A World Out of Time

After more than two hundred years as a corpsicle, Jaybee Corbell awoke in someone else’s body and under threat of instant annihilation if he made a wrong move while they were training him for a one-way mission to the stars.

But Corbell bided his time and made his own move. Once he was outbound, where the society that ruled Earth could not reach him, he headed his starship toward the galactic core, where the unimaginable energies of the universe wrenched the fabric of time and space and promised final escape from his captors.

Then he returned to an Earth eons older than the one he’d left, a planet that had had three million years to develop perils he had never dreamed of - perils that became nightmares that he had to escape... somehow.

Larry Niven is the multiple Hugo and Nebula award–winning author of the Ringworld series, as well as many other science fiction masterpieces. His Beowulf’s Children, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, was a New York Times best seller. He lives in Chatsworth, California.

©1976 Larry Niven (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This fantastic novel is a mix of Niven hard science and a time-travel concept to boggle the mind.…Even after the last line the feeling remains of the story still rushing on into the magic distance of the universe.” (A. E. van Vogt, winner of the SFWA Grand Master Award)

“Niven rams this fantastic tale at the reader with taut authority, mixing hard science with mind-boggling concepts of time and space to give us a whole new kind of trip.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Niven’s intoxicating concepts, ideas, scientific extrapolations, and exotic hardware bubble up from every page. Rich in imagination and astonishing in breadth…Will challenge the most sophisticated readers.” ( Booklist)

A must listen for any time travel buffs.

What did you love best about A World Out of Time?

I actually loved that this wasn't just a time travel book. There is a good chunk of it that takes place in interstellar space. That learning is done by memory shots. That even in millions of years cars will still be an accepted form of transportation. I love Peerssa for some reason. I love the cat tails. I loved that despite this book being written in the 70s, it is still a brilliant piece of fiction.

What other book might you compare A World Out of Time to and why?

I have only listened to 3 other time travel books, "The Time Travelers Wife", and "Times Eye", both of which are nothing like this book. If I had to make a comparison to anything, it would be the Blockbuster movie, "The Time Machine".

What about Tom Weiner’s performance did you like?

Everything, every voice was distinct and separate. Mirelly-Lyra even had that old crony sound. Tom was awesome!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't laugh or cry but I had an acute interest in getting to the next chapter.

Any additional comments?

Got to ask yourself...would you ever take a one way trip 3 million years into the future?

Imaginative and a great story.

This is Larry Niven on top of his game, don't miss it. There are several sequels that hold up well. You're in for quite a ride if you pick this up.

Interesting story

Even though the story takes place at several points in the future, the story itself doesn't age well and becomes a bit dated. The story also can get bogged down in technical "mumbo jumbo" which slows the pace of the story but I've always found Larry Nivens' work to do that. Don't get me wrong! Love Larry Nivens' works but it is a weak point. You almost need diagrams with his stories!

Two Books in One

A fantastic theme: time traveler is pressed into service by the "state" and shifted 3 million years into the future to find an alien civilization. Larry Niven has a strange mind and his view of the "future", engaging. The science is fun and the characters are fleshed out well enough to understand. However, there's really a couple of books/plots in this one. Either one would make a good Star Trek episode.

Brilliant Performance; Modern Classic

Mid-Century sci-fi genius; sweeping tale of the redemption of a lost man in and out of time and space