, I suggest reading Crashlander instead, as it collects everything about him in chronological order. Though I haven't used these stories as part of my rating for Neutron Star, here's my notes on them for completeness sake:At the Core. Still breathtaking for its big picture thinking, and also a great hard-science short. [8/10]Flatlander. Though Niven continues with his fun hard science, this one drags a bit and doesn't have the sense of wonder of its predecessors. [6/10]Grendel. The shift from science to mystery is a pity, but this is still an enjoyable Beowulf story. [6/10]Neutron Star. A good mix of action-adventure and hard SF. It's out of date with science now, but I think that Niven's apologies and corrections for it in Crashlander are totally unnecessary. [7/10]If I were rating the book including these four stories, that might have been enough to drag it up to four stars.
What do You think about Neutron Star (1977)?
I first read this quite some years ago and was blown away by it. It stands up well to repeated re-readings.The title story - a Hugo winner - introduces us to star pilot Beowulf Shaeffer (who appears in three other stories in the book, "At the Core," "Flatlander," and "Grendel"), as well as the Puppeteers who also feature in Niven's later Ringworld series. These are the tales that introduce us to Known Space. I particularly enjoyed the Shaeffer stories for the character's voice (told first-person). "A Relic of Empire" has an interesting twist -- and a data point that later (much later) turns out to be false. "The Soft Weapon" has the distinction of having been adapted to an episode of the animated Star Trek series, which otherwise is thankfully forgotten.Good old fashioned space opera with a hard science flavor. The latter is a bit outdated in places, but overall the collection stands up amazingly well.Readers of the Larry Niven-Ed Lerner collaboration Juggler of Worlds will recognize several of these stories, but as told from a completely different perspective.
—William Franks
I'd been in the mood to read some classic sci-fi: something distant and cynical, taking place in deep space, where there was fantastic technology and alien races and not many people to mess it all up. This was perfect. Neutron Star is a collection of short stories from Niven prefacing Ringworld and highly worthwhile if you like the latter. I'll be re-reading Ringworld soon with these stories in mind. Plus let this also be a good reminder to just read more Larry Niven. There aren't many writers so good at picturing real people in fantastic futures. Plus he's a lot funnier than I think he gets credit for.[Read November 2010. Re-read October 2011.]
—Josh
Terrific short story collection, all occuring in Niven's "known space" milieu. Most probably known for his 'Ringworld' novels, I think Niven is underrated for his short stories. Known space is always a hoot, populated as it is with adventurers, oddballs, and those out to make a buck. I always find his aliens to be fun as well - extremely inventive but practical and mostly believable. Most of the stories in this collection revolve around Beowulf Shaeffer, a pilot who keeps managing to find himself in interesting situations through greed, blackmail, or out of a desire to break the sheer boredom of living such a long life. I heartily recommend these stories to any sci fi fan.
—John
