A fixup of Kzinti stories written by Poul Anderson and set (with permission) in Larry Niven's Known Space universe.

Inconstant Star by Poul Anderson, 1991

Man-Kzin Wars: this book consists of 2 novellas that flow together into one novel. Parts of these stories were included in "Man-Kzin Wars" and "Man-Kzin Wars III" but is still worth the reading—even if you've read the original versions.

The joy is discovering how "the heroes are surely doomed this time" and still manage to win by using the one tool we humans have, that it seems few other creatures in the universe share: cunning; the ability to think out of the box.

And a Tnuctipun artifact, still active & dangerous.

No deus ex machina here, just pure smarts and use of the available paraphernalia. ( )