Comments on: Ringworld by Larry Niven

By: Charles Brown

Charles Brown — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:04:13 +0000

NOTE: there seems to be confusion about what books are in the series, so I’ve listed them here.
(1) Ringworld
(2) Ringworld Engineers
(3) The Ringworld Throne
(4) Ringworld’s Children.

All the novels after the first also draw heavily on another novel, “Protector”.

If you want a general idea of what to expect:
(1) Ringworld is an adventure novel that introduces the big ideas of the series.
(2) Ringworld Engineers is better than most sci-fi sequels, introducing some interesting new ideas instead of resting on the laurels of the original book.

The other two seem basically written to cash in on the first two, and the pizazz is gone.. Do NOT judge the series by reading them alone

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:46:29 +0000

Though a sci-fi fan since the 1960′s, I, like you, never read Ringworld. I just finished it yesterday and have now written my review at mark12ministries.wordpress.com
I agree that the adventure side of the story could have been more developed and the character development was weak, with the possible exception of Speaker. While the engineering of it all seems to be the big draw for readers, I was more fascinated by the play on luck vs. the meddling by the Puppeteers. Nivens seems to be seeking an answer to the frequently occurring problem in the sci-fi world of Providence- divine or otherwise.

By: Kendall

Kendall — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:14:44 +0000

I loved Ringworld and the sequel, Ringworld Engineers. (I’m surprised–that doesn’t get good reviews? Or did you just mean the books after that?)

I recommend some of Niven’s other “Known Space” novels and short stories from back in the day. Since the Ringworld environment has a lot of stuff unique to it (in Known Space), the other books might not help with any issues you had with Ringworld, though you don’t say what those are. (But I presume they’re Ringworld-specific.) But he wrote a lot of great stuff in Known Space, back in the day…IMHO.

I couldn’t get into the Ringworld book after Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld’s Children?), so I didn’t bother buying the fourth book. I felt like Niven was trying (and failing) to relive his glory years or something.

The current prequel-ish books (co-written with Edward Lerner) sound interesting, but I’ve yet to pick up the one that’s out now, Fleet of Worlds.

By: Cam

Cam — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:14:20 +0000

Ringworld’s Children was written only in the last decade. I’d assumed it was some sort of cash grab on the part of Niven, but you make it sound like a decent read Vic. Maybe it’s something I’ll put on my Library list and at least give it a shot. I would like to know more about this world, so maybe it’s worth some of my time.

By: Vic

Vic — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:47:02 +0000

I can’t say that I’ve read Ringworld but I have read Ringworld’s Children.
I have to say that Ringworld’s Children left me with much of the same feelings that you have about Ringworld. The story was really cool, as well as the world that it is set in, but I found that there was a overall lack of depth to the characters and the story seemed to jump around a lot.
Overall it was definitly a good read, but I wouldn’t go so far to say that it is a must read.
In fact I had completely forgotten I had read it until I saw Cam’s review of Ringworld.