A Gift from Earth - Larry Niven Book Review

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Review Summaries

"This early book of Niven is about a man, Matt Keller, a miner, who lives at Plateau - one of the colonies of the colonies far from Earth. The Plateau society is divided into 2 groups: The descendants of the commanding crew of the two original spaceships that arrived at first to Plateau, and the colonists, the descendants of the passengers of those ships. The latter are cruelly and shameleslly oppressed by the former (who basically control the planet), and are being killed and disassembled for minor crimes, to fill the "organ banks" of the planet. The story of Matt Keller begins actually when he is, without his knowledge, involved with a resistance group of the colonists. Later, he finds that he have strange, psyonic powers, which enable him to become invisible and sometimes more. He don't want to be involved in the story between the colonists and the crew members, but eventually he desides to use his power to help the resistance to discover a secret, a secret which might make the organ banks obsolete, and stop the oppresion of the colonists once and for all..."
Dimitri Melamoud, Resident Larry Niven Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - kills without good reason - strict rationing of freedoms/goods
Mental/magical powers focus Yes
magical powers: - invisibility (scifi)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - blue collar worker
Age: - 20's-30's
Has magical/special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main character: - mind control - Invisibility
Eccentric: Yes - deluded
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - police/lawman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
Terrain - Mountains - Forests
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a moderate amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only

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

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