Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Creative world building, interesting characters, enough mystery to move the story - what's not to like about Ringworld? It does feel a bit dated, but don't let that stop you from reading it! It's not only worth a read, but one I own and will keep on my shelves as it's something I want to return to and read again.
A really interest story but it felt like there were chunks removed....
I wanted to like this book. Really I did. I've had many people recommend it for the past 20 or so years and after being burned by some awful contemporary sci-fi, I thought I would turn to "one of the classics". If I liked it, I knew there were a number of books in the series that would keep me happily busy for some time. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.
First, the good. I really liked the concept of the Ringworld itself. Though it's hard for me to conceive of it actually being possible, this is sci-fi so I try to keep my suspension of disbelief in check. I enjoyed much of the plot, and I developed a soft spot for the K'zin, Speaker to Animals. Who doesn't love an eight foot tall militant orange kitten?
However, I had a lot of problems with other aspects of the book.
First of all, the writing. It's actually pretty boring. Niven frequently repeats himself word for word, as if he's only capable of coming up with a single way of expressing something specific. That's bad writing. Someone with the imagination to dream up the Puppeteers and the Ringworld should have the imagination to use in writing about them. If not, get an editor...or a better editor.
Second, the misogyny is strong with this one. More so than even Heinlein - who I can deal with in part because he's a far superior writer. And before you go all, "he's old, give him a break"...give me a break. This book was written in 1970, not 1950. There are only two female characters in this book - which is fine - but both are basically described as beautiful, unintelligent, slow, shallow, naive. The first, Teela, exists only as a "good luck charm" for the dangerous mission, to pleasure the protagonist Louis Wu, and to become a more developed person by finding the love of her life on the regressed to primitive Ringworld. In one of the most disgusting lines of the book when Teela is saying how unnecessary she is to the quest, Louis Wu replies, "...we need you to keep me happy so I don't rape Nessus (the Puppeteer alien)"
Really? I almost threw my iPad across the room after that. I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library because casual rape jokes disgust me and had I paid for this book, I would have been furious.
The only other female character in this book - who doesn't even make an appearance until the last 1/4 of the book- is basically a 29th century geisha. She was part of a spaceship crew as their whore, but you know, had to learn things like ship maintenance and music so she could be entertaining *and* useful.
Puke.
Oh and of the two main alien races in the book - the cat-like K'zin, and the ultra-cautious yet brutally scheming Puppeteers - the females of their race are nonsentient...
You can't tell me that this guy doesn't go out of his way to belittle, deride, and oppress the females he deigns to write about.
Third, while the concept of the psychology of the Puppeteer race was cool, their biology is completely ridiculous. Nature likes symmetry. A naturally three-legged, two-headed, jackass makes no evolutionary sense.
I was incredibly disappointed by this book. Had I enjoyed it, I would have a had several other books from this world to choose from next. As it turned out, all I wanted after finishing it was to delete it from my library, have a stiff drink, and take a shower to wash off the ick I felt after reading it.
First, the good. I really liked the concept of the Ringworld itself. Though it's hard for me to conceive of it actually being possible, this is sci-fi so I try to keep my suspension of disbelief in check. I enjoyed much of the plot, and I developed a soft spot for the K'zin, Speaker to Animals. Who doesn't love an eight foot tall militant orange kitten?
However, I had a lot of problems with other aspects of the book.
First of all, the writing. It's actually pretty boring. Niven frequently repeats himself word for word, as if he's only capable of coming up with a single way of expressing something specific. That's bad writing. Someone with the imagination to dream up the Puppeteers and the Ringworld should have the imagination to use in writing about them. If not, get an editor...or a better editor.
