Ringworld by Larry Niven Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ringworld
Book Review: A Very Interesting and Enjoyable Tale.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is certainly an enjoyable work of science fiction--Niven spins a good tale. The characters are interesting and diverse, and the concept of the "ringworld" itself is intriguing. My only problem with Niven's work is that at times it goes far afield and there are a few concepts developed incompletely. But this does not take away from the enjoyment he gives. Definitely recommended.Book Review: A classic
Summary: 4 Stars
An entertaining look at a world that is a thin ring thousands of miles long. This is a classic and mind-blowing piece of hard science fiction, with the emphasis on the cool implications of the enormity of Ringworld. The characters tend toward the scifi cardboard cutouts familiar to the genre, but this is not to be missed for scifi fans.A better Niven book for the characters, although not the science, is Footfall. Also check out the Mote in God's Eye, a fascinating look at a totally alien world.
Book Review: A classic example of "high-concept" science fiction
Summary: 3 Stars
The great thing about Ringworld is--you guessed it--the ringworld. The concepts of a world that is a ring, the huge size of said world, and the problems such a world might have are interesting and creative concepts, worthy of science fiction at its best. Too bad the characters are all one-dimensional and shallow. Louis Wu is a non-entity. Teela is unbelievable and the concept behind her (her hereditary luck) falls apart when you consider the fact that, even if luck *were* hereditary in some capacity, there's no reason to assume that she would be lucky in anything but reproduction (thus the whole premise of her luck being godlike and all-powerful immediately falls apart). Speaker-to-Animals is not an integrated character; he demonstrates ferocity and reasonableness by turns when the plot demands him to, not as developed character traits. The puppeteer Nessus is perhaps the most interesting character and I would have liked to see more of the puppeteers. This book was also clearly written pre-feminism (notice Teela's instant and unquestioning acceptance of a life of female slavery with the Seeker, the fact that Teela's reason for inclusion is solely because she is lucky, not that she has a useful skill to offer; that Teela follows because she loves Louis, not out of curiosity or interest; the fact that the Kzin and the puppeteers are species with non-sentient females; Prillar as ship's (...); comments such as "Every woman is born with a tasp," and so on.) There are some interesting ideas here, and some cool concepts to play with, but it would be nice, just once, to run across a hard-core science fiction book that did as good a job developing the characters as the science.Book Review: A classic science-fiction adventure in Niven's Known Space
Summary: 4 Stars
RINGWORLD has become Larry Niven's most successful novel, winning the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release in 1970. It follows the multitude of stories in his Known Space universe written in the late 1960s (collected in NEUTRON STAR), and tells of the discovery of a massive ring-shaped world around a star 200 light years from Known Space.The novel opens with the 200th birthday celebration of Louis Wu in the mid-2800s. This is an era so far ahead of Niven's earlier short stories (Beowulf Shaeffer lived in the mid-2600s) that puppeteers are only a faint memory and the fusion drive has been replaced by the reactionless engine for which the Outsiders were charging a trillion stars in the story "Flatlander." Entering a transfer booth, Wu is diverted to a hotel room in which the mad puppeteer Nessus offers the job of exploring the Ringworld, which the puppeeters have just discovered in their retreat from the Galactic Core explosion. Louis Wu and Nessus are joined by Speaker-to-Animals, a Kzin ambassador, and Teela Brown, a ditzy young woman who seems to be incredibly lucky.
After briefly visiting the puppeeter exodus (which is in a form that will surprise those who formed their impression of its appearance from NEUTRON STAR), Louis Wu and company arrive at the Ringworld, hoping only to reconaissance and return to Known Space. A crash landing forces them to explore this remarkable world, 93 million times the size of the Earth, and treat with its shocking inhabitants. The luck of Teela Brown seems to have a large influence on their travels, and the travelers are drawn into a quest much larger than they foresaw.
Characterization in RINGWORLD isn't perfect. Louis Wu and Teela are annoyingly obsessed with sex, and Speaker-to-Animals and Nessus are unconvincing as aliens. Nonetheless, the real main character of the novel is the Ringworld itself, one of the most ingenious concepts in science fiction. A million miles wide and over 100 million miles long, its scale defies human imagination
RINGWORLD is built upon the Known Space short stories Niven wrote from 1966-68 and it's absolutely necessary to read the collection NEUTRON STAR to have any idea what's going on in RINGWORLD. It's worth it, the Known Space stories are Niven's best works, many are award-winners.
RINGWORLD is an excellent cap to the Known Space short stories and a highly entertaining adventure. I'd recommend it to any fans of science fiction who have enjoyed Niven's short stories in that universe. However, be aware that the two sequels it spawned are very poor indeed.
Book Review: A complete waste of time...
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is a fine example of the kind of scifi I don't like. It's completely nonsensical(is that a word?) and incoherent. It's like the author wrote out what he had dreamt or something exactly as he dreamed it. I suppose if you like science fantasy like hitchhikers guide to the galaxy then you would probably like this,, but fans of military sci fi or 'honest' sci fi I think wouldn't like it. I don't understand why it's considered some kind of great classic myself, it was awful. No offense Larry.