Juggler of Worlds

200 Years Before the Discovery of the Ringworld

By: Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, real and imaginary, and all foes both human and alien. Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others?

But Sigmund may finally have met his match in Nessus, representative of the secretive Puppeteers, the elder race who wield vastly superior technologies. Even after the Puppeteers abruptly vanish from Known Space, Nessus schemes in the shadows with Earth's traitors and adversaries.

As a paranoid, Sigmund has always known things would end horribly for him; only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all eluded him. But even Sigmund never imagined that his destiny would be entwined with the fates of worlds...

©2008 Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Niven and Lerner] clearly enjoy revisiting aliens familiar from Niven's menagerie while spinning an elaborate tale of interplanetary intrigue. Their many fans will, too." ( Booklist)

spectacular performance

This story as well as the supporting performance is much improved over previous works which themselves were very good. The flow of the story is much easier to follow then previous works especially at the very beginning. the performance of the voice talent was exceptional.

Mostly a rewrite of "Crashlander"

This is an 8 hour rewrite of Crashlander from the Sigmund/Nessus point of view, with 4 and a bit hours of new material at the very end. I felt slightly ripped off (hence only a rating of 3).

Complicated story

Like game of thrones. Not as many characters but sometimes hard to follow who is screwing who.

Juggler of worlds orator is A+

I enjoy the whole series, and will continue with Ringworld, Engineers, Throne and Children.

Another fun romp in the Known Space universe

The cat and mouse game between Sigmund and Nessus continues. Well written and well performed, but things happen fast and you have to pay attention.

narrator is great but horrible at the same time

so I have read this book before and the one before it (Fleet of Worlds) and I liked the books, there were a couple of parts that were strange but over all it was great

the narrator is great but horrible at the same time, he does a great job and is easy to understand but after every sentence it is ended with a long trailing off of the word last spoken, even words that make no sense to say like that

what I am talking about is he will say something that ends with the word "world" and will say it like "worllllddd" taking way to long to stop talking, or the word "outing" will be said like "outiiinnnggg" - but words that dont lend them selves to being said that way are said like that also "sense" is said like "sennnse"

its just so dam annoying to the fullest and I cant believe this was allowed to happen in the recording

listen to the sample and you will see what I mean

the book is great so thats good

Known Space meets Bladerunner

Though it is the second entry in the Fleet of Worlds Series, Juggler of Worlds is half prequel half sequel to the first entry. I'm not sure why people have been responding negatively to this title. Thus far, this is my favorite Known Space title. Perhaps more so than Ringworld Engineers. Perhaps readers did not expect this to be a cyberpunk detective story, but I find the intrigue and politics of this story simply irresistible. It adds so much depth the Known Space cannon, and the build up to the events of the Ringworld Series. I don't know why people don't like the narrator, I think he is fantastic. Give it a chance.

A different vision of, with a little

This book summarizes the story of Fleet of Worlds from perspective of Sigmund for what it seems 3/5 of the book. The rest is new stuff.
However, it does not disappoint nor seems repetitive, if you have already read Fleet of Worlds. Very entertaining.

Bounces around a bit

with what almost seem like mini stories with abrupt and sudden conclusions lacking detail and feeling incomplete like there was more of the story to be told within. This may be an effect of having the story read to you. They all fit together toward a rational and satisfying conclusion, however.

Bloody Marvellous

Just Fantastic. Larry Niven needs to get off his butt and write more like this one.