The Ringworld Engineers

The Ringworld Series, Book 2

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Richard Powers

Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s been 20 years since the quixotic and worldsweary Louis Wu discovered the Ringworld. Now he and SpeakertoAnimals are going back, captives of the Hindmost, a deposed puppeteer leader.

With Louis’ help, the Hindmost intends to regain his status by bringing back such extraordinary treasures from the Ringworld that his fellow puppeteers will have to be impressed. But when they arrive, Louis discovers that the Ringworld is no longer stable - and will destroy itself within months. To survive, he must locate the control center of the legendary engineers who built the planet.

His quest becomes a wild and gripping venture blended with the mysteries and spectacular technologies that only Larry Niven can conjure.

©1980 Larry Niven (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The Ringworld Engineers has all the imaginativeness, convincing detail, and narrative vivacity that have come to be associated with the works of Larry Niven. Furthermore, it answers a lot of questions that have been tantalizing his readers for a long time. Most highly recommended!” (Poul Anderson)

Good attempt

It was great for an author to come back and provide another glimpse into his work. The information gleamed from the many fans was included to a large degree and it was very interesting to read. The story itself didn't seem to hold together though and at times it felt like the technical information was drowning out the plot. I wish it had blended a little better.

Reader wasn't that bad

Admittedly, he's very different from the first book's reader who, by the end of the book gives you the image that Louis Wu is a 180 year old crotchety guy who's hilariously active. In this book you meet him in a much different state and so I gave the reader a chance and by the end of the book had accepted him for how he performed the characters. I feel like everyone else just took that transition harder than I did. All in all he's a good reader and it's not a painful experience to listen to the book. I recommend it if you like the series

Decent and entertaining, but not 5 stars.

The first book (Ringworld) was good. But by the author's own admission, it was not meant to be a series. It shows in this book. Idea's aren't really fleshed out and there are weak points. Overall it was entertaining, but not as good as I wanted.

nope.

listened to ringworld, it was ok, thought I'd try the series. ringworld was weird but interesting, engineers was weird and boring. lost interest unfortunately.

Good Story, Wrong Narrator. Way Wrong.

Short review - long winded soapbox.

Casting picked the wrong narrator for this book. Mr.Garcia speaks with a clear voice that might be a pleasure to listen to if given the right story. His voice has a pleading quality to it - sometimes a whining quality. I see Mr. Garcia reading the classics or maybe some genre I don't listen to such as childrens books.

After listening to the first book in this series my impression was serious fictional science with fun banter, appropriate sarcasm, and witty conversation. Mr. Parker nailed the first book with his outstanding performance. I mean he nailed it. His voice, inflections, emphasis were all spot on. I was able to laugh in the right places, be shocked in other places and follow along with the story very easily.

In the second book much was lost. Too much. I would have to listen to something multiple times to realize that was supposed to be a funny part or the characters picking on each other or some serious encounter. But instead the whole book is lost in an incorrect emotional interpretation. All sense of tension countered by comic relief is lost. Instead all the characters seem to be whining or complaining to each other.

This is one of the fails when converting a series into audible content. Publishers need to realize the narrator is a huge part of the book. They can turn a wonderful book into a painful drag or even turn a mediocre book into something worth listening to. With Mr. Parker they found the right narrator - then immediately changed for someone so wrong for the part. I notice in future books Mr. Parker does not return. Unfortunate. I'm not sure I can go through one more book with Mr. Garcia only to be facing another change in narrators. Ugh.

As a parallel - Jim Butcher has a series called The Dresden Files. It is outstanding! For 13 volumes the narrator, Mr. Glover, gave an outstanding performance. Voice perfect. In volume 13 they brought in a new narrator and I almost lost interest in the whole series. Maybe I was totally used to Mr. Marsters by that time but I don't think I would have listened to the whole series if it was read by the narrator of volume 13. Fortunately this publisher realized the situation and brought out volume 14 with the original narrator. Outstanding!

If all publishers would realize their narrators are bringing their books to life and their voice must be matched to the character then I think the audible world would be much better. If they find the right voice in the early volumes of a series - stick with it! Pay him or her more if you have to but don't swap voices without due consideration for the impact on the listener. Narrators are celebrities in a real sense. If my favorite artist (narrator) is reading in a genre I listen to (or one I want to try) I jump on it because of the narrator and I'm generally pleased with the outcome.

Wonderful 2nd Ringworld book.

Wonderful follow-up to Ring World. The ending broke my heart a little. The narrator did the book Justice.

Like OG Star Trek but longer and with more physics

To me this is a story of a man overcoming addiction with empathy. I found that very powerful.

There is a lot of sci-fi physics in this book (which I enjoyed). There is also a fair bit of sex, which the book is trying to pass of as philosophical. The characters are easy to love. Louie Wu feels alien enough that it doesn't seem impossible when he predicts the behavior of aliens generations removed from him. The narrator's unidentifiable accent and the odd vernacular help sell it. The Puppeteer makes a brave coward.

I enjoined this book more than the first. Both books examine the world in unusual ways without presenting a strong agenda, which I consider the best part of science fiction.

Fun Continuation Of The Ringworld Story

This is an overall enjoyable Ringworld story. It's become a little dated with the misogyny and, honestly, weird interspecies sex as a negotiating tactic but it still holds up.
The narration is good. All characters have consistent, well spoken individual voices.

A Sci-Fi classic but showing it's age - again

Written 10 years after Ringworld it's better but still showing it's age and I find Niven's use of sex in this novel rather odd, bordering on creepy and nonsensical. Still, a good read if you've nothing else and it's fun going back to books I read when I was a kid.

Great book, Great narrator

this is a great sequal to Ringworld and the narrator does a great job of bringing all the characters to life