Second, the misogyny is strong with this one. More so than even Heinlein - who I can deal with in part because he's a far superior writer. And before you go all, "he's old, give him a break"...give me a break. This book was written in 1970, not 1950. There are only two female characters in this book - which is fine - but both are basically described as beautiful, unintelligent, slow, shallow, naive. The first, Teela, exists only as a "good luck charm" for the dangerous mission, to pleasure the protagonist Louis Wu, and to become a more developed person by finding the love of her life on the regressed to primitive Ringworld. In one of the most disgusting lines of the book when Teela is saying how unnecessary she is to the quest, Louis Wu replies, "...we need you to keep me happy so I don't rape Nessus (the Puppeteer alien)"
Really? I almost threw my iPad across the room after that. I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library because casual rape jokes disgust me and had I paid for this book, I would have been furious.
The only other female character in this book - who doesn't even make an appearance until the last 1/4 of the book- is basically a 29th century geisha. She was part of a spaceship crew as their whore, but you know, had to learn things like ship maintenance and music so she could be entertaining *and* useful.
Puke.
Oh and of the two main alien races in the book - the cat-like K'zin, and the ultra-cautious yet brutally scheming Puppeteers - the females of their race are nonsentient...
You can't tell me that this guy doesn't go out of his way to belittle, deride, and oppress the females he deigns to write about.
Third, while the concept of the psychology of the Puppeteer race was cool, their biology is completely ridiculous. Nature likes symmetry. A naturally three-legged, two-headed, jackass makes no evolutionary sense.
I was incredibly disappointed by this book. Had I enjoyed it, I would have a had several other books from this world to choose from next. As it turned out, all I wanted after finishing it was to delete it from my library, have a stiff drink, and take a shower to wash off the ick I felt after reading it.
I read this until the rape joke. Great sci fi conceptual bedrock but too bad, like Heinlein, it's just a soapbox for sad, sexist ideas about women being subservient and dependent :(
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Cool idea, but the execution has not aged well.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lo que me ha pasado es que yo lo que quería es leer [b:Cita con Rama|12152172|Cita con Rama (Rama #1)|Arthur C. Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1342782049l/12152172._SY75_.jpg|1882772] pero, a pesar de las similitudes de la idea principal, Mundo Anillo no es «Cita con Rama».
Para empezar, junto a la CF dura de la ingeniería estelar que representa el Mundo Anillo, tenemos Space Opera clásica con cierto olor a señor mayor fumando en pipa, misoginia y Mad Men. A paletadas. Personajes unidimensionales definidos por sus características raciales. Mujeres que están allí para lo del sexo. y una ausencia absoluta del sentido de la maravilla que debería estar allí.
Tampoco ayuda aterrizar «in media res» en la saga particular del «Known Space» del sr. Niven que le permite obviar un contexto que décadas después nos pilla despistados.
Me ha dejado muy frío y poco ha faltado para que lo abandonara; cosa que, visto el desangelado final, no hubiera sido tan mala idea. La calidad de la prosa y el nivel dramático no se llevan mucho con el resumen de la Wikipedia.
Para empezar, junto a la CF dura de la ingeniería estelar que representa el Mundo Anillo, tenemos Space Opera clásica con cierto olor a señor mayor fumando en pipa, misoginia y Mad Men. A paletadas. Personajes unidimensionales definidos por sus características raciales. Mujeres que están allí para lo del sexo. y una ausencia absoluta del sentido de la maravilla que debería estar allí.
Tampoco ayuda aterrizar «in media res» en la saga particular del «Known Space» del sr. Niven que le permite obviar un contexto que décadas después nos pilla despistados.
Me ha dejado muy frío y poco ha faltado para que lo abandonara; cosa que, visto el desangelado final, no hubiera sido tan mala idea. La calidad de la prosa y el nivel dramático no se llevan mucho con el resumen de la Wikipedia.
"I'm at chapter 14 (pg 194 out of 342) of 'Ring World', curious to everyone's thoughts on it?
So far it's been slowww and lots of just traveling and very little satisfying action, like even when it should be getting excited (no spoilers) it just kinda, rolls slowly down a hill.
The book has built up a lot of mystery so far as to the origins of the ring world but am I going to have to read like 5 books in the series to get my answers?
I am going to finish it but dang, usually by halfway through a book it should be more captivating right?"
"Okay I finished 'Ring World', what a fucking ass-pull piece of shit ending. Fuck this book man. It was 300 pages of schlock then 20 pages of explanation, then 20 of quickly solving every problem.
(spoilers review)
this fucking guy sucks, basically there's a race of aliens called puppetters and they manipulated this cat species to be more docile instead of fierce warriors and they manipulated humans to have a lottery system for breeding, thus the puppetters bred humans to be lucky. That's the actual fucking story, the ring world is all an accessory to that. The ring world is cool and big, that's about it. This guy literally waited until the last 40 pages to explain or solve any of the fucking problems of the book. They take a journey of 4 people to the ring world and they brought one of the lucky human women, apparently the woman was controlling destiny with her luck and it caused them to get stranded there on the ring world but nobody realized it until 300 pages in. This felt like a Phillip K Dick twist from Ubik where it's just lame and fucking terrible."
"I was probably a bit harsh, it was a positive rating overall. If the story had a bit more action or more consequential writing I'd have liked it more.
Like, is it just me or does NONE of the combat/action feel like it matters at all? even when they get trapped in the police station by that point you just know they'll be fine, Teela will help them escape cause she's lucky or the tasp will solve the problem, and when Nassus gets his head cut off its almost immediately calmed when they plug him into his bicycle and he's in stasis.
I almost didn't finish the book was my biggest gripe I'd say, it was so slow and tedious I almost just looked up the summary or a video of it when I was at 250pgs. If it wasn't in the SF cannon and influenced Halo so much I'd have skipped it."
So far it's been slowww and lots of just traveling and very little satisfying action, like even when it should be getting excited (no spoilers) it just kinda, rolls slowly down a hill.
The book has built up a lot of mystery so far as to the origins of the ring world but am I going to have to read like 5 books in the series to get my answers?
I am going to finish it but dang, usually by halfway through a book it should be more captivating right?"
"Okay I finished 'Ring World', what a fucking ass-pull piece of shit ending. Fuck this book man. It was 300 pages of schlock then 20 pages of explanation, then 20 of quickly solving every problem.
(spoilers review)
this fucking guy sucks, basically there's a race of aliens called puppetters and they manipulated this cat species to be more docile instead of fierce warriors and they manipulated humans to have a lottery system for breeding, thus the puppetters bred humans to be lucky. That's the actual fucking story, the ring world is all an accessory to that. The ring world is cool and big, that's about it. This guy literally waited until the last 40 pages to explain or solve any of the fucking problems of the book. They take a journey of 4 people to the ring world and they brought one of the lucky human women, apparently the woman was controlling destiny with her luck and it caused them to get stranded there on the ring world but nobody realized it until 300 pages in. This felt like a Phillip K Dick twist from Ubik where it's just lame and fucking terrible."
"I was probably a bit harsh, it was a positive rating overall. If the story had a bit more action or more consequential writing I'd have liked it more.
Like, is it just me or does NONE of the combat/action feel like it matters at all? even when they get trapped in the police station by that point you just know they'll be fine, Teela will help them escape cause she's lucky or the tasp will solve the problem, and when Nassus gets his head cut off its almost immediately calmed when they plug him into his bicycle and he's in stasis.
I almost didn't finish the book was my biggest gripe I'd say, it was so slow and tedious I almost just looked up the summary or a video of it when I was at 250pgs. If it wasn't in the SF cannon and influenced Halo so much I'd have skipped it."
Now that I've had some time away, I can't stop thinking of this book. It was suggested to me by an acquaintance who said it was one of the top sci-fi series ever. I was impressed how well it stands up over 50 years later. It reads quickly: even when the science and engineering got a little too heavy, Niven breaks it up with great characters and even has some bouts of humor. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been adapted to the screen in some way. The only reason it isn't a 5* is the ending came much to quickly and seemed somewhat truncated. Good to add to your to-read list!