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bookguyeric 's review for:
Ringworld
by Larry Niven
This one really fed my sense of wonder. I was disappointed to leave Ringworld. So much territory to explore. I'll have to look into the sequels and prequels.
Having said that, Niven suffers from the male chauvinism that mars most science fiction of the period. The women in the story are treated in a condescending fashion. The males (not "men" -- one of the males is a cat-like alien) figure out all the problems and mansplain their reasoning to the women.
On the plus side, the hero, Louis Wu, is not the usual white guy, but a mixture of all human races.
It helps to know that this book it part of a cycle of novels and stories called "Known Space". Some of the races, concepts, and characters appear in other Niven stories. I was a bit thrown by the introduction of an alien race called "Pierson's Puppeteers." There's no explanation in the book as to why they're called that. In spite of that name, the other characters are SHOCKED to find out that the Puppeteers engages in manipulation of other races. Well, duh!
Having said that, Niven suffers from the male chauvinism that mars most science fiction of the period. The women in the story are treated in a condescending fashion. The males (not "men" -- one of the males is a cat-like alien) figure out all the problems and mansplain their reasoning to the women.
On the plus side, the hero, Louis Wu, is not the usual white guy, but a mixture of all human races.
It helps to know that this book it part of a cycle of novels and stories called "Known Space". Some of the races, concepts, and characters appear in other Niven stories. I was a bit thrown by the introduction of an alien race called "Pierson's Puppeteers." There's no explanation in the book as to why they're called that. In spite of that name, the other characters are SHOCKED to find out that the Puppeteers engages in manipulation of other races. Well, duh!