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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Lighthearted book with interesting characters and setup. I liked the technology presented and how it drove the characters.
Plot was thin, especially in the highly-rushed final chapters. The final outcome of the luck-based Teela Brown is totally forced and one of the worst examples I've seen of telling instead of showing.
It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't the most hardcore science fiction fan. Then, I'd only suggest it if they were able to endure plotholes.
Plot was thin, especially in the highly-rushed final chapters. The final outcome of the luck-based Teela Brown is totally forced and one of the worst examples I've seen of telling instead of showing.
It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't the most hardcore science fiction fan. Then, I'd only suggest it if they were able to endure plotholes.
While the concept behind Ringworld (convert an entire solar system into an enormous ring that rotates around a sun at the distance of one AU) is amazing, it reminded me a lot of The Lord of the Rings, which also involved a lot of traveling (in this case, a lot of flying). It also reminded me of the amount of time the film makers took to ogle the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I do understand wanting to spend a good amount of time just flying around looking at this place, which evidently would hold the entire inhabitants of many over-populated Earths. Niven clearly spent some time creating this world, and he wanted us to know that. It does also have the scent of the beginning of a longer story (which it is). It would be interesting to see what Niven would have done if he'd written the story now a days; he might have created some stronger female characters and avoided flunking the Bechdel test.
not really worth the effort. niven really seemed to struggle to describe physical things.
A human man is invited on an alien expedition to explore a distant superstructure. I love me a good superstructure, and was prepared to put up with a lot for a good one, going in with knowledge of the limitations of older sci-fi. And this is an engaging premise, and moderately well-realized; the hard sci-fi infodumps are graceless, but convey a large, creative world. But the rest is awful: a clutter of less successful speculative concepts, particularly the ridiculous concept of a luck gene, upon which too much of the plot rests; Niven's persistent and tedious misogyny which destroys all characterization beyond salvage. This wasn't worth my time.
Crossposted at Bibliosanctum.
Tempted by an alien from a race of equine-like aliens known as the puppeteers, Louis Wu, Teela Brown, and a kzin named Speaker-To-Animals head out to a world known as Ringworld, an earth like planet, a planet that is 300 million times bigger than the surface of earth, that could become the future home of sentient beings. A supernova is on course to destroy the galaxy in twenty thousand years, but this new planet coupled with the puppeteers'experimental form of space travel (that cuts travel time down by four-fifths) could help them successfully evacuate their planets when the time comes. However, one question remains. Who resides on the planet now?
I didn't like this book much, and that's because of the narrator. I think I would've really loved this book, but Louis just rubbed me raw. Since this story is told from his point of view, I couldn't escape him no matter how much I wanted him to swallow, choke, and die. The amount of antipathy he managed to pull from me starting from nearly the beginning of the story is pretty amazing. Louis Wu is a shallow, condescending, ridiculous human being whose sense of self importance is laughable. I'm not sure if I was meant to like him. I didn't receive the memo if I was supposed to take this man-child seriously.
However, despite my deep loathing of Louis, the aliens, the voyage, the world they landed on were all fascinating. The science behind the creation of this world and it's technology were nice to read about. I love reading about the hard engineering involved in worlds such as these. Learning the history and idiosyncrasies of these races and earth's various changes over the last few centuries really tickled and indulged the sci-fi geek inside me. Niven knows how to create a world even if I find his (human) characters lacking. I can appreciate the science of it.
There seems to be some persisting debate about whether people should be offended by Niven's treatment of women in this and other books he's written. The era and the relative newness of feminism are used as points why people shouldn't be offended, but also seems to suggest that the author was incapable of changing gender roles in a science fiction book chock full of futuristic ideas. He can make new alien races who look vastly different from their human counterparts, but he's unable to figure out what to do with those pesky women.
Regardless, people are allowed to be offended. There's no golden rule book that outlines how and when people should be offended by something. This is a legitimate response to something that is problematic for some, and they don't have to shrug it off because supposedly the author didn't know any better. Airing grievances about something such as this asks the writer to give pause and think about the reaction of the readers to this aspect of the story. Whether the writer decides this is something that needs addressing or not is entirely up to him.
