Larry Niven & Brenda Cooper BUILDING HARLEQUIN'S MOON

After reading Varley's ROLLING THUNDER I was supposed to read Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST but it has not yet arrived. I thought I would try the new Niven which has been sitting around for a while. The premise of world-building and the planned direction of an entire society toward the single end of manufacturing fuel for their grounded starship sounded like a great idea. I could not get past page 30. The stilted prose and wooden characters of the first section prevented me from continuing with the story. I know that Niven can do culture upheaval because his A GIFT FROM EARTH is solid. File this with Niven's only other bomb, SATURN'S RACE. This book doesn't even have the pull of a Harlequin romance for me. Unreadable. OPTCS 11111