Larry Niven

Last Updated on July 1, 2020 Larry Niven is a well-known American sci-fi author who has been writing for the last 50 or so years and is best known for his Ringworld science-fiction series which has received several awards, including the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. Reading the Larry Niven books in order involves, however, picking up his Fleet of Worlds, Heorot, and Man-Kzin Wars book series as well.

Here are all the Larry Niven books in reading order for his work over the last 50 or so years. Since the author has several series published, they are listed in the order of publication, starting from Known Space, a series written between 1966-1980.

New Larry Niven Book

Conversations From the Edge: The Galaxy’s Edge Interviews, 2019

Starborn and Godsons (Heorot #4), 2019

Known Space Series In Order

1. World Of The Ptavvs, 1966
2. A Gift from Earth, 1968
3. Protector, 1973
4. The Patchwork Girl, 1980

Ringworld Series In Order

1. Ringworld, 1970
2. The Ringworld Engineers, 1980
3. The Ringworld Throne, 1996
4. Ringworld’s Children, 2004
5. Fate of Worlds, 2012

Fleet of Worlds Series In Order

1. Fleet of Worlds, 2007
2. Juggler of Worlds, 2008
3. Destroyer of Worlds, 2009
4. Betrayer of Worlds, 2010

Fate of Worlds is the last book in both the Ringworld and Fleet of Worlds series.

Heorot Series In Order

1. The Legacy of Heorot, 1987
2. The Secret of Black Ship Island, 2012 (novella)
3. Beowulf’s Children, 1995
4. Starborn and Godsons, 2020

Man-Kzin Wars Series In Order

1. The Man-Kzin Wars, 1988
2. Man-Kzin Wars II, 1989
3. Man-Kzin Wars III, 1990
4. Man-Kzin Wars IV, 1991
5. Man-Kzin Wars V, 1992
6. Man-Kzin Wars VI, 1994
7. Man-Kzin Wars VII, 1995
8. Man-Kzin Wars VIII, 1998
9. Man-Kzin Wars IX, 2002
10. Man-Kzin Wars X, 2003
11. Man-Kzin Wars XI, 2005
12. Man-Kzin Wars XII, 2009
13. Man-Kzin Wars XIII, 2012
14. Man-Kzin Wars XIV, 2013
15. Man-Kzin Wars XV, 2019

Mote Series In Order

1. The Mote in God’s Eye, 1974
2. The Gripping Hand, 1993
3. Outies, 2010

Dante/Inferno Series In Order

1. Inferno, 1976
2. Escape from Hell, 2009

Golden Road Series In Order

1. The Burning City, 2000
2. Burning Tower, 2005
3. Burning Mountain, na

Dream Park Series In Order

1. Dream Park, 1981
2. The Barsoom Project, 1989
3. The California Voodoo Game, 1992
4. The Moon Maze Game, 2011

The State Series In Order

1. A World Out of Time, 1976
2. The Integral Trees, 1984
3. The Smoke Ring, 1987

Magic Goes Away Series In Order

1. Not Long before the End, 1969 (novella)
2. What Good Is a Glass Dagger?, 1972 (novella)
3. The Magic Goes Away, 1978
4. The Magic May Return, 1981
5. More Magic, 1984
6. The Seascape Tattoo, 2016

Bowl Of Heaven Series In Order

1. Bowl of Heaven, 2012
2. Shipstar, 2014
3. Glorious, 2020

Standalone Larry Niven Books

• The Flying Sorcerers, 1971
• Lucifer’s Hammer, 1977
• Oath of Fealty, 1981
• The Descent of Anansi, 1982
• Footfall, 1985
• Fallen Angels, 1991
• Achilles’ Choice, 1991
• Saturn’s Race, 2001
• Building Harlequin’s Moon, 2005
• The Goliath Stone, 2013
• Conversations From the Edge: The Galaxy’s Edge Interviews, 2019

Larry Niven Biography

So who is Larry Niven?

Born in 1938 in Los Angeles, California, Laurence van Cott Niven spent most of his childhood in Beverly Hills.

In 1956, he enrolled at the California Institute of Technology, however, after 1.5 years he left school. Eventually, he returned to his studies, this time attending Washburn University, Kansas, from where he graduated in 1962 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in psychology.

Next, he went to UCLA where he studied for one year as a graduate student in Mathematics, before once again, dropping out of his studies due to science-fiction. This time it was not because he liked to read, but because he wanted to write his own books.

In 1964 he sold a short story he wrote under the title The Coldest Place, for $25. The same year, the story appeared in the December issue of Worlds of If. Two years later, in 1966, he published World Of The Ptavvs, which would become the first novel in the Known Space series.

The author received numerous awards for his books, including the so-much coveted Nebula Award, the Hugo and Locus awards.

Besides writing books, short stories, and anthologies, he has also written several scripts for a few TV shows, such as Land of the Lost series; Star Trek: The Animated Series. In addition, he is known for writing the Green Lantern character for the DC Comics.

Someone sent me an email asking me, “Is Larry Niven still alive?” Well, yes, the author is still alive and kicking and hopefully working on his next Known Space book.

Tales of the Known Space includes not only the four books in the Known Space series but also several other books in related series that are set in the same world. These combine Ringworld, Fleet of Worlds, Man-Kzin, along with several short stories and standalone novels as well.

The Known Space is an entire universe set across a thousand years in the future where humans live next to incredible alien species, all spawning across various habitable star systems. It starts from the initial human explorations of the Solar System and spawns the colonization of several near systems.

The Coldest Place describes the darkest side of Mercury.  The Larry Niven Ringworld stories start on Earth, sometimes in the future when humans can live up to 200 years. They set on a course to the Ringworld, a huge artificial ring with a habitable inner surface.

Some of the locations visited during the Known Space stories are the Moon, Mars, the Sol Belt, Jinx, Down, Canyon, Fafnir, Hearth, Kzin, Ringworld, and Silvereyes, among others. So far the last book in the Known Space is Fate of Worlds, which is also the last book in the Ringworld and the Fleet of Worlds series.

So far among the latest books by Larry Niven is a short story titled By the Red Giant’s Light, which was published in the 11-12 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, published November 1 in 2017. It is a short story about two characters, one a human and one a robot, who are involved in stopping an asteroid from destroying the planet Pluto. It is a fun story which reminds us just how great the author is.

It is interesting that Larry has written often about Pluto in several works. For example, in World Of The Ptavvs, he virtually set Pluto on fire. The 1968 short story Wait It Out, the story features an astronaut who landed on Pluto. In another short story, The Borderland of Sol, the author theorized that Pluto is an escaped moon of Neptune.

Praise for Larry Niven

Larry Niven’s RINGWORLD remains one of the all-time classic travelogues of science fiction — a new and amazing world and fantastic companions. (Greg Bear)

If there isn’t a Ringworld out there somewhere, we ought to build one someday. Until then we have Larry Niven’s. A rich and fantastic story.” (Fred Saberhagen)

The scope of Larry Niven’s work is so vast that only a writer of supreme talent could disguise the fact as well as he can. (Tom Clancy)

Niven is a true master. (Frederik Pohl)

Great storytelling is alive in science fiction because of Larry Niven (Orson Scott Card)

Another fine masterpiece from a master of science fiction (Jack Williamson)

References

• Larry Niven author website
• Library of Congress Larry Niven page
• Larry Niven interview

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