The Smoke Ring

Though a Niven fan for years, I am disappointed in this particular production. The narration was a monotonous waste of time. In the future I will pay closer attention to the narrator and research other opinions before purchasing. What a shame this book was ruined not by a poor plot line but by poor execution.

I am a fan of Larry Niven's worlds, and bought this with high hopes. I recently found it in my library, not remembering that I'd tried to listen to it once before. I found the narrator very droney and monotonous. I persevered for nearly 2 hours and have finally had to turn it off, I'm so distracted by the droning that I've lost track of the story line a few times. I'm sure it's an excellent story, so disappointed in the narration.

This is the sequel to "The Integral Trees" and in many ways is even better because it paints a more complete picture of a really fascinating and unique environment and civilization. Larry Niven usually writes Hard Science Fiction about situations that are very scientifically plausible with lots of "real science" interspersed in the narrative.
"The Smoke Ring" is no exception -- while no doubt extremely rare and perhaps unique, Niven makes this world seem completely real. As he often does, he explores how societies react and adapt to unusual environments, and the result is captivating.
However, you really have to be able to ignore the horrible reading of the book to be able to enjoy it. If you like hard SF, the book is worth the effort, but it is an effort.

Although I am a Larry Niven fan, this book did not lend itself well to the audio format. The technical descriptions made the book tedious, as was the narrator. The narration was stilted and often got in the way of the story itself.

This guy just drones and drones! And obviously he doesn't have a clue how to speak into a mic as well.
Actually ruined my listen to this book,I got through the first 30 minutes or so and couldn't take it anymore!

I am a Larry Niven fan, but this book was not very engaging or entertaining. I found myself often lost. If reading the book myself I would likely have re-read the section, but on audio book format re-reading is not easy. Overall a rough task that I was glad to be done with.

This is another amazing story from Larry Niven. A great way to escape into a wild and interesting world for a while. (this is the second in the series)