Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
In the free-fall environment of the Smoke Ring, the descendants of the crew of the Discipline no longer remembered their Earth roots -- or the existence of Sharls Davis Kendy, the computer-program despot of the ship. Until Kendy initiated contact once more.

Fourteen years later, only Jeffer, the Citizens Tree Scientist, knew that Kendy was still watching -- and waiting. Then the Citizens Tree people rescued a family of loggers and learned for the first time of the Admiralty, a large society living in free fall amid the floating debris called the Clump. And it was likely that the Admiralty had maintained, intact, Discipline's original computer library.

Exploration was a temptation neither Jeffer nor Kendy could resist, and neither Citizens Tree nor Sharls Davis Kendy would ever be the same again...

Rating : - The end of Niven's slower-than-lightspeed State that started in World out of Time
This is a nice follow up to the Intregal trees. Now, Larry built a quasi-universe with an all controlling "State" that was established in the novel "World out of time", a very odd novel that Larry took years to write from the time of 1975 until the late 1970s.

The Intregal trees is the immediate follow up to the Smoke world, people live in a zero G enviorment that looks like a giant Smoke Ring (or it's a Ring World less a ring). Basically, it's still Larry's flat characters in a world that is fantastic by any part of the immagination. Personally, I didn't think there was much of a story here. It was more a story about a tribe of humans adapting to life with no gravity. Since I'm a big Niven fan that's not a large deal. Also, since about 90% of the reviewers here are Niven fans it's no big deal. Now, if you're not a Niven fan the book is dry and not with a lot of purpose. If you're part of the Niven fan club then the book is a four. If you're not then the book is a two star book. On average the grade is three stars, a C grade.

Looking back on this book I'm a little perplexed on how the Smoke Ring could work. The radiation from Jupiter would be fatal to any human life in a matter of days. "Gold" is a good part of the mass of Jupiter, if Gold's radiation was a fraction of Jupiter, the radiation would kill off all life in the smoke ring in a matter of weeks.

But this is still a fair book. The characters are interesting. We get to see a tribe of teenagers turn into a group of responsbile working adults. Larry takes care of a question of the fatherhood for one character. Also, Larry gets rid of one of the most annoying computers since the infamous HAL of 2001. Somebody said they didn't get the ending. Actually, there is an ending. The last part of the State has to leave the humans. Read the book and you'll get it.

I hope you enjoy this book. You'll read my last Niven review in "Fleet of Worlds" which is ready for release this coming Fall of 2008. My 28 years of reading Larry's books will be at an end.

Thanks for all the fun time, Mr. Van Colt. It has been a pleasure.

Signed

Bill Hensler