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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can't finish this book. I have abandoned it. The Ringworld is a neat idea but the characters are just awful and the writing is misogynistic. :(
Niven's world building is immaculate. The descriptions did well to show the immense size and unique geography of the ringworld. BUT, his characters are a little bland and the pacing of the book was odd. It moved very quickly at some points and skipped over any emotional language to give events depth.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ringworld is generally considered among the great classics of the science-fiction genre, though I'm under the impression that not too many people consider it among their favorites. Given its status and the fact that I've quite enjoyed the few Larry Niven novels I've read so far, the most popular entry to his Known Space universe had been on my TBR for years.
Recruited by a Pierson's puppeteer (a highly intelligent alien race known for their extreme risk aversion), a team of four set out to explore a huge ring-shaped structure (a specimen of the so-called "Big Dumb Object"). If the story has a main protagonist, it's probably Louis Wu. As he is celebrating his 200th birthday (made possible by the longevity drug called boosterspice) on Earth in the year 2850 AD, he is the first to be approached by the puppeteer who named himself Nessus. Louis had been chosen for the mission because he is known to take periodical sabbaticals, times he would spend in a single-man spaceship out of the known universe.
The next member they contact is Kzin diplomat Speaker-to-Animals. The Kzin are known for their irascible nature, but given his office he is among the more reserved individuals of his race, while still being a capable warrior. The last one to join them is Teela Brown, even though it's initially not fully clear what talents she adds to the team. As motivation they are promised the ship, which is significantly more advanced than the engines used by humans or Kzinti.
I did highly enjoy the world-building. On future Earth the ongoing process of urbanization led to massive city structures where everything looks the same and everyone speaks the same language (Interworld). Because of so-called transfer booths, light-speed teleportation became possible. Although they seem to be living in peace and comfort, Earth has become a very sad and depressing place to live.
There had been six big wars between humans and Kzinti, all of which the latter lost. This is only in part due to their impatience to get into battles; humankind had the chance to purchase a special hyperdrive shunt from a race called the Outsiders (which gave them a significant technical advantage). It's assumed that the Kzinti evolved since then and now reached a stage where they don't attack blindly anymore. The puppeteers were the rulers of a business empire thousands of years old, but when they learned of the explosion of the galactic core they disappeared from the known space. Their migration is still in process.
There is a lot of mystery in the setup. What's the purpose of the mission? What do the puppeteers expect to find or get? What's the nature of their destination? These questions kept my intrigued for the first act, even though I got bored with the stereotypical characters early on. The Ringworld doesn't react to any attempts of communication, so where is everyone? After their arrival they come across evidence that the artificial living space is set up to form the home of a race not unlike humanoid species (they cannot be water-dwellers but live by rivers, the air is breathable, there is an Earth-like Vegetation down to the molecular level), and of course they discover—the natives are in fact humans.
On the concrete level the interactions are again underwhelming and their journey to the rim of the ring (via flycycles) really drags on. If Niven's intention was to emulate their grueling experience to the reader, it was quite a success. The discoveries and hypotheses put forward to explain their observations still kept me interested, though. All they come across are primitive peoples, so there must have been a fall of civilization. But what exactly happened? Who are the Ringworld Engineers and where are they?
Other discoveries are on a more technical level. How are the "shadow squares" going faster than orbital speed? Why are they not rotating so that a different side faces the sun? How is it possible that the ring floor is dense enough to stop 40 percent of neutrinos? Niven makes use of scientific terminology to describe these observations. To be honest, even though there is some degree of explanation, the full meaning of concepts like a Klemperer rosette, singularities, or the idea of the Ringworld being "a compromise between a normal planet and a Dyson sphere" escaped me.
Even though I didn't understand it, I always enjoy the harder side of science-fiction. What I don't like, though, is the introduction of more fantastical elements, and unfortunately some of those form the main plot points. What is kind of amusing at first—Teela Brown being chosen because of her family's luck in the Birthright Lotteries—became incredibly tedious later on. This and that happens because of Teela Brown's luck, maybe she is not as lucky, maybe it all has a wider scope and she was able to come along because of her luck, maybe her luck caused the excursion to happen so that she would be united with her soul mate (some uninspired hero archetype). It became infuriatingly annoying to me.
It's part of the big twist, too. As it turns out, the puppeteers deserve their name not only because of their physical appearance. By controlling the starseed that the Outsiders follow (well, basically by magic), the puppeteers consciously led them to the humans in order to give them their advantage and to keep the Kzinti at bay. Their long-term plan was to evolve them (by using humanity as their instrument), and they succeeded. Well, I liked that, it was a pretty cool idea.
But they also evolved human nature. Their most valuable trait is not their intelligence, strength, sense of self-preservation, fighting skills... they tried to breed them for luck. It was a genetics experiment designed to make the ones with the lucky gene survive. I like the observation that humanity as a species is strangely lucky, but to my mind that whole subplot was to roll your eyes at. Please, explore the civilizations and history of the Ringworld and leave me alone with this nonsense.
At least there is some of that, too. They find cities in ruins, floating buildings, advanced weaponry, religious cults, a dream-castle with historical records, more intelligent beings, space explorations of earlier times. These things did get my highly exciting. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. In the meantime, there is a lot of misogyny, uninspired action sequences (involving killer sunflowers, for instance), and lame plot devices (like Teela's highway hypnosis). I really hope the other novels in the series focus more on the exciting stuff and leave out all the bullshit.
Rating: 3/5
Recruited by a Pierson's puppeteer (a highly intelligent alien race known for their extreme risk aversion), a team of four set out to explore a huge ring-shaped structure (a specimen of the so-called "Big Dumb Object"). If the story has a main protagonist, it's probably Louis Wu. As he is celebrating his 200th birthday (made possible by the longevity drug called boosterspice) on Earth in the year 2850 AD, he is the first to be approached by the puppeteer who named himself Nessus. Louis had been chosen for the mission because he is known to take periodical sabbaticals, times he would spend in a single-man spaceship out of the known universe.
The next member they contact is Kzin diplomat Speaker-to-Animals. The Kzin are known for their irascible nature, but given his office he is among the more reserved individuals of his race, while still being a capable warrior. The last one to join them is Teela Brown, even though it's initially not fully clear what talents she adds to the team. As motivation they are promised the ship, which is significantly more advanced than the engines used by humans or Kzinti.
I did highly enjoy the world-building. On future Earth the ongoing process of urbanization led to massive city structures where everything looks the same and everyone speaks the same language (Interworld). Because of so-called transfer booths, light-speed teleportation became possible. Although they seem to be living in peace and comfort, Earth has become a very sad and depressing place to live.
There had been six big wars between humans and Kzinti, all of which the latter lost. This is only in part due to their impatience to get into battles; humankind had the chance to purchase a special hyperdrive shunt from a race called the Outsiders (which gave them a significant technical advantage). It's assumed that the Kzinti evolved since then and now reached a stage where they don't attack blindly anymore. The puppeteers were the rulers of a business empire thousands of years old, but when they learned of the explosion of the galactic core they disappeared from the known space. Their migration is still in process.
There is a lot of mystery in the setup. What's the purpose of the mission? What do the puppeteers expect to find or get? What's the nature of their destination? These questions kept my intrigued for the first act, even though I got bored with the stereotypical characters early on. The Ringworld doesn't react to any attempts of communication, so where is everyone? After their arrival they come across evidence that the artificial living space is set up to form the home of a race not unlike humanoid species (they cannot be water-dwellers but live by rivers, the air is breathable, there is an Earth-like Vegetation down to the molecular level), and of course they discover—the natives are in fact humans.
On the concrete level the interactions are again underwhelming and their journey to the rim of the ring (via flycycles) really drags on. If Niven's intention was to emulate their grueling experience to the reader, it was quite a success. The discoveries and hypotheses put forward to explain their observations still kept me interested, though. All they come across are primitive peoples, so there must have been a fall of civilization. But what exactly happened? Who are the Ringworld Engineers and where are they?
Other discoveries are on a more technical level. How are the "shadow squares" going faster than orbital speed? Why are they not rotating so that a different side faces the sun? How is it possible that the ring floor is dense enough to stop 40 percent of neutrinos? Niven makes use of scientific terminology to describe these observations. To be honest, even though there is some degree of explanation, the full meaning of concepts like a Klemperer rosette, singularities, or the idea of the Ringworld being "a compromise between a normal planet and a Dyson sphere" escaped me.
Even though I didn't understand it, I always enjoy the harder side of science-fiction. What I don't like, though, is the introduction of more fantastical elements, and unfortunately some of those form the main plot points. What is kind of amusing at first—Teela Brown being chosen because of her family's luck in the Birthright Lotteries—became incredibly tedious later on. This and that happens because of Teela Brown's luck, maybe she is not as lucky, maybe it all has a wider scope and she was able to come along because of her luck, maybe her luck caused the excursion to happen so that she would be united with her soul mate (some uninspired hero archetype). It became infuriatingly annoying to me.
It's part of the big twist, too. As it turns out, the puppeteers deserve their name not only because of their physical appearance. By controlling the starseed that the Outsiders follow (well, basically by magic), the puppeteers consciously led them to the humans in order to give them their advantage and to keep the Kzinti at bay. Their long-term plan was to evolve them (by using humanity as their instrument), and they succeeded. Well, I liked that, it was a pretty cool idea.
But they also evolved human nature. Their most valuable trait is not their intelligence, strength, sense of self-preservation, fighting skills... they tried to breed them for luck. It was a genetics experiment designed to make the ones with the lucky gene survive. I like the observation that humanity as a species is strangely lucky, but to my mind that whole subplot was to roll your eyes at. Please, explore the civilizations and history of the Ringworld and leave me alone with this nonsense.
At least there is some of that, too. They find cities in ruins, floating buildings, advanced weaponry, religious cults, a dream-castle with historical records, more intelligent beings, space explorations of earlier times. These things did get my highly exciting. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. In the meantime, there is a lot of misogyny, uninspired action sequences (involving killer sunflowers, for instance), and lame plot devices (like Teela's highway hypnosis). I really hope the other novels in the series focus more on the exciting stuff and leave out all the bullshit.
Rating: 3/5
The book was amusing, and the finnish translation even more so, when I find myself in possession of the original and the time to read it, I will do so just to see how the things were written in the original.
Larry Niven hates women. Even the Wikipedia summary of this book is boring. Funnily enough, I gave up on the book and the summary at roughly the same point. If you want a story about explorers visiting a mysterious artifact in space, go read Arthur C Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.
And excellent way to bring in the new year. The only way to tell that this isn't written by the great Isaac Asimov is that there is no definite resolution where the hero explains how he succeeded.