To his credit, there are moments when Teela shows that she's much more aware of what's going on around her than Louis gives her credit for, but then, such moments are quickly dismissed because she is young (even though Louis lusts after her, but then will regard her as a child that he's trying not to browbeat when she tries to assert herself, eventually giving into her because sex), has no real wants, and isn't interested in knowing anything outside her own short scope of life on earth. She's not a terribly rounded character, and I'm not sure whether to blame Niven's writing or Louis' grossly misogynistic and self-serving views of her because I want to believe that Niven intended for us to catch these glimpses of Teela being more than just some thing for Louis to enjoy.
I can't rate this book more than two stars no matter how much I enjoyed certain elements of it, and it will find new life on my DNR (do not resuscitate) pile where books I never intend to read again go. I will attempt the second book on an optimistic note and hope there is a new narrator that is far less aggravating than Louis Wu and that by some small chance Niven's female characters have achieved better status than being treated like insolent children who should be seen and not heard.
Tempted by an alien from a race of equine-like aliens known as the puppeteers, Louis Wu, Teela Brown, and a kzin named Speaker-To-Animals head out to a world known as Ringworld, an earth like planet, a planet that is 300 million times bigger than the surface of earth, that could become the future home of sentient beings. A supernova is on course to destroy the galaxy in twenty thousand years, but this new planet coupled with the puppeteers'experimental form of space travel (that cuts travel time down by four-fifths) could help them successfully evacuate their planets when the time comes. However, one question remains. Who resides on the planet now?
I didn't like this book much, and that's because of the narrator. I think I would've really loved this book, but Louis just rubbed me raw. Since this story is told from his point of view, I couldn't escape him no matter how much I wanted him to swallow, choke, and die. The amount of antipathy he managed to pull from me starting from nearly the beginning of the story is pretty amazing. Louis Wu is a shallow, condescending, ridiculous human being whose sense of self importance is laughable. I'm not sure if I was meant to like him. I didn't receive the memo if I was supposed to take this man-child seriously.
However, despite my deep loathing of Louis, the aliens, the voyage, the world they landed on were all fascinating. The science behind the creation of this world and it's technology were nice to read about. I love reading about the hard engineering involved in worlds such as these. Learning the history and idiosyncrasies of these races and earth's various changes over the last few centuries really tickled and indulged the sci-fi geek inside me. Niven knows how to create a world even if I find his (human) characters lacking. I can appreciate the science of it.
There seems to be some persisting debate about whether people should be offended by Niven's treatment of women in this and other books he's written. The era and the relative newness of feminism are used as points why people shouldn't be offended, but also seems to suggest that the author was incapable of changing gender roles in a science fiction book chock full of futuristic ideas. He can make new alien races who look vastly different from their human counterparts, but he's unable to figure out what to do with those pesky women.
Regardless, people are allowed to be offended. There's no golden rule book that outlines how and when people should be offended by something. This is a legitimate response to something that is problematic for some, and they don't have to shrug it off because supposedly the author didn't know any better. Airing grievances about something such as this asks the writer to give pause and think about the reaction of the readers to this aspect of the story. Whether the writer decides this is something that needs addressing or not is entirely up to him.
To his credit, there are moments when Teela shows that she's much more aware of what's going on around her than Louis gives her credit for, but then, such moments are quickly dismissed because she is young (even though Louis lusts after her, but then will regard her as a child that he's trying not to browbeat when she tries to assert herself, eventually giving into her because sex), has no real wants, and isn't interested in knowing anything outside her own short scope of life on earth. She's not a terribly rounded character, and I'm not sure whether to blame Niven's writing or Louis' grossly misogynistic and self-serving views of her because I want to believe that Niven intended for us to catch these glimpses of Teela being more than just some thing for Louis to enjoy.
I can't rate this book more than two stars no matter how much I enjoyed certain elements of it, and it will find new life on my DNR (do not resuscitate) pile where books I never intend to read again go. I will attempt the second book on an optimistic note and hope there is a new narrator that is far less aggravating than Louis Wu and that by some small chance Niven's female characters have achieved better status than being treated like insolent children who should be seen and not heard.
At first, I was disappointed. I read the beginning of it back in the 80s. Remember it being more hard-science-fictiony. But now it seems that it's a bit of a snide lark. But, now that I'm done with it, I'm actually pleased that I finished it. Might not have had a thrilling plot or complex characters. But it was a definitive Big Dumb Object story and I enjoyed the ride.
When both the rubber science and the attitudes towards women are dated, the book becomes a slog to get through. I decided to cut my losses and read something I could get excited about.
3.5
I've been struggling with this one as I really liked quite a bit of it. Many of the ideas are great, and this is some of the best character writing Niven has done. The Ringworld itself is awesome, and the idea of being godlike in a primitive situation is something that's interesting. It really fell off for me when they get to the floating city, which is annoying since almost all of that is revealed to be a lie in the next novel (Spoilers? Not really, the next one is boring and dumb). Niven is incredibly juvenile in his outlooks on sex and psychology, and it really gets in the way of everything else. The story screeches to a halt. The characters make several stupid decisions. Nessus is character assassinated, contradicting his initial short story appearance. There are a bunch more of Niven's less savory kinks. I just don't think this one is going to stand the test of time. Still, I can't dismiss it completely. Like, I would adapt this into something great. Shame about the wasted potential here.
Suggested Known Space stories to read prior to Ringworld:
- "At the Core" [Soft Recommend - You hear most of it in story]
- "The Soft Weapon" [Strong Recommend - Intro to Nessus, and great story]
- "There Is a Tide" [Strong Recommend - Intro to the Louis Wu, protagonist of Ringworld]
I've been struggling with this one as I really liked quite a bit of it. Many of the ideas are great, and this is some of the best character writing Niven has done. The Ringworld itself is awesome, and the idea of being godlike in a primitive situation is something that's interesting. It really fell off for me when they get to the floating city, which is annoying since almost all of that is revealed to be a lie in the next novel (Spoilers? Not really, the next one is boring and dumb). Niven is incredibly juvenile in his outlooks on sex and psychology, and it really gets in the way of everything else. The story screeches to a halt. The characters make several stupid decisions. Nessus is character assassinated, contradicting his initial short story appearance. There are a bunch more of Niven's less savory kinks. I just don't think this one is going to stand the test of time. Still, I can't dismiss it completely. Like, I would adapt this into something great. Shame about the wasted potential here.
Suggested Known Space stories to read prior to Ringworld:
- "At the Core" [Soft Recommend - You hear most of it in story]
- "The Soft Weapon" [Strong Recommend - Intro to Nessus, and great story]
- "There Is a Tide" [Strong Recommend - Intro to the Louis Wu, protagonist of Ringworld]
If you like a big dose of sci in your sci-fi, you've come to the right place. Story line is also good. A few twists you don't see coming. Characters developed well. And it all seems to fit together nicely.
Pros: Original concept, exciting space exploration, unique likeable aliens, clever plot twist, satisfying overall story
Cons: This is HARD sci-fi. So hard I had to stop trying to figure out what the author was trying to describe and just tell myself something is happening (for the sake of following the plot), because I don't have to patience to understand what he's getting at. It's like instead of describing that they see the color purple, he would go into the science of the wavelengths of light. Not exactly, but you'll know what I mean. So through most of the book I'm not really sure what the settings looked like (well the Ring World I got, thank goodness) and why something is happening (hyperspace travel +/- planet rotation velocity +/- neuritrons(?) = fuck you), which was pretty shitty.
Cons: This is HARD sci-fi. So hard I had to stop trying to figure out what the author was trying to describe and just tell myself something is happening (for the sake of following the plot), because I don't have to patience to understand what he's getting at. It's like instead of describing that they see the color purple, he would go into the science of the wavelengths of light. Not exactly, but you'll know what I mean. So through most of the book I'm not really sure what the settings looked like (well the Ring World I got, thank goodness) and why something is happening (hyperspace travel +/- planet rotation velocity +/- neuritrons(?) = fuck you), which was pretty shitty.