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Crashlander
Larry Niven Book Review

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Plot Summary of Crashlander
"Crashlander is a collection of stories about Beowulf Schaeffer - those who have read Ringworld will remember him as the man who discovered the core explosion. In Crashlander, we find out about that adventure, as well as a number of others. Beowulf's motto is "the universe is trying to kill me," and from him that's not paranoia, just common sense - it does try, again and again. The binder material that Niven interpolated between the stories is not nearly as gripping as the stories themselves, and of course the stories do vary in quality, but overall this is a great collection."
Ivy, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Crashlander
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena - preventing an ecological disaster - stranded on alien planet, fighting aliens to survive
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - physically sick

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
Terrain - Space, need spacesuit
Earth setting: - medium future 22-24th century
Spaceship setting: - futuristic human freighter/transport
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society - neutral aliens - empty, or nearly empty world
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Planet outside solar system? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to Crashlander
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Midworld by Alan Dean Foster
Freedom's Choice - Freedom Series 2 by Anne McCaffrey
Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction Of The Century by Orson Scott Card
First Landing by Robert Zubrin


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Larry Niven Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Dimitri Melamoud  

SCHOLARS:
Nesssus  Alan Tompkins  Aaron Branson  Harriet Klausner  Chris Stephensen  Gareth Powell  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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