Ringworld

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Tom Parker

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, Ringworld remains a favorite among science fiction readers and listeners.

The artifact is a vast circular ribbon of matter, some 180 million miles across, with a sun at its center. Pierson’s puppeteers—strange, three-legged, two-headed aliens—discovered this “Ringworld” in a hitherto unexplored part of the galaxy. Curious about the immense structure, but frightened by the prospect of meeting the builders, they set about assembling a team to explore it:

Louis Wu, human—old and bored with having lived too fully for too many years, seeking an adventure, and all too capable of handling it.

Nessus, puppeteer—a trembling coward from a species with an inbuilt survival pattern of nonviolence. This particular puppeteer, however, is insane.

Speaker-to-Animals, kzin—large, orange-furred, and carnivorous. The kzin are one of the most savage life-forms known.

The party’s expedition, however, goes disastrously wrong when their ship crash-lands and its motley crew faces a daunting trek across thousands of miles of Ringworld territory.

©1970 Larry Niven (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

It's Not About What You Think

For sci-fi lovers this is some awesome stuff. For the casual reader this is real heavy and will be slow going. I am some where in between so I liked it but I am not raving about it. Larry Niven has some fantastic novels and I know this is one that has spawned other ideas and inspired other authors and at least one massively popular video game. His mind goes places others can't touch.

This story is told from the point of view of Louie Wu but is really about Teela Brown. I can't go into why without spoilers so either read it or ask me later. There is not much of a plot here as the entire book is spent with the 3 alien races discussing thier own science and life philosophies (where Teela Brown's sitation comes in). This is what makes it classic science-fiction, the science is primary the story secondary.

Great novel, pretty good narration

Tom Parker does a fine job with this straight narration of the material. Not fantastic, but better than adequate. Once I eased into his flow, I had no problem maintaining attention, but I think a bit more could be asked in the characterization department.

The main character in Ringworld is a 200 year old human named Louis Wu, who is approached by a Puppeteer (one of an alien race) who in turn is building a team to visit a star system that has an fabricated ring around it. The complete team includes Louis Wu, the Puppeteer, a Kzin, and a human female. The reasons for all these choices become clear during the novel.

Niven’s style is such that you can be awed then amused on the same page. His characters are very comfortable with life, and talk physics like we discuss driving across town. After more than thirty years, the story remains interesting and the ideas fascinating.
I highly recommend this audiobook, whether you’ve experienced Ringworld already or not.

Could have been better...

Lack good memorable characters. I have read Niven books that had much more endearing characters.

Solid Performance, Archaic Story

Tom Parker is very talented, and this talent shows through as he's reading. From very specific terminology (Tanj and Cziltang Brone come to mind) to the personalities of each character, his vocal work imbues the story with a very memorable feeling.

My only complaint isn't with the narration, but rather with the story. I recognize that Niven was working to give a bleak sense of hopelessness in certain places in the story, and he does this almost too well. I generally enjoy my stories to end positively, and while there's some hint of happiness at the end, overall it feels like it ends on a downer note.

Great ideas, but sexist and weirdly horny

This book has amazing concepts to explore with respect to world building. But it is held down by its weirdly horny and sexist energy.

a lot of sex for reasons unknown

there was a lot of sex and focus on it. I really didn't think that was needed. I came for Sci Fi really.

classic scifi

true alien take on some aliens. ringworld is a world unlike any other. a story about exploration set at the furthest reaches of our galaxy :)
AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

This did not age well

I can see why this book became a classic of science fiction, but I personally did not like it. The setting and some of the concepts we are exploring are very interesting, but the plot is weird, and the inner logic of the book-universe is inconsistent.

very thought-provoking makes me want to visit the

The ringworld period accepted to damn dangerous place and I get dead really quick. reason I like video games you can practice accidental learning. actually living in such a dangerous environment like these characters who have plot armor would be a little too dangerous for me. excellent book

I tried so hard to like this

If pervasive and casually treated sexual assault isn’t a dealbreaker for you, you might enjoy this more than I did. If that hadn’t been such an inherent part of the plot and structure of this story, I would have loved it. This could have been one of my favorite books.