So here's another big name author I thought I'd peruse at the prodding of a fellow Sfwwer. Picked this one straight off the rack. "Destiny's Road", other than being a horrible title, raised my opinion of Niven. I was never blown away by his "famous" "Ringworld". In fact, I was pretty disappointed. However, this book showed definite strains of stong writing, strong plot development, a sastisfying conclusion, and lastly, in-depth, scientific world building (that's one thing I've never doubt Niven on; its the others). Worth the read? Yes. Makes me want to read more Niven works? Yes, whereas Ringworld did not.

Essentially the book is about a new planet colony which has lost contact with its founding fathers and most of the technology that propelled them to the planet "Destiny". There's a mysterious road on the planet that was created by one of the landers, Cavorite, which seared the road into the ground, and our hero, Jemmy, can't stop thinking about this road. So the road is the basis for unraveling the mystery of where Cavorite went, why the Caravans on the road are so secretive, and why everyone needs "speckles".

Not a fantastic science fiction book, but a good one.