Protector

Larry Niven

Phssthpok is a Pak Protector. His goal in life is to protect his family. Unfortunately, they were killed in a Pak war. Now, Phssthpok decides to locate the Pak breeders who had left the galaxy core millions of years earlier to immigrate to a new planet. His course takes Phssthpok to Earth.

Brennan is a Belter mining by Neptune when he makes a historic find - and a potentially wealthy one for him. But before he can return to the Belt or the Moon with it, he is approached by the Outsider ship. Brennan knows it is futile to run, so he waits for First Contact. He doesn't realize what Phssthpok wants - nor does he realize that he will be pulled away from Human contact longer than he could ever imagine.

Protector leaves the reader wondering "now what?" in a good way. I finished it and sat thinking about the end for at least five minutes. The Protectors are an interesting race. If they have nothing to motivate them, like protecting their own bloodline, they can quit eating and die. It takes a new purpose for them to avoid an early death. Phssthpok chose to find the immigrants. Niven gets the reader into the Protectors' minds and their purpose.

Niven's view of the future in Protector is positive but not idealistic. Humans are Flatlanders, the ones who live on Earth, or Belters, the ones who live in space. Belters refer to the original miners out in the asteroid belt. Now the Belters are a mature culture different from the Flatlanders in the manner that European culture is different from culture in the United States. This book didn't suck me right in, but by the end I couldn't let it go.

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