Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Description
Come back to the Ringworld�??the most astonishing feat of engineering ever encountered. A place of untold technological wonders, home to myriad humanoid races, and world of some of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written. The human Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee: legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed before they can reach the Ringworld. Vampires are massing. And the Ghouls have their own agenda�??if anyone dares approach them to learn. Each race on the Ringworld has always had its own protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a protector. But who will sit on the Ringworld t… (more)
Media reviews
Readers who remember Ringworld from earlier encounters will no doubt relish the latest installment of the saga.
User reviews
LibraryThing member argyriou
It's Niven, but it's not remotely one of Niven's better works. The story is readable and interesting, but not nearly so much as the original "Ringworld".
LibraryThing member willowcove
Enjoyable, but not as good as the first volume
LibraryThing member benjamin.duffy
I believe it was Isaac Asimov who said that in true science fiction, the setting is the real protagonist. In this third Ringworld book, Niven is finally arriving at that stage; there's frustratingly little of Louis Wu (undoubtedly Niven's most interesting and compelling character) in the first half
Not nearly as warm, funny, or emotionally involving as the first Ringworld book, but more compelling than The Ringworld Engineers. Again, Niven's intelligence and imagination leave little to be criticized, and this series is definitely worthwhile reading for the fan of speculative fiction.
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of this book, so it was slow going for me until the Ringworld itself roped me in. By that, I mean that eventually I kept pushing forward, not because I cared what happened to the people, but more because I was intrigued by what they would find next, and by the ultimate fate of the world. Much the same as the last two of the original six Dune novels in that way.Not nearly as warm, funny, or emotionally involving as the first Ringworld book, but more compelling than The Ringworld Engineers. Again, Niven's intelligence and imagination leave little to be criticized, and this series is definitely worthwhile reading for the fan of speculative fiction.
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LibraryThing member DanTarlin
Larry Niven has spun another really cool plot: Louis Wu and his colleagues, still stranded on Ringworld after saving it from falling into its sun in The Ringworld Engineers, become embroiled in a mystery involving Protectors who are both restoring Ramjets along the Rim Wall to keep the Ringworld
But I can't take Niven's storytelling any more. He's just not good at describing what's going on in a clear way. I found myself bewildered while trying to figure out what was going on. And there are so many characters of many species involved in the vampire hunting that it's very hard to keep them straight, all for a side-story that I was trying to get through just so I could get back to Louis Wu and the Hindmost, who are much more interesting. The machinations around the vampire nest under a floating city are endless, and I couldn't really understand the physics behind what they were trying to do.
I bulled through it because, as I noted, the plot is cool. The concept of Protectors, who are hominids who have been exposed to the Tree of Life plant and essentially become Supermen with an instinct to protect their species, is nicely fleshed out. But it's just too hard to follow the plot- I'm done with Niven.
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stable and defending it from invaders by controlling the defense system. Meanwhile, a large part of the book is devoted to an alliance between a number of hominid species trying to rid their sector of a horde of vampires (not the supernatural kind, but rather non-sentient hominids who lure other species through strong pheronome smells, driving them crazy with lust so they can kill and suck their blood).But I can't take Niven's storytelling any more. He's just not good at describing what's going on in a clear way. I found myself bewildered while trying to figure out what was going on. And there are so many characters of many species involved in the vampire hunting that it's very hard to keep them straight, all for a side-story that I was trying to get through just so I could get back to Louis Wu and the Hindmost, who are much more interesting. The machinations around the vampire nest under a floating city are endless, and I couldn't really understand the physics behind what they were trying to do.
I bulled through it because, as I noted, the plot is cool. The concept of Protectors, who are hominids who have been exposed to the Tree of Life plant and essentially become Supermen with an instinct to protect their species, is nicely fleshed out. But it's just too hard to follow the plot- I'm done with Niven.
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LibraryThing member antao
(Original Review, 1980-07-01)
Now we're going to argue the reasons for sequels? It's straightforward here. Niven obviously doesn't need the money (although it can't hurt too badly). It's those damned readers who keep begging for more and pawing after him at every convention, in every fanzine, in all
It seems pretty obvious to me that Niven really didn't want to write RWE, but was pressured into it by agent/publisher/fans/whoever. This seems clear on reading the introduction. It was just a money-making venture, as opposed to the joy of creation which permeated the original Ringworld. Consequently, it's not surprising that there are inconsistencies to be found. Niven's basic skill keeps it from being hackwork, but RWE can't stand up against Ringworld. Ringworld is a joy to read; RWE is interesting, but definitely inferior. The inexplicable anomalies outlined by others are the result of churning out something to meet the demand, not lovingly crafting a precise construct, as a writer may do when SELF-driven. Outside pressure can never equal a writer's desire to perfect his creation. In short, I'm a little surprised that RWE is as good as it is. RWT is just crap.
[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.]
Now we're going to argue the reasons for sequels? It's straightforward here. Niven obviously doesn't need the money (although it can't hurt too badly). It's those damned readers who keep begging for more and pawing after him at every convention, in every fanzine, in all
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his letters, etc. ad infinitum. He's got to do *something* to shut them up, else go insane, bug-nuts. And also, remember that Ringworld, no matter how much we may like it, is an essentially incomplete story, with no real beginning, a middle, and no real ending. The 'resolution' is the strangest one I've ever seen, but a really clever ending for a series. So, its sequel, if reasonably done, can at least attempt to fill out the idea with more concrete information, not to mention satisfying those maniacs out there.It seems pretty obvious to me that Niven really didn't want to write RWE, but was pressured into it by agent/publisher/fans/whoever. This seems clear on reading the introduction. It was just a money-making venture, as opposed to the joy of creation which permeated the original Ringworld. Consequently, it's not surprising that there are inconsistencies to be found. Niven's basic skill keeps it from being hackwork, but RWE can't stand up against Ringworld. Ringworld is a joy to read; RWE is interesting, but definitely inferior. The inexplicable anomalies outlined by others are the result of churning out something to meet the demand, not lovingly crafting a precise construct, as a writer may do when SELF-driven. Outside pressure can never equal a writer's desire to perfect his creation. In short, I'm a little surprised that RWE is as good as it is. RWT is just crap.
[2018 EDIT: This review was written at the time as I was running my own personal BBS server. Much of the language of this and other reviews written in 1980 reflect a very particular kind of language: what I call now in retrospect a “BBS language”.]
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LibraryThing member clong
Rishathra, anyone? I loved Ringworld, and found The Ringworld Engineers to be largely pointless, but this book is truly awful. Uninteresting and undeveloped characters do uninteresting things in nonsensical settings for the first two thirds of this book; the last third is slightly better but not
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enough better to keep me from regretting that anyone survived the final confrontation. Show Less
Awards
Chesley Award (Nominee — 1997)
Language
Original publication date
1996-06
Physical description
424 p.; 25 cm
ISBN
0345358619 / 9780345358615