Shipstar: A Science Fiction Novel (Bowl of Heaven) - Hardcover

Benford, Gregory; Niven, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765328704 ISBN 13: 9780765328700

Publisher: Tor Books, 2014

Synopsis

The dramatic sequel to Larry Niven and Gregory Benford's New York Times bestselling novel, Bowl of Heaven

Science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape) continue the thrilling adventure of a human expedition to another star system that is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system the human ship is to colonize.

Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated―one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape―while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe.

About this title

About the Author

GREGORY BENFORD is professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine, and lives in Irvine. Benford is a winner of the United Nations Medal for Literature, and the Nebula Award for his classic novel Timescape.

LARRY NIVEN is the author of the Ringworld series and many other science fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf's Children, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Chatsworth, California.

Reviews

Masters of artifact-based world-building, Benford and Niven have created a fascinating structure, the Bowl, and added politics, varied alien societies, and advanced technologies. The first team sent down to the Bowl escapes with the help of some snakelike aliens. The other team has escaped Folk custody and flees across the Bowl, aided by the Sil, another humanoid species. Assumptions are challenged; a threatening message comes in from Glory, the SunSeeker’s original destination; and the secret origin of the Folk comes out. There are creatures living in and on the Bowl beyond human imagination, with their own goals, and the Folk have overstepped their role as enforcers of equilibrium among the many species of the Bowl. The humans are a disruptive influence, too chaotic for this closed system, and by the end of the book, everything will be different on the Bowl and the SunSeeker. From its origin, in a vast engineered world, to the concluding social upheaval, the story is a solid adventure and entertaining speculation on the lives of alien creatures. --Regina Schroeder

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765328704
• ISBN 13: 9780765328700
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416