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

A Big Story in a Grand Settimg

I'm fascinated with Larry Niven's Lnown Space series. Are an easy listen and an easy read as I did back when they were released as stories in science fiction pulps.

Larry has a gift for making a compelling tail about recently discovered or considered topics. Dyson Spheres, ring-shaped worlds, tiny black holes. He takes the concepts and crafts a witty story around them.

Ringworld is no different. However in the case of Ringworld, he has created it rich and fertile ground for a myriad of stories he made a whole New World that's far bigger than any world we know.

And I thank him.

Very cool world building/story okay

I liked the ideas behind the story and universe that Niven creates. The characters and story was just okay in my opinion.

Still Worth Listening 40 Years Later!

My husband has been telling me about Ringworld for about 10 years now, so when I saw it available on Auidble, I was excited to hear this book, which stuck with him since his teen years. This book is super unique and creative. It doesn't feel dated at all. I also found it to be a very different kind of Sci Fi book, as much about the characters and their personal curiosities as it is about the RingWorld itself.

This is not a rock 'em sock 'em space war sci fi book - it's much more cerebral and about the characters from three different species trying to relate to each other while they learn the secrets of the RingWorld.

My ONLY problem with this book was that it ended rather abruptly! I guess I have to listen to the next in the series. But this book is definitely worth the listen and totally earned it's Hugo!

Great concept but boring

This is a classic and a great concept. However, I was waiting for the storey to develop and it never really did. The idea of the Dyson Sphere is fascinating and the SciFi was good.

Great Intro

Novel provides the requisite character development to hook the reader. I'm buying more Ringworld.

Not bad. Not great. A descent book all around.

An average sci-fi adventure novel. It didn't exactly keep me on the edge of my seat, but it did keep me coming back for an hour or so a day until I finished it. My two main criticisms are that I didn't really take anything away from this book and it had a pretty lackluster ending.

Great concepts. Well imagined.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I truly enjoy sci-fi that builds a word in my imagination that feels real and feasible to my logical mind. Larry Niven built a really neat world on a ring, based on a Dyson sphere, then backed it up with physics and plausible science. The story is very good, characters well developed, interpersonal dynamics well conceived. Narration is very good. For anyone who reads contemporary sci-fi, you may see some roots here and there from this 1970 Hugo Award Winner.

Slow start but worth the follow through

What made the experience of listening to Ringworld the most enjoyable?

The characters Niven's come's up with are alien, yet so familiar. His constant dialogue between the characters keep the book moving freely.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ringworld?

I would love to own the

Did Tom Parker do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, slight voice changes. Not over the top acting.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Started sowly, but as the book evolved into the main plot I was hooked. Rated as Science fictions top 10. I would agree.

Any additional comments?

Top 10 Sci-Fi book for sure. Harry Harrison's Death world trilogy and West of eden trilogy series are probably the greatest Sci-Fi books ever .

One of the best!

One of the all time SciFi greats!
Thos title is a classic by any standard.

Meh

Ringworld was interesting as a concept, but just be prepared for Niven's casual misogyny in t
his writing of female characters