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arranges to touch the mind of the Sea Statue -
the enigmatic sculpture found at the bottom of
a marine trench years before only recently
identified as an alien being in temporal stasis.
Greenberg contrives to break the stasis field long
enough to read the being's mind - only to discover
that the creature is a Thrint, a being who
enslaves other beings through its overwhelming
psionic power.
Greenberg becomes convinced he _is_ the thrint,
and begins a trek across space to find his other
equipment left behind billions of years ago but
still pristine and new in stasis, equipment that
will help him enslave the entire human race. This
soon becomes a race, when the stasis field of the
Sea Statue, destabilized by Greenberg's meddling,
releases the Thrint itself, with precisely the
same ideas.
With this story, Niven lays the foundation for his
Known Space novels, introducing the idea of the
stasis box, the Slavers, their favorite slaves
the Tnuctipun, and the great war they waged that
wiped out every intelligent being in the galaxy
a billion years ago.
Not a bad read, but not
a great one either, it fits well with the rest of
the Known Space stories and as a member in good
standing of that arc, well worth reading, and far
superior to Niven's later efforts.
WORLD OF PTAAVS begins two billion years before the present with the alien Kzanol, a member of the Thrintun race. This race had the ability to control others telepathically and are the Slavers mentioned in later Known Space works. After the drive on Kzanol's ship burns out, Kzanol puts himself into a stasis field and aims himself at Earth. He supposes that only 90 years will pass until he is rescued, but eons go by while he lies in stasis after impacting in Earth's ocean.
In the near-future, a scientist believes that he can break open Kzanol's stasis field and enlists the help of Larry Greenberg. A telepath, Greenberg's job is to read the alien's mind for several seconds before the field is reactivated. However, Kzanol's telepathic abilities overwhelm Greenberg, and Greenberg comes to believes he is Kzanol. The two Kzanol's set out to Neptune, racing against each other to claim the telepathic amplifier that Kzanol sent there, with which one could enslave all of Earth. Lucas Garner, an agent with the UN, gives chase.
WORLD OF PTAAVS was clearly written in the mid-60's. There is only one female character, and she is a stereotypical June Cleaver housewife. Niven was unable to foreesee the advent of powerful personal computing, and the computers of the novel output their information on paper strips like stocktickers. One amusing part of the novel for modern audiences is a reference to "West Berlin." Even the science of the story is outdated, one part refers to landing on Neptune, but Neptune is a gas giant without a solid surface.
It is difficult to recommend WORLD OF PTAAVS, it is a very weak novel with wooden characters and clumsy writing. However, the novel is an integral part of Niven's Known Space universe, and much of the elements of this novel went on to play a part in other Known Space works. If you've never read anything by Larry Niven, though, get his collection NEUTRON STAR (out of print, several stories are in the collection CRASHLANDER), or his award-winning novel RINGWORLD. Check out WORLD OF PTAAVS only if you want light shed on certain elements of the Known Space series.
That being said, I really liked World of Ptavvs. Larry's universe if fun and fairly PG rated, no really offensive stuff here. Indeed, this story goes well with the later Ringworld, Neutron Star stories, and the rest of Know Space.
Basically, in this book the universe is old and there have been several wars of expermination between various species. About a few billion years past the Trints are mind-controlling overlords of the universe. They are double crossed and decided to exterminate life in the universe. Basically, the only thing left alive in the universe is food scum and we all evolved from that.
Fast forward a billion years. Explorers on earth find a frozen statue of an alien. They use a stasis field, turn off the alien's stasis, and a threat comes to earth that could enslave the universe.
Niven write fun and fast. To pass time the mind controlling Alien pays cards and the people who are controlled figure the thing is stupid, it can't spot card patterns. The lesson is clear: people in control don't have to be smart (that was known in 1966 and is still true today).
Niven's high points in writing is in his playground of "Known Space". The novels read fast, are not boring, and are always fun.
Now, this novel was written back in 1966. So, it's a little dated. We pretty much know there are no Martians.
Still, it's fun. I rate it a 4 star.
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