A bit slow, and quite cumbersome, but excellent ideas behind it all. ( )

I just couldn't finish this slow, boring book. Sometimes I miss the days when publishers insisted on science fiction books being about 120 pages in length. If 300 pages had been cut, there might have been enough story to keep me interested til the end!

This novel is, in fact, a departure for Niven in narrative form and staging from his other works; it is also somewhat of a departure from the more conventional SF market as a whole. These points of departure are definitely strengths. This book is a long, slow burn describing the ecology and history of a colony world through the eyes of its main character and his life's quest, a young man who has come to question the very nature of his society and the reasons for that nature. It's not action-packed, nor is it particularly a political thriller; it's much more like an Ursula K. Le Guin construction than works of Niven's like "Ringworld."

Two significant flaws merit mention. There is a long, low learning curve for the reader at the beginning of "Destiny's Road" that makes following along pretty tough, let alone grasping intricacies. Also, the Windfarm part of the book seems poorly proofread and inconsistent; it gets hard to keep track. Seems like the author himself keeps confusing Spiral Town and Destiny Town in the text.

Other than that, this is a mature and satisfying novel. I have to admit, I've reread a number of Niven's earlier novels over the last few years and they haven't aged well at all. Never strong at writing characters, Niven laced his earlier books with creepy sexism and bigotry that handicaps them. Those aren't present here. 'DR' makes it into the rotation on its merits as a tale part "Odyssey" and part "Always Coming Home." ( )

This was an interesting world to delve into. The main character is from a colony on a new world, and as far as he knows it is the only colony. His life seems on track until a surprise event forces him to leave his town and he starts to find out more about his world. He is smart, and curious, and this drives his adventure. It is an interesting book to read because the main character - the voice of the story - is so ignorant of his surroundings that the reader is often left in the dark since the character hasn't quite figured this out yet. I enjoyed following his adventure and discovering his world along with him.

All in all, a decent book. There are some interesting ideas in world-building - otterfolk, the Wind, the control experiment. I didn't appreciate as much some of the narrative choices, particularly the nature of how the secret about the Cavorite was revealed, along with what all was going on. It felt underwhelming; part of this was the nature of what was revealed, and part was how it was revealed and how the main character reacted to it. But even so, it made for an interesting story in an interesting world. ( )