Treasure Planet (Man-Kzin Wars Series)

Rewrites a familiar story very well.

Homage to reassure island

Completed my collection.

I asked for, and was given this book as a birthday present. If I had bought it I would have considered it wasted money. It is a children's book and its only redemption for adults was watching the parallel with Treasure Island unfold. I read it to the end and didn't then think I wish I hadn't so it can't have been terrible.

I have loved all the Man Kzin series since Mr Larry Niven first started it (Yes I am that old).This volume is the absolute pits and I am ashamed it is under the same umbrella.First it is a retelling of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, a book I enjoyed as a child, but badly written.Having Kzin speak "Pirate Talk" does not work and contributes to the awfulness.In conclusion I could have said more but couldn't bear to, this is an awful book, badly written.Shame on the authors

The MK-Wars series has an established in-joke of re-presenting classic stories set in the "space opera theme, so I'm not terribly bothered by the rehash of Treasure Island into Space aspect of it. Never having read the original (or for that matter, seen a film of it), it would kill two Kzin with one thermonuclear device, but that's fine. Not as good as the Bogart Recycling, which does work well. This one seems to be stumbling on that - the match is rather contrived.But what really lets the book down is the repeated diversions into far-right wing American economic propaganda. It is hammered into the reader without relevance to the story, and with the blazing-eyed fervour of someone who is probably on a watch list somewhere. And not because he (or she- I'm not sure who is spouting this vomit) is writing well. 'Mein Kampf' has better presented economic theory.This is so off-putting that I am struggling to finish the book. It has lain, unloved, on my nightstand, marker about the half-way point, and I feel no temptation to get my eyes dirty by picking up up again. Which is a novel experience for and SF novel. I made better progress through Kafka's Schloss, or even Dostoyevsky, with less necessary effort.The publishers have done the authors a disservice by publishing this without advising strong editing to tell a story, not rant their personal politics. Both are now on my "do not buy" list.

I've been working through the Man-Kzin wars books and the stories are of pretty varied quality. This one is the pits. There's a Kzin who speaks all ooh-arr (even in Heroes Tongue) and is called SIlver! That tells you enough. The story is a direct copy of RLS's with all the main characters paralleled.Why do people do this? In some of the other books there are short stories that are similarly dire pastiches of The Third Man ("The Third Kzin") and Casablanca (with a synth-player called Sam).

Larry Niven in large letters on the cover, a man-kzin novel. That sounded good.Imagine my disappointment when, after a few dozen pages, I realised that I was reading "Treasure Island", except the one legged Long John Silver is replaced by the one legged Kzin Silver. And Ben Gunn is replaced by Bengar. And so on.Could they think up an original plot?In future, I will be very wary of buying a book with Larry Niven's name on it.

It's good read. Not at all what I expected. Interesting abd fits well into the universe. Just a good yarn

This is another in the Man-Kzin Wars series , of which there are about 14 volumes of short stories and several novels. This one is outstanding. Set near Wunderland shortly after the end of the war , some of the Kzin have become part of the society , but some, cut off from the Patriarchy have gone renegade , and have become what you might expect , Pirates. With perhaps a nod to Robert A. Heinlein the action centres around adolescents , one a male human and the other an intelligent female Kzin ( previous to this female Kzin were kept in harems and rendered docile ). Can't have Pirates without a treasure , so a hint is found of a planet that appears to be a library , possibly of Slaver era origin , which would have virtually unlimited technical advances. Also on the planet there is the tech of open stepping discs ( instant teleportation ) which might indicate Puppeteer origin. Imagine a planet with a very slow day , only turning a couple of times a year ; if stranded you would have to walk around the world to stay in the "daylight" , or you would transit into the night side and probably freeze/starve. An interesting idea which is explored here. The elaboration on the theme of intelligent female Kzin is taken to new areas , which are fascinating.Hoping for a sequel to elaborate , and at any rate , the concepts introduced here are now part of the fabric of space-time in the Man-Kzin Known Universe. Yet to be answeredis the question of who set up the library planet and why? The last line of the book is " But that's another story." , so that pretty much indicates more to come does it not?

very good transposition of the classical treasure planet - Loved it."Scream and Leap - after having tought about it!"

Ein bißchen ein Rückfall in die Jugend. Hal Colebatch zeigt erneut seine Meisterschaft im Thema Man Kzin Wars. Zugleich kennt man die Handlung ud auch wieder nicht. Eine schöne Hommage an Stevenson!

I was really looking forward to another full length Man-Kzin war book. The first one, Destiny's Forge, was absolutely great, but this review is for Treasure Planet.It is OK. Not the greatest story ever told. It did leave a lot of space(no pun intended) open for sequels but over all the story was rather weak. One thing I found particularly annoying was the stereo-typical pirate speak of the Kzin pirates. OK, they're pirates, I get it but all the "arr-cap'n" and "avast thar" was too much. Maybe if they were HUMAN pirates I could live with it but they AREN'T human pirates. Where and why would they ever have picked up that slang???I bought it to keep my Man-Kzin collection complete.If I had known what was written beforehand would I have bought it...? ARRR-I think not!!