The Ringworld Engineers

I really have enjoyed both the Fleet of Worlds and Ringworld series by Larry Niven. My biggest complaint is that there is no information on the order of the series. Both series are interconnected and a continuous story. Frankly, if each is taken as a separate story, I would not rate it as high. However if the series is read in order, the character development is excellent and the back stories that are hinted at in each succeeding book, are understood by the reader - making the stories much more enjoyable. However the advantage of this process for the author is that you end up purchasing all the books and then trying to figure out what the order should be by reading a chapter or 2. Granted that the Fleet of Worlds series do have indicators as to Book 1 through Book 5 . However Book 5 (Fate of Worlds) really requires reading all of the Ringworld series to be best appreciated.

This is the second book in the Ringworld series and while not as fresh as the original, the return of the original players is full of action and gets you thinking.

Outstanding book and even better than the original in my opinion. The plot makes sense and the twist in the end is interesting. Niven isn't the best writer out there, but his ideas are outstanding. Hard sci-fi is hard to come by and this one is a classic. Well worth a read. (Now, unfortunately, I cannot say that for the two following novels in the Ringworld saga, but the "... Of Worlds" series kinda makes up for it.) I've dreamt of what it would be like to live on the Ringworld; Engineers comes as close as I can think.

Spurred on by sci-fi fans (especially those at the 1970 World Science Fiction Convention) to write a sequel to ‘Ringworld’, Larry Niven gave us this brilliant addition to the tales of Louis Wu and the Ringworld. Chief amongst this novel’s gifts was tying the Pak to the Ringworld, setting the stage for two more Ringworld novels that further stretch the imagination.

This 2nd book in the series has many similarities to the first book, but is missing that "something" quality that made the first one so enjoyable. Perhaps revisiting the Ring makes it less novel? Also, the writing was hurried in sections making it unclear what was happening. I stopped reading it.

The RIngworld and sequels is a classic, considered a must read in some circles. I'd avoided them sort of by accident due to simply being busy with other things when they came to mind in the past. Finally I bought the Kindle version of Ringworld and eventually found an afternoon to read it. It was OK, not great but really pretty OK for an old-timey SciFi book. Since it was on my mind, I immediately got this book, 'The Ringworld Engineers'. It was a fast read and sort of fun, but just partway through I started to see a lot of holes in the fabric of the tale. I clamped down like a pitbull and finished it, but I'm out, no more Ringworld for me. I don't want to spoilerize it but let's just say a lot of the details of the future worlds in Ringworld just have not aged well, and a lot of the suspension of disbelief points that have to be glossed over to explain why things get done the way they get done become difficult to overlook. The fascination with interspecies sex was pretty baffling and served no purpose that I could see. Hand waving it away as 'birth control' on a platform with essentially infinite living space just made it even more nonsensical. I think it had to have been thrown in there to appeal to 15 year old boys in the age before internet porn. After a while it was eye-roll after eye-roll as I waded to the end, which was also pretty unsatisfying. In summary, I wish I'd read the first book and stopped. I'm stopped now. Giving 4 stars as a gift, if it wasn't Niven I'd be hard pressed to give it 2.

After reading a lot of other fantasy and sci-fi books, I came across the novel Ringworld. I really enjoyed the story and it sparked my imagination. Afterwards I immediately ordered Ringworld Engineers and it's really interesting. I am already excited to read The Protectors which is another Ringworld book.

I somehow made my side splits writing this (do not remove, Amazon- this is a genuine review). The book is also pretty good! Niven’s Storytelling feels a little (even a lot) stretretched sometime, and his characters can be pretty hoaky. But nonetheless filled with imaginative landscapes, cities, lost alien races, discoveries about the source of humanity, and sex sex sex with almost every single alien female we meet in this book. Kids, this is not how it works in the real world! This is science fiction, after all. Rishathra!

Yet again Larry Niven sells the storyline well very good reading. actually I thought I'd said enough but it seems the program demands even more words where less is enough.

Rien à redire sur le livre : il étend remarquablement bien l'histoire du premier tome, en répondant à de nombreuses questions techniques posées par les fans les plus aguerris de l'auteur, le tout dans un scénario bien ficelé. Malheureusement cette édition Kindle souffre de très nombreuses erreurs typographiques vraisemblablement dues à une numérisation trop hâtive : ponctuation manquante (points), mots écorchés (notamment les noms propres)... Ça nuit un peu au plaisir de lecture.

Not as good as Ringworld

Of all of Niven's Ringworld novels, this is my favourite. It's got a scope larger than the first book, a faster pace, better science, more interesting and well developed characters, even Louis is given a significant boost of nuance, but for all that it doesn't lose the awe-inspiring scope of the original or the ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek aspects that creep into Niven's work from time to time. I've given it 5 starts because I first read it something like twenty years ago and I've just re-read it now and I still thoroughly enjoyed it, even after filling the intervening time with other writers, though if I'm being totally brutal, it maybe should only have four when you compare it to more contemporary stuff from other writers.

Brilliant Fourth time I hav read this series and still enjoy it as much each time!