Ringworld Engineers [Paperback]

Larry Niven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 1992

Ringworld: the most stunning artifact in known space, an articficial world with three million times Earth's surface area. Who built it? And where are they? In this stunning sequel to Larry Niven's Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel, Louis Wu (now a near-hopeless lirehead hooked on electrical ecstasy), the aged Kzin warrior, Speaker-to-Animals, and the Hindmost, puppeteer mate of mad Nessus, return to Ringworld. Their aim is to prevent cataclysm. IN the process, they find themselves learning Ringworld's incredible secrets...

Editorial Reviews

Review

'His tales have pulse-pounding narrative drive. Niven is a true master!' Frederik Pohl

From the Publisher

8 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Orbit Books (August 31, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857231112
• ISBN-13: 978-1857231113
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 1.2 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #645,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LARRY NIVEN is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. He lives in Chatsworth, California. JERRY POURNELLE is an essayist, journalist, and science fiction author. He has advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science. Together Niven and Pournelle are the authors of many New York Times bestsellers including Inferno, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and Lucifer's Hammer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible sequel that expands upon Ringworld., March 3, 2005

By 

Harvey H. Meeker (Shelton, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ringworld Engineers (Mass Market Paperback)

The Ringworld Engineers is the sequel to Ringworld. In Ringworld, Larry Niven introduced us to the concept of a world made in the shape of an extraordinarily large ring encircling a star. In this book he gives us answers to questions we might not have even asked about the Ringworld, but that others apparently did. After the publication of Ringworld, Niven received numerous pieces of correspondence from people offering helpful information about the details of how the Ringworld would actually function. Niven took inspiration from the enthusiasm of those people and created the Ringworld Engineers in part to publish the answers to important questions about the structure. Around those answers he has created a thoughtful and engaging story that adds in a positive way to the Ringworld legacy.

The basic premise behind the Ringworld Engineers is that twenty or so years have passed since Louis Wu and Speaker To Animals returned from the Ringworld. Since then, Louis has withdrawn into a life of ascetic practices livened up by his addiction to current stimulation. Speaker to Animals (who has earned his full name of Chmeee for the treasure he brought back from the original Ringworld adventure) lives a prosperous life on Kzin having earned high status from his Ringworld discoveries. The circumstance that brings Louis and Chmeee back to the Ringworld is one quite familiar to them, but the situation they face upon arriving on the Ringworld is quite different than when they left. The Ringworld is moving out of position around the sun and the only way for Louis and Chmeee to find out how to fix it lies with the origins of the Ringworld Engineers.

I found the Ringworld Engineers to be engaging and interesting wholely apart from the original Ringworld. While certainly the references to parts of the original book are made more clear having read that novel, this book is very readable even having read Ringworld many years before. Having said that, I would advise that it is a good idea to read Ringworld first as there are certainly items of that book which are spoiled herein.

The way that Niven engages parts of his other novels of Known Space and entertwines them with this book made me want to go give some of those a shot as well. He truly is a master storyteller and this is one of his best novels on his own. Niven's collaborations with author Jerry Pournelle are also highly recommended. The classic The Mote In God's Eye as well as Footfall and Lucifer's Hammer are all very well done and certainly are must read novels for any Niven fan.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read 'em all!, January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ringworld Engineers (Mass Market Paperback)

What most people seem to have forgotten is that the Ringworld books (Ringworld, R.E., R.Thr.) aren't the only books in the series. ALL of the Known Space books must be taken as a whole. For instance, it's impossible to fully comprhend Ringworld E. without having read "Protector." All the known space books link together, PLUA the short stories. I suggest reading them all in chronological order and putting the pieces together yourselves. Sure, it will require more trips to the library, but, hey, whoever said life was easy?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Ringworld, but still good., August 24, 2005

By 

Brad (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ringworld Engineers (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this in a couple of days just because I had nothing else to do. I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed Ringworld more. The ending was wrapped up pretty quickly, like Niven was tired of writing about the Ringworld and just wanted to get it over with. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because I was tired of reading about the Ringworld at this point. I should have put a buffer between Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers by reading another book, perhaps something from the Ender Wiggin series. I still recommend Ringworld Engineers if you enjoyed Ringworld as it answers numerous questions you may or may not have had. After reading Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers, I think I'm going to pick up a few more novels by Niven.