The Ringworld Series
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The Ringworld Series
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Ringworld
by
Larry Niven
Two humans and two aliens, who are traveling to distant reaches of space to prevent a future catastrophe, crash on a ringworld apparently created by superior technologies. 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 high walls and its proximity to the sun, a livable new planet that is three million times the area of the Earth can be formed. We can start again! Even fans of Larry Niven will be awed by the stirring vision he presents in _Ringworld_. A band of six hundred million miles in length and a million miles wide is set in orbit around the sun. Although obviously manufactured by an advanced alien civilization, it is discovered by an exploration team to be utterly devoid of intelligent life. Headed by the swashbuckling Louis Wu, the crew sets out on a laborious trek to expose the mystery of the immense ring's existence. When their journey finally brings them face to face with an entirely primitive humanoid race living in the ruins of a highly-developed metropolis, Wu senses that the solution is all but imminent. Yet little does he know what unapparent mighty forces are secretly at work on the Ringworld. Despite the book's surrealistic appearance, its idea is based on a distinct scientific possibility. But even though merging a discernible amount of fact with the fiction, Niven ensures a primarily entertaining read with his playful characters and settings. |
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Ringworld Engineers
by
Larry Niven
This rousing sequel to the classic Ringworld continues the adventures of Louis Wu and Speaker-to-Animals on that fantastic planet. This is an ingeniously thought out novel. In it, Larry Niven succeeds in reconcilling some of the apparent inconsistencies between the Ringworld books and his other Known Space novels (by demonstrating that the Ringworld was built by the Pak protectors), and incorporates the ideas and questions of his fans (spillpipes, attitude jets, and defense system) into the operation of the Ringworld, while at the same time telling an exciting, and fast moving story. That he manages all three so flawlessly is surely a sign of his genius as a writer. Louis Wu and Speaker to Animals (now known as Chmee) are kidnapped by the Hindmost (puppeteer mate of Nessus from the preious book) and brought to the Ringworld again to steal a technology from it that will ensure the security of Hindmost's political faction on the puppeteer world. Louis Wu, however, ends up stranded alone with little but his wits in the middle of the Ringworld, with no-one but the Ringworld natives to turn to for help. And he does indeed need their help, for the Ringworld is off-centre, and very soon will brush against its sun... |
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The Ringworld Throne
by
Larry Niven
In Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers Larry Niven created Known Space, a universe in the distant future with a distinctive and complicated history. The center of this universe is Ringworld, an expansive hoop-shaped relic 1 million miles across and 600 million miles in circumference that is home to some 30 trillion diverse inhabitants. As in his past novels, Niven's characters in The Ringworld Throne spend their time unraveling the complex problems posed by their society. Readers who remember Ringworld from earlier encounters will no doubt relish the latest installment of the saga. |
