Customer Reviews

The Ringworld Engineers

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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 Since then, Louis has withdrawn into a life of ascetic practices livened up by his addiction to current stimulation.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.

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?

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.

Ringworld Engineers is one of the best Sci Fi books I've ever read. It greatly expands on its predecessor, filling in gaps and solving the mysteries of the first book. 23 years after escaping the Ringworld, Louis and Speaker-to-Animals are kidnapped and brought back. Their captor--a deposed Pupeteer leader--is searching for vital technology and secrets that will impress his people and reinstate himself. However, the Ring is falling towards its sun and will soon be destroyed. Thus, Louis and Speaker (now called Chmeee) must find a way to free themselves before the inevitable collision.

As the two travel across the Ring they uncover secrets and origins that could possibly save them--or destroy them. The story is a race against time to uncover the ultimate secrets never revealed in the first book. Despite the protests of a few hardcore Niven fans, most Sci Fi readers I have talked with highly recommend this book, as do I. Together with the original, Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers comprise one of the most compelling, original works of fiction that I have ever read.

This is money well spent. I enjoyed this novel and spent nearly a whole night reading it in one sitting. I will never tire of Larry Niven when he sticks to Known Space, the best of his fiction areas. I like the Pupperteers, the Kzin, and Pac. Larry delivers a nearly perfect end to the Ringworld series. I have had personal conversations with him back in 1983 and he never intended to make more Known Space books. Note, you should read this novel before reading "Ringworld's Children", due out in Summer of 2004. Enjoy it, I did!

I have rarely come across a sequel that continues a story as well as this. It's advisable to read "Ringworld" first, otherwise this won't make all that much sense. Once you've done that and want more, read this. You'll probably have a difficult time discerning between the two books afterwards, because they complement each other very well. The story revolves around Louis Wu and his alien friend (or foe?), the kzin formerly known as Speaker-To-Animals. The Puppeteers (an extremely paranoid alien species) manage to get the two on board a spaceship heading for a second rendezvous with the mysterious Ringworld, a huge habitable "circular ribbon in space". I won't disclose more. Just read the thing. It's worth it.

For readers who are new to Nivens form of science fiction I would recomend this series highly. As an offshoot of another of his series "Tales of Known Space" it succeeds in grasping the reader in its rich history of Alien life and lore as well as the fate of humanity. This story, continued from "Ringworld", recounts the further adventures of Louis Wu and his Kzin friend who are once again employed by a radical Piersons Puppeteer to solve the problems of the Ringworld. Various questions left un- answered from the first book are finally answered in this eagerly awaited sequel. By far this is one of the best works I have ever had the priviledge to read.

This is an ingeniously thought out novel. In it, Larry Niven succeeds in reconcilling some of the apparent inconsistencies between the Ringworld books and his other Known Space novels (by demonstrating that the Ringworld was built by the Pak protectors), and incorporates the ideas and questions of his fans (spillpipes, attitude jets, and defense system) into the operation of the Ringworld, while at the same time telling an exciting, and fast moving story. That he manages all three so flawlessly is surely a sign of his genius as a writer.

Louis Wu and Speaker to Animals (now known as Chmee) are kidnapped by the Hindmost (puppeteer mate of Nessus from the preious book) and brought to the Ringworld again to steal a technology from it that will ensure the security of Hindmost's political faction on the puppeteer world. Louis Wu, however, ends up stranded alone with little but his wits in the middle of the Ringworld, with no-one but the Ringworld natives to turn to for help. And he does indeed need their help, for the Ringworld is off-centre, and very soon will brush against its sun...

Larry Niven's Ringworld is certainly a classic of sci-fi (as is most of the early Known Space material) by virtually anyone's definition. Louis Wu and his companions return to the Ringworld in this sequel. Compared to the original, this followup novel can only be regarded as a disappointment. Louis Wu has become an addict. Specifically, he is addicted to a machine that stimulates the pleasure centers of his brain and spend days/weeks/months continuously under its influence. He is not a happy camper when he and Speaker to Animals is kidnapped and taken to the Ringworld by a Pierson's puppeteer. The puppeteer wishes to acquire some valuable technology from the Ringworld and wants to use Wu's and his companion's knowledge to find it. Upon arrival at the Ringworld, they realize that it is no longer stable and that if something isn't done it will crash into the star that it orbits within a few years.

There's certainly a lot to like about this novel. Niven certainly knows a fair bit of physics, and he seamlessly weaves this knowledge into his story to give the whole Ringworld an aura of plausibility and level of detail unmatched by anyone not named Arthur C. Clarke. Louis Wu has his share of human weaknesses and is, in some ways, not a very likable main character. Niven also creates an interesting dynamic between the three main characters during the first half or so of the novel. None of the three trust each other, but they all need each other if they are going to get what they want (which is largely mutually exclusive of the others!) and survive. There is also the mystery of Ringworld hanging over the whole story: who built the Ringworld? Why? Can it be saved? Should it be saved?

There are several serious weaknesses in this novel that prevent it from rising to more than a middlin' work in my view. First, and most importantly, the justification for large parts of the story is weakly wound together at best. The characters easily transition from deeply mistrusting each other to working together for the common good at the drop of a hat. Louis Wu rapidly transitions from junkie to worldsaver. I get the sense that Niven had a plan for the story in his mind and tried to shoe-horn everything into this idea. He really needed to step back a bit and put the big picture into perspective. Second, I have to agree with some of the other negative reviews about `risathra'. Niven seems obsessed with the idea of sex between infertile hominid species and spends large tracts of the text on this. I don't see how this advances the story in any way. I'm not interested in speculations as to how to different hominid species might have sex. Third, there really isn't a log `new' in this novel, it really ties together the previous Ringworld novel and several of the other Known Space tales. It is `more of the same'. Each of the early Known Space works was uniquely interesting and different, even if they were tied together with a common thread. The Ringworld Engineers has more of the common thread and less of the uniquely interesting and different.

Bottom line - this is a decent novel, but probably a worthwhile read only for serious LN/Known Space fans. A step below his earlier works.

Granted, I couldn't put it down, but that's just how I am when I want to know the answer to something. I was dissapointed at how short it was, and there is no sense of time. Events which are suposed to take a week or more seem to fly by in minutes. I noticed this lack of time in many places.

It wasn't as sex-filled as some of the reviews say....I was actually expecting more sex after reading the reviews here. Although somewhat dissapointed by the book, I was satisfied to have answers to some of the questions left by the first book, but I think this book just opens up more questions. I still am womdering "What happens now?"