The Integral Trees |The Integral Trees| Cover of first edition
(hardcover) |Genre(s)||Science fiction novel| |Media type||Print
(Hardback & Paperback)| |Dewey Decimal||813/.54 19| |LC
Classification||PS3564.I9 I54 1984| |Preceded by||A World Out of
Time| |Followed by||The Smoke Ring| The Integral Trees is a 1984
science fiction novel by Larry Niven (first published as a
serial in Analog in 1983). Like much of Niven's work, the story
is heavily influenced by the setting: a gas torus, a ring of air
around a neutron star. Its sequel is The Smoke Ring. The story
is set at the fictional neutron star Levoy's Star (abbreviated
"Voy"). The gas giant Goldblatt's World (abbreviated "Gold")
orbits this star just outside its Roche limit. Thus, Gold's
gravity is insufficient to hold its atmosphere, which is pulled
loose into an independent orbit around Voy. This orbiting air
forms a ring known as the Gas Torus. The Gas Torus is huge—one
million kilometers thick—but most of it is too thin to be
habitable. The central part