Review:: A World Out Of Time by Larry Niven

A World Out of Time by Larry Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A World out of Time by Larry Niven. I’ve had this book so long I didn’t remember having read it and I probably wouldn’t have re-read it had I not read a more recent book called We Are Legion[We Are Bob] by Dennis E. Taylor.

I chanced to pick up A World out of Time and began reading the first several pages and was intrigued by the notion that this sounded a lot like We Are Legion[We Are Bob] only it is more likely the other way around. They both start with a man who has signed up to the dubious honor of being frozen for future decanting. In Bob’s case it is done as a security against any accident or anything that might kill him prematurely. In A World out of Time Corbell is trying to beat cancer; with a hope that in the future they will have a cure.

In Both stories they fall prey to a future state government where they are considered non-persons and they can be used for whatever the state decides. Bereft of any money’s or valuables they may have tried to set up for their future, they are slaves of the state. In Bob’s case his mind is installed in a machine while Corbell’s is placed in a criminal who has been wiped of mind. Both are being prepped for operating starships that will help the state explore new worlds for colonization. And after this is where the stories really begin to separate from each other. However I have to think the author of Bob’s story might have read Niven’s novel; however, if not, I think he should to experience the striking similarities. For those who want to find out more of Bob’s story you will have to hunt down that book.

Both stories take some time, for training the starship captains, A World out of Time goes much faster to get into space and there we find that he will be traveling with an uploaded consciousness that will be helping operate his ship and sort of keep an eye on him. The uploaded consciousness is a portion of the consciousness of his original handler on the Earth. The handler is, in fact still on the Earth, though this iteration of his consciousness seems to be fairly complete.

There is a period of test of wills as the handler, Peerssa, tries to get Corbell to do what he was activated for and Corbell begins his quest for a way to live longer: perhaps forever. The story becomes a quest for immortality.

Failing to complete the intended mission the Peerssa consciousness finds a way to speed up their return to Earth so that Corbell might still be alive by the time they get there. This involves the use of a black hole and some wonky science that, though it moves them quickly toward Earth—it is an Earth that is billions of years older and the State no longer exists.

On the ancient new Earth there is a strange civilization that would probably suit Peter Pan. Where boys live forever young and rely on other humans that grow old for renewal of their numbers. Corbell suspects there is something in the arrangement that he’s not being told and that there must be a way for everyone to live longer lives. However he will have to live to find that out and his search might be the death of him. As I got closer to the end there were some elements about the technology on the Earth that I recognized to affirm that I really had read this long ago.

As usual with Niven this a pretty good yarn with interesting notions about the future.

If you love good science fiction and/or have read Dennis Taylor’s We Are Legion[We Are Bob] you should love this. If you haven’t read Taylor’s book you should read it next.

JLD 3-2021

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