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tuftearsTL;DR: I didn't like it.
I was expecting a thrilling story about scientists having to work against time to figure out and beat a mysterious threat to the Earth.
Instead, the threat was explained early in the book. No real new threat materialized of any real consequence. The protagonists were able to crush their opposition with hand-wavey nanotechnology easily; their enemies did not turn out to have nanotechnology of their own, their benefactor did not turn out to have sinister plots. The characters were made of cardboard.
I felt the story mainly existed as a screed for libertarian philosophy. I don't disagree with moral points like 'rape is bad' and 'violence should be avoided' but (a) the characters were preaching at me (the reader) about it and not addressing real issues or debating each other, (b) the problems had been addressed by a deus ex machina, or a deus ex machina popped up quickly to solve such problems, and (c) the problems had nothing to do with the purported story. They only made me feel like the author was pushing his particular 'utopian solution', made possible by magical nanotechnology.
I found it hard to believe Larry Niven would willingly put his name on this tripe. Sad. That said, I did enjoy a different Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper collaboration I read recently, 'Building Harlequin's Moon', so it's not Larry Niven himself at fault, just this particular co-author.
I was expecting a thrilling story about scientists having to work against time to figure out and beat a mysterious threat to the Earth.
Instead, the threat was explained early in the book. No real new threat materialized of any real consequence. The protagonists were able to crush their opposition with hand-wavey nanotechnology easily; their enemies did not turn out to have nanotechnology of their own, their benefactor did not turn out to have sinister plots. The characters were made of cardboard.
I felt the story mainly existed as a screed for libertarian philosophy. I don't disagree with moral points like 'rape is bad' and 'violence should be avoided' but (a) the characters were preaching at me (the reader) about it and not addressing real issues or debating each other, (b) the problems had been addressed by a deus ex machina, or a deus ex machina popped up quickly to solve such problems, and (c) the problems had nothing to do with the purported story. They only made me feel like the author was pushing his particular 'utopian solution', made possible by magical nanotechnology.
I found it hard to believe Larry Niven would willingly put his name on this tripe. Sad. That said, I did enjoy a different Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper collaboration I read recently, 'Building Harlequin's Moon', so it's not Larry Niven himself at fault, just this particular co-author.
