[Note: this review first appeared in my “Guest Reference Library” column in the January/February 2009 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.]
Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
Tor, $24.95, 352pp, hc, 9780765318268.
If you grab every new story of Larry Niven’s “Known Space” as it comes out, you don’t need to hear from me to know you’re going to get this book and read it, too. And if you haven’t read them all, but did read Niven and Edward M. Lerner’s Fleet of Worlds, you’re probably on your way to the bookstore simply knowing Juggler of Worlds is out. So I’m writing mostly for those who haven’t completely immersed themselves in Niven’s thousand-year set of stories set in a bubble nearly one hundred light-years across, encompassing dozens of planets, many species, and some big ideas (and all this is still two hundred years before the discovery of the Ringworld).
Juggler of Worlds takes up the story in a time-jumping fashion, moving ahead a year or three between chapters, and telling events that some readers have already seen in other stories. But for the newcomer, the authors do a good job of explaining who and what we’re dealing with, without bogging down the narrative for experienced Known Space readers. To start, we meet paranoid Sigmund Ausfaller, a forensic financial analyst who is a natural recruit for ARM, the United Nations’ global police force. It’s Ausfaller’s new job to protect what is effectively an empire based on the foundations of the United Nations. And while his coworkers have to develop their paranoia through the use of drugs, Sigmund’s innate paranoia makes him a natural at his job (who better to look for unknown threats than someone who suspects everyone and everything?). We truly feel the universe is out to get him (and us) as he investigates chains of coincidences and fortuitous accidents, and ultimately winds up unraveling planet-spanning plots.
The biggest problem is continued from the previous books: the galactic core is exploding, which will result in the end of life as we know it in several tens of thousands of years. While that’s not such an imminent danger for humans who live a scant one- or two-hundred years (life extension is one of the minor technological improvements taken for granted in these books), for the Puppeteers (a race descended from herd-animals who are natural cowards), that’s a danger which will cause them to make their way out of the galaxy. But rather than stuffing a huge population (three orders of magnitude more than humans) into spaceships, the Puppeteers are taking their planets with them.
It’s this sudden decision to leave the galaxy, allowing their massive General Products corporation (which makes the hulls for all the starships) to collapse and disappear, which causes massive economic and social repercussions throughout Known Space. And it’s up to Sigmund and his ever-changing cadre of acquaintances (to call them friends would imply a lot less paranoia on Sigmund’s part) to figure out where the Puppeteers have gone (their cowardice keeps their home worlds hidden and their actions always secret), why, and what can be done about it.
Throw in the Outsiders (an immensely old, immensely powerful, and very slow-moving race), who appear to know everything and are willing to sell that knowledge, and the wheels within wheels are big enough to crush even the strongest paranoid personality, or the largest worlds-spanning economy.
Sigmund investigates the disappearance of the Puppeteers, the causes behind the birth-license riots, how pirates are pulling ships out of hyperspace, and why the world’s richest man seems to be in league with everyone on the wrong side of the law. And after Sigmund’s death, the stakes get even higher.
Niven has been writing in this universe for more than thirty years. But even after that amount of time, he and co-author Lerner are telling a fresh story that is easily read and enjoyed, and it stands just fine on its own. In other words, if you haven’t read the preceding stories, don’t let that stop you from reading this one. You’ll find a whole new universe of tales you’ll want to read.