I set my sights on embarking on the lore of Ringworld after hearing about the acclaim this franchise has had in the Science Fiction genre. My interest first peaked during my teