Exactly what was Ringworld about? (Larry Niven)

*Shrug* It's one of the very few novels to ever win both the Hugo (awarded by fans) and the Nebula (awarded by professional writers) award. Sorry it didn't work for you.
 
I enjoyed ringworld (only read it a week ago). Never having read Niven before, I easily slid in to the ideas and picked up the technology, language and character traits of the people in the book. I liked the idea that Nessus, being slightly braver than the rest of the puppeteers is actually insane and undergoes manic / depression cycles as a result.
The book left me wanting more, so come payday i'm off to waterstones to get some more of his work.
 
I think Niven had a great idea for an "Enormous Big Thing" then cast around for a story to go with it. Once he decided to place it in his Known Space universe, the characters and basic plot were self evident.

His problem becomes who actually built the thing. I still don't think he's answered that satisfactorily. The obvious answer are the Pak. But personally I have a hard time swallowing that, at least as presented so far.
 
I read Ringworld and I think (it was a very long time ago) I found it satisfying in itself (although I wanted to know more). I do recall being blown away by some of the ideas, including the ringwold itself.

Later, I read The Ringworld Engineers, which was fine. I've never been able to get more than a few chapters into The Ringworld Throne; perhaps if I read it immediately after the other two, I might build up enough momentum to get into it.
 
Ringworld was a fabulous and delicious read. I will definitely re read it sometime. But I wasn't bothered too much by the fact that we didn't find out who or what built it,because his characters and landscape were so wonderful. I remember well the sunflowers that turn bodily as the sun does and also,being highly reflective,could use the sun's rays as a defence against potential grazers. Brilliant! The sequel was good too but got a bit heavy and I didn't understand all that went on,particularly the business with the Pak protectors and the luck lotteries. The third book left me cold and took me ages to finish it. Bored me to death,it was just a book about vampires. What?! Didn't bother after that.
 
I'm glad to hear that the problems I was having with The Ringworld Throne were not all down to me.
 
Like the first book, Throne is just an adventure story set on the Ringworld.

Unlike Ringworld, it does not portray the EBT very well. After all, by the time you get to throne, you understand the Ring pretty well.

It needed a major cataclysm on a Ring scale to make it interesting.
 
Well, overtly, the ringworld exploration was because the galaxy was doing a number on itself. The puppeteers had already fled for an area that would keep them safe before the shocvkwave hit. they knew the rest of the races would sit around until the danger was imminent then do something hasty etc.... Nessus grabbed the two humans and a Kzinti that fit his bill. one human and Kzinti were to his thought direct results of the Puppeteer redesign of the species. Louis was the longest lived human I believe. So he was thought to be the most efficient survivor. The reason for the ringworld exploration was because the pupeteers were fleeing and their exodus was passing too close to it, so they wanted it explored for threats.

Ringworld had some undercurrents, where the Pupeteer homeworld was, the involvement of the puppeteers in human and Kzinti species. there were some further explanations and implications in engineers. But for the most part a lot of things were species level, not personal interactions. the closest was speaker to animal's response to Louis getting out of his crash balloon on the flying craft.
 
Ice fyre said:
no body's likley to read this I think. But well anyway all your questions should be answered by "Protector" by Larry Niven.
:)
Click to expand...

Protector, and then The Ringworld Engineers. It's the latter that really brings the two together.
 
Having only read Ringworld I can't say how the others effect it. To me it always seemed a way for Niven to write a story on an ENORMOUS Palette, far, FAR bigger than could even be conceived of given Earth Nomal gravity or even Gravity far beyond that. It also has enormous implications for the politics and sociology of Known Space, since it is more than big enough to match them being for being and race for race and even go beyond.

I was especially charmed by Rishathra. I think we humans will have sex with anything that is willing to have sex with us, and believe other races will reciprocate. I base this on personal experience
 
The Puppeteers didn't select Louis and the others to make their first check on the Ringworld. They had already been there maybe as much as a thousand years before.

The bioweapon used to destroy all of the superconductor 'thread' used in Ringworld machinery, such as floating cities and vehicles, was introduced by the Puppeteers.

Louis and co were sent to check on the results of the Puppeteer threat-removal of the previous millennium. Probably because they knew it had been built by Pak and they wanted to be sure there were none left to threaten them as their 'fleet of worlds' passed by that way, and that there would be no Pak following them to the Magellanics.

.
 
This is one of the classic SF novels, but sadly it's not available on Kindle...that doesn't seem possible to me (I pretty much need Kindle books now because of eye-strain issues). Very interesting thread!
 
Just read it for the first time. Agree with some of the comments about the ideas he was exploring, but ill wait until I read the others.
 
No one can say what a story is about except the author, but I can hazard a guess.

It was about luck vs. honor. Speaker is a hardened warrior who earns everything through violence and pain. Teela is luck, and does not earn anything, albeit this is not her fault.
 
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