Time, space and a reader's patience become vertiginously distorted in this dizzying compilation of six linked tales written over a 30-year time span by Niven (Destiny's Road ), winner of five Hugo Awards. Five short stories written between 1969 and 1973 follow the title novella...but relate events predating its Martian adventures of Niven's klutzy time-traveler hero, Hanville Svetz, as he scours previous centuries for animals extinct in his environmentally devastated 2300 A.D. Earth. When Svetz's Institute for Temporal Research is transferred to the Bureau for Sky Domains, the resulting power struggle launches Svetz into Mars's inhabited past, accompanied by two lissome, stretch-suited astronauts, Zeera and Miya, on a mission to save Earth from Mars's dried-up fate and to colonize the solar system. After surviving Miya's lusty libido and multitudinous hokey alien monsters, Svetz solves one of the chief mysteries of Niven's universe, that of the Beanstalk stretching from earth to the heavens. Occasional satiric sparks light up Svetz's perils, but internal consistency is weak, while a generally gluey pace retards Niven's intended flights of imagination.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
As a member of the Institute of Temporal Research, Hanville Svetz explores Earth's past on a regular basis--to satisfy the whims of the current secretary-general (whomever he might happen to be). From retrieving the seeds of a Martian world-tree to capturing a "horse" from preatomic Earth, Svetz risks life, limb, and sanity in the pursuit of his duty. SF veteran Niven's latest effort combines an original novella and five related short stories revolving around the concept of time travel--with a fantastic twist. Known for his hard science and imaginative storytelling, Niven now illustrates his skill at offbeat seriocomic sf in a story cycle recommended for most sf collections.
Niven's masterly use of SF strategies hits every note, springing surprises and plot turns with dizzying pace. Niven...lifts the reader far from the conventional world -- and does it with dash.
Rainbow Mars takes a light-hearted look at time travel, environmentalism, and the possibility of life on Mars...Niven take the concept of an orbital tower, an elevator to the stars, and plays with the idea of it being organic rather than mechanical. Kind of turning the whole Ringworld concept on its ear. What if instead of constructing a huge technological wonder, you grow it? Then throw in time travel and all of the complications that accompany it. Thankfully the story is not filled with painful, mind-wrenching time-paradoxes that can make time travel tedious and confusing...I think you'll enjoy Rainbow Mars. It's clever, humorous and an enjoyable book. Just remember to start at the end before you go to the beginning.
Almost 30 years ago, Niven (the splendid Destiny's Road .) wrote a handful of stories featuring Hanville Svetz of the Institute for Temporal Research. These reappear here as a sort of postscript, but the main attraction is a new full-length adventure.
By the 31st century, Earth is polluted nearly to death, most species are extinct, and the office of U.N. Secretary-General has become hereditary. Under Waldemar the Tenth, Svetz roamed the past seeking wonderful animals to retrieve for Waldemar's delectation. Waldemar the Eleventh, though, wants space travel and aliens-but the space program is nonexistent. So, what if the Martian canals observed by Lowell really were evidence of a dying civilization? Svetz and astronaut Miya Thorsven arrive on Mars in the year 1500. This Mars is inhabited, crisscrossed by canals, and sports a Beanstalk, a space elevator that seems to be a colossal space-going alien plant. The Martians, however, are mostly hostile and belong to a bewildering number of different species. Svetz and Miya must obtain Beanstalk seeds: if such a structure could be grown on Earth, it would yield cheap, painless access to space and its limitless resources. Several Martian species have already colonized this Beanstalk, which breaks free and sails off into space. When Svetz and Miya arrive at Earth a century later they watch the Beanstalk attach itself and grow. Mission accomplished? Well, not exactly. By the time they struggle back to the 31st century-not the same future they left-the Earth is dying, the Beanstalk having absorbed most of the planet's water. Worse, the Beanstalk swarms with hostile Martians and is useless as a space elevator. Somehow, Svetz and Miya mustchange the past once again to remove the troublesome Beanstalk and find a way to make Mars live once more. A brilliantly conceived, funny, exciting, nail-biting, heart-warming jaunt through weird and wonderful histories that never were.
"A writer of supreme talent." -Tom Clancy
