In this follow-up book to FLEET OF WORLDS, Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner return to Known Space, with all its interstellar -- and interspecies -- intrigue. The Puppeteers, the two-headed aliens with vastly superior technologies, seem to have abandoned Earth, taking their interstellar starships with them. Sigmund Ausfaller, head of Earth's powerful militia and spy agency, sets out to find what Nessus and his fellow Puppeteers are up to. Readers familiar with Known Space stories, will recognize Carlos Wu, Beowulf Schaeffer and other characters from Larry Niven's universe. This Niven/Lerner series was praised by Library Journal for its "intriguing human and alien characters and lucid scientific detail."

“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

"Niven and Lerner...adroitly expand upon familiar ground … and, at the same time, pour it into an entirely new bottle."
- Starlog

"A lively prequel to Niven's 1970 classic, RINGWORLD … Fans of hard SF will be well rewarded."
- Publishers Weekly on FLEET OF WORLDS

“A new Known Space book, particularly one with new information about Puppeteers and their doings behind the scenes of human history, needs recommending within the science fiction community about as much as a new Harry Potter novel does, well, anywhere. But Niven and Lerner have produced a novel that can stand on its own as well as part of the Known Space franchise.”
- Locus on FLEET OF WORLDS

"Exceptional freshness and suspense ... full of startling revelations about human and puppeteer politics."
- Booklist on FLEET OF WORLDS

"Great story-telling is still alive in science fiction because of Larry Niven, and his finest work is the Ringworld series."
- Orson Scott Card