Ringworld by Larry Niven Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ringworld
Book Review: Bizarre, but worth reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just finished reading Ringworld, I'm still trying to sort out how I feel about it. There's one thing that I can say for certain: it's totally different from any other science fiction novel that I've read recently. If I tried to describe the premise of this book, it would sound absurd. However, Ringworld is not an attempt at comedy. At the same time, it isn't really a typical work of hard science fiction. It's set in the far future, and takes place mostly among civilizations run by aliens who possess amazing technology. However, there's not much attempt to explain how the technology works. For instance, we learn that the aliens can move entire planets, but we never find out how they do it.The story concerns a team of two humans and two aliens who crash-land on a gigantic ring in a distant star system. The ring is millions of times larger than the Earth, and was clearly built by some very advanced society. Most of the novel concerns their exploration of the ring itself. However, very little time is spent on action or fighting scenes. Instead, there is a great deal of description. The creativity that Niven uses in creating the Ringworld is probably the novel's biggest strength.
Another concept that makes this work an original is the explanation of the relationships between humans and different alien species. This isn't a stereotypical us vs them adventure story, but it isn't a feel good, everybody works together scenario like Star Trek either. As I said, the ideas would sound silly if I listed them here, but Niven takes them seriously and works them into the story quite well.
Ringworld is an easy read, and at 350 pages, it's shorter and flows better than many SF novels. Other have complained that the character development is poor, but characters aren't supposed to be the main focus of Ringworld. Finally, let me just add that you don't need to have read any of Niven's previous works to enjoy this one. I'd never even heard of him until I picked this book up.
Book Review: Boring
Summary: 1 Stars
So very boring. I had to struggle to finish this thing and then wished I hadn't.Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
Quite possibly the best book I've ever read. "Ringworld", aside "Rendezvous with Rama" remains the book to which I compare all others. The scale within the story is huge, leaving you in awe of the characters and enviroment. I cannot reccomend the book enough.I also found it to be a good introduction to many of Larry Nivens works. A good foundation for the universe he has created, the book builds on his excellently continutous backdrop of 'known space'. Frankly, a masterpiece. Get it... now!
Book Review: Builder of Worlds, no Societies, not Human!
Summary: 5 Stars
As we speak, as close as we human's can come to building a Ringworld is through the emerging Computer Animation technologies. So, some one out there, build it we will come. This is what Close Encounter's did for UFO buff's. Now those of us with enough imagination and intelligence have an author who can see The Bigger Picture .BRAVO Mr. Niven!
MORE Mr. Niven!
Book Review: Captivating
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a fan of adventure or science fiction, you will instantly fall in love with this novel by Larry Niven. Niven has created a masterpiece that has something for people of all types, young and old alike. The book paints a disturbing picture of what futuristic earth looks like, and the immense powers the species of sthe universe have. From controlled breeding experiments designed to produce large quantities of luck in a human being, to the power to move entire worlds across space, the species are quite powerful. The book describes a scenario in which earth and many other planets of the galaxy will be destroyed by the power of the novae of several stars in the galactic core. As the different species work together to avoid this destruction, the find an artifact that is very large, and has the shape of a ring. To give you a sense of how large it is, the radius of the ring is the distance from earth to the sun. When the exploring members of the races land on the ring they discover that all civilization has fallen. Now without any power and a way to get their ship off of the inside wall of the ring, they must explore, and try to find help. Ring world will captivate the entire audience and is impossible to put down. There is stunning detail which can only hint at the vast imagination of Niven. Luscious pictures are painted of the ewnvironment of Ringworld, and ominous paintings created of gigantic floating cities that crashed to the ground when all power was lost on Ringworld. Niven's imagination of the technology that futuristic species will posses is amazing. He has thought of every last ship part and exactly how it works. It is a surprisingly quick read for a 350 page book. Order Ringworld today, and enjoy!