The Smoke Ring

by Larry Niven Narrated by Tom Weiner

Overview

In the free-fall environment of the Smoke Ring, descendants of the crew of the Discipline no longer remember their Earth roots or the existence of Sharls Davis Kendy, the computer-program despot of the ship-until Kendy initiates contact once more.

Fourteen years later, only Jeffer, the Citizens Tree Scientist, knows that Kendy is still watching and waiting. Then, when the Citizens Tree people rescue a family of loggers, they learn for the first time of the Admiralty, a large society living in free fall amid the floating debris called the Clump. It is likely that the Admiralty has maintained, intact, Discipline's original computer library. Exploration is a temptation neither Jeffer nor Kendy can resist, and neither Citizens Tree nor Sharls Davis Kendy will ever be the same again.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The setting of Niven's 1984 novel The Integral Trees was striking and imaginative, even for this acclaimed world builder; it's well worth the second visit made in this sequel. Around a neutron star an envelope of gas holds a breathable atmosphere and a strange profusion of plant and animal life, all floating in free-fall. Five hundred years after the crew of the Earth ship Discipline mutinied and deserted to this paradise, their descendants are still watched over by the ship's unbalanced computer mind. The machine is busy manipulating its one small contact group into exploring the larger city they have been avoiding for years. Aspects of this society are intriguingfor instance, the disdain of the better-adapted taller, thinner people for the ``dwarfish'' throwbacks, even though only the short can fit into the scientific relics of the old ship. As usual with Niven, character and story are just an excuse for working out the properties of his wonderful imaginary world, where people can fly like birds and ponds full of fish hang in midair. Unfortunately, in this book he fails to marshal the visual and dramatic flair needed to show it off to best effect. (May 1)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169907612
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	12/01/2013
Series:	The State , #3
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos