Bruguru's Full Review: Larry Niven - Ringworld: A Novel
“Build a ring 93 million miles in radius one Earth orbit which would make it 600 million miles long. If we have the mass of Jupiter to work with, and if we make it a million miles wide, we get a thickness of about a thousand meters. ….We can spin it for gravity. A rotation on its axis of 770 miles/second would give the Ringworld one gravity outward. We wouldn’t even have to roof it over. Put walls a thousand miles high at each rim, aimed at the sun, and very little of the air will leak over the edges. The thing is roomy enough: three million times the area of the Earth.”
--Larry Niven
Welcome to Larry Niven’s Ringworld, one of the most original and imaginative concepts in all of science fiction. First published in 1970, Ringworld has since spawned two direct sequels and a host of spin-offs. It boasts intriguing characters, both human and alien, as well as an interesting plotline and a firm footing in science. Ringworld is considered by most experts a classic Sci-Fi novel and is one that no true fan should miss reading.
Our story opens on Earth of the far future where we meet Louis Wu, Niven’s two hundred year old protagonist. Humankind has long since eradicated the scourges of war, poverty, and crime and has begun to colonize the stars. But there the human race discovers that it is not alone, and alien races both benign and hostile are encountered as man expands the boundaries of known space.
Wu is approached by the alien Nessus, a Pierson’s Puppeteer who is interested in contracting his services for a mission of exploration. If Louis agrees, the alien will supply the human race with an advanced propulsion system many times faster than that which it currently possesses. Just what is it that the puppeteers, thousands of years more advanced than humans are technologically, need help to explore? This they will not disclose, but with the rewards so high, Louis agrees to go anyway.
Joining Nessus and Louis is Teela, a 20-year-old Earth woman whom the puppeteers believe to be extremely lucky, and the intriguing Speaker-to-Animals, an eight-foot tall tiger-like member of the Kzin race. The warlike Kzin have crossed swords with the human race on several occasions in the past, and though extremely agressive Nessus believes that Speaker’s experience in the martial arts will make him the perfect bodyguard for the party.
Off the four adventurers go to the Ringworld, a technological feat of such degree that even the Puppeteers are left in awe. But something is wrong. The Ringworld fails to answer all attempts to communicate, and its meteor defense systems automatically attack the Puppeteer ship, forcing a crash landing. Our heroes thus begin an exploration of the Ringworld the likes of which they never expected as they desperately seek the means to repair their ship and escape. Along the way, they will learn a great deal about themselves, the puppeteers, and the relationships that exist between their respective races.
At a mere 342 pages, Ringworld is relatively short, at least by Niven’s usual standards. Indeed, the action moves along so quickly that the reader will be left with the impression by book’s end that a lot more could have been included. This is not a sign of an incomplete work, however; the Ringworld concept is so fantastic and interesting that I suspect I would have been left with the same feeling were the novel 1000 pages long.
Niven is a genius and Ringworld proves it: his characters come to life so vividly that we never question their dialogue or interactions. At times, the interactions are not entirely amicable, as one would expect would likely be the case were four adventurers to experience the wonders and dangers our heroes do.
Apart from interesting and believable characters, however, good science fiction should postulate incredible concepts while at the same time basing them in solid science. This Niven does magnificently, and he often makes it a point to explain the science behind his fiction. A Ringworld might seem impossibility to the reader, but with a much greater degree of technology, it probably could be done.
Oddly enough, Ringworld has never been adapted to the silver screen. In some respects that is probably a good thing, because I suspect it would lose a great deal in the translation. But that’s ok, because Ringworld is a great read that will hold your attention and keep you turning page after page. It is some of the best sci-fi you’ll find, whatever the format.
A new place is being built, a world of huge dimensions, encompassing millions of miles, stronger than any planet before it. There is gravity, and with...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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