A World Out of Time ~Larry Niven

–1976, Del Rey Books
–246 pages

REVIEW SUMMARY: Niven begets Niven as I revisit a cherished book to give it a proper review. A smattering of hard-sci fi and a large dollop of space opera are mixed to create a page-turning adventure set 3,000,000 years in Earth’s future.

MY RATING: 4.75/5 stars

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Jaybee Corbell, his cancer-ridden body frozen in 1970, is revived 200 years later in a body that is not his own. Stripped of his own free will, as well as his body, he is a servant to the all-powerful State. His one chance at remaining alive is to rise to the task set before him: pilot a one-way mission out into the universe to seed planets for future population. A last ditch effort at rebellion propels Corbell on a journey through space that will eventually lead him back to Earth…an Earth three million years older than when he left it. It is there, on a world that has reverted to a more primitive state, that Jaybee Corbell’s true adventures begin.

MY REVIEW:

PROS:

-Likable ‘everyman’ protagonist.
-A mixture of space travel and the exploration of a primitive world, with ruins of a far-advanced civilization, make for an interesting, multi-setting tale that keeps a brisk pace.
-The ‘hard sci fi’ elements are brief, engaging, and seeded throughout the tale in such a manner that they are a part of the story rather than becoming the story itself.
-Verbal imagery that makes the imagination run wild.

CONS:

-Characterization is not deep. This is an adventure story with interesting characters, not a deep character study.
-A few deus ex machina moments may be too coincidental for the literary connoisseur.

BOTTOM LINE: A World Out of Time is one of the reasons that science fiction is my first love. A lone traveler, enemies real and perceived, a journey through two frontiers: an enormous universe and a primal earth. Adventure! My soon-to-be-admitted decades-old bias aside, this is a novel that I would recommend as a good entry-level novel for those wanting to get a taste of the hard science fiction genre and for those comfortable with the genre.

Though little more than a week has passed since my first experience with his seminal classic, Ringworld, I am no stranger to the work of Larry Niven. I documented with sincere emotion (here) the events that lead to my receipt of the above pictured copy of this book and how I first became attached to this novel. The brief recap: A World Out of Time is the first science fiction novel that I purchased for myself. Looking back I would estimate that this was around 1978 or 79. I would have been 10 or 11 years old. My memories of finding and buying that book are so vivid that it is no wonder this book holds a special place in my estimation. The last time I read this book was in early 2006. It was time for a re-read.

It may have been the strange cat-snake creature on the cover that caught my eye, but it was the melodramatic back cover hook that made me walk out of the store that day with book in hand. Not exactly Shakespeare, as far as book summaries go, but enough to whet the appetite without spoiling the story by revealing too much.

A World Out of Time was published several years after the release of Ringworld. Though not part of Niven’s Known Space universe, A World Out of Time shares a number of similar ideas: devices that provide instantaneous between various locations, the knowledge of how to move planets, fountain-of-youth-emulating substances, deep sleep tanks for long space voyages. Both stories also share journeys across vast distances of wild frontier that are akin in spirit to the works of earlier science fiction adventure storytellers like Edgar Rice Burroughs. At its heart I see a lot of ERB in the on-earth portion of Niven’s story. One of the things I find most fascinating about this story, which gives it that ‘worth re-reading’ quality for me, is the descriptions of Jaybee Corbell’s journey across an Earth that is so far removed from what he knows that technologies beyond his imaginings are the the stuff of decay and of ruin. Reading those sections of the story provide such fertile ground for one’s imagination. Though it may seem like a very simple and overused plot device, the inclusion of artifacts of a previous civilization give a story like this such a sense of time and history that I cannot help but let my thoughts wander the paths created by Niven’s descriptions.

Beyond that I am reluctant to reveal more details. Niven provides Jaybee Corbell with a number of potential foes and allies through the course of the story. Through the eyes of Jaybee Corbell, the reader experiences the vast wonder and loneliness of space as well as the excitement of the exploration of a world largely under the control of Mother Nature. As a young boy reading this story for the first time there was a lot to like. There was science that at the time was truly beyond my understanding and yet was intriguing enough that I felt like I really accomplished something by reading through it. There was a determined, rugged, rebellious individual somewhat in the mold of my other science fiction heroes: Han Solo and Slippery Jim DiGriz. There was adventure and action and even a little sex! And there was an ending full of suspense and revelations that was satisfying and yet hinted that there were more adventures to come in the life of Jaybee Corbell.

There exists the possibility of disappointment when revisiting the things we loved as a child. I fully understand the risk and why some choose not to take it. Perhaps it is a mark of a reluctance to completely relinquish childhood that has worked to ensure that I have never allowed the novels that strongly affected me as a child/young man to fade into my past. Stories by Brian Daley, Harry Harrison, and this novel by Larry Niven have warranted irregular rereads over the past decades. I have never let my affection for them grow cold or become solely a memory from the past. Though I am able to recognize weak areas in the stories that ‘wowed’ me in my youth, it has not changed my deep held attachment to them. Because of that I freely admit that my judgment in regards to A World Out of Time may be suspect. If it is not the story I think it to be, I can only point to the fact that this reread was no less enjoyable than any other time in my past that I have gotten the urge to travel with Jaybee Corbell again.

In my humble opinion I think it is a fantastic, fun adventure novel set in a science fiction universe that is well worth spending some time in.