Shipstar: A Science Fiction Novel (Bowl of Heaven)

Bowl of Heaven and Shipstar are just what I would expect of Niven. He, and Benford think of a truly BIG idea, populate it with humans and explore. The character development isn't really the primary motive here. Though I thought the characters were developed just fine. Beware of some hinted at spoilers: The idea that these "Folk", ancient Bird beings from a familiar planet, have the ability to stay in their "Overmind", accessing their "Undermind" only when necessary gives them a superiority over ordinary mish-mash Human consciousness (consciousness / unconsciousness working in tandem) is an interesting contest. And the reader will see who wins out. I totally loved exploring , well the characters running for their lives, the underground superstructures and rail way tunnels at supersonic speed, almost reminiscent of Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama". Super great fun! period.

This is a worthy sequel to Bowl of Heaven, with more plusses than minuses overall. One the plus side: The narrative kept my interest throughout; the science part of the story is strong, i.e. big, imaginative ideas, with a reasonable level of plausibility. I felt there were a lot of minuses, only a few worth mentioning (others fall into the nitpicky category, but exist nonetheless): Behavior of and human interaction with the Folk was not the way I would imagine it; the dialogue style used by the authors for scenes with humans and aliens was weak, even terrible at times; and, one of the stronger subplots through most of the book involved Cliff and his cat-and-mouse game eluding the Folk, which suddenly and unceremoniously fizzled out at the end....that part was a real let-down for me. Finally, I was hoping for (and pretty much expecting) the story to peak with a big showdown between the Folk and Sunseeker/Redwing, which did not happen. The whole reason for Sunseeker to fly into the jet and wreak havoc was to send a message to the Folk, which I assumed was set-up for a stand-off, which would have been great drama and fun to read...but alas, the authors introduced a new alien species at the end that diffused the situation, which I felt deprived the reader from experiencing a good ol' fashioned humans-outmaneuver-powerful aliens ending. I deducted a star from my rating for this reason alone, but liked the overall story enough to ignore my other complaints and give this read 4 stars.

If you think you know your tech sci-fi stuff, here is a story to expand your imaginings. It is the only tech sci-fi that I've read that provides CAD modeling illustrations at critical technical concept junctures to describe what it would otherwise take a 1000 words to explain poorly. The story has the legs to follow in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke's Rama saga plus Stephen Baxter at his best. This kind of mental fodder entertainment is hard to find and it pops. The first installment of this story, The Bowl of Heaven, was badly panned by reviewers. I didn't read it because of the hammering. At first ... I wasn't getting in to Shipstar and was thinking the Bowl of Heaven reviewers had nailed it. Then about 50-100 pages in, it hooked me. Any sci-fi that pushes the boundaries of basic concepts gets my attention. Shipstar does that on many levels with theory made manifest, a crisp narrative, and reasonably well developed characters. The book is carried by the author's extrapolations into far future technology, the fringes of today's theoretical speculation. This is a step function change-up on the static dynamics of the Dyson-sphere or Ringworld-like constructs. Shipstar is an ancient, dynamically integrated sun and semi-sphere relic ... thus ... the `Shipstar'. The relic is propelled through the galaxy using the star as the engine. The Shipstar has magnanimously collected whole civilizations into its near-Earth habitable construct where there exists sentient rules and hierarchy. The relic has the surface area of tens of thousands of Earths and remains only sparsely inhabited by the relic's strange collection of 'adopted' life forms. The human ship that stumbles up on the relic is a deep space expedition that happens on the relic. The Earth ships flight path is ploteted directly to the Shipstar that's more or less half way to the final destination of the Earth ship. Physics, astrophysics, hyper-engineering, exobiology, antiquity, evolution, governance and behaviors are mashed up in a compelling read. This is techie sci-fi extraordinaire. 5 Star excellent entertainment! I do hope the authors persevere criticism to continue the tale.

There's an over abundance of really awkward techno-babble throughout the book - and that detracts from the flow - the actual story is a good one and it moves along at a reasonable pace until the last third of the book when all of a sudden things start to move very quickly and worse, as the end of the book approaches, they go even faster and faster... so much so that the events at the ending almost don't really make sense, It's also clear that while this is supposedly the second of a two novel saga,that at least a third has to follow or there will be so many questions left unanswered that it would be ridiculous. As said, the story is interesting (albeit despite attempts to separate the 'bowl' from the Ringworld, there are many similarities in structure) and the ideas involved are original and interesting, but the way it's written - especially the flow at the end - makes things begin not to make sense (and the techno-babble which in my opinion also increases greatly towards the end, compounds that).That's a 3 1/2 Star above.Good enough to read, but could have been a whole lot better.

Excellent sequel to The Bowl of Heaven. Believable characters and an engaging story. Hope there's a sequel to this one too!

Follow up book to Bowl of Heaven elaborates on things happening in the first book. The Bowl is an intergalactic vehicle that is and has traversed the galaxy and has encountered life of many kinds. In the second book we find out that there is a lot more to the mysterious Bowl and its beings than was first thought. The beings that appeared to be in charge are nothing more than servants of the real powers , who have reasons of their own to interface with the human travellers. The book wrapped up the story and that may be the end of the two book series. However , the humans , at the end of book two , are about to split their force ; some to stay on the bowl and colonize , and some to relight the torch and head off towards a planet designated as Glory. Still plenty of story left , if they wish to write it.

This pair of books are in my top fifty collection, a Niven/ Benford collaboration is bound to produce some thing special and different. The human players in the two tales are very believable, enjoyable and easy to identify with. These two books can be enjoyed by any one with an imagination, no requirement for understanding of the physics/ engineering of the bowl is necessary to enjoy and be entertained as a reader. Please enjoy Robin

The second half of "Bowl Of Heaven". As such it is a satisfying continuation and conclusion of the first book. A very enjoyable addition to Larry Niven's impressive body of work

This is entertaining read! I recommend it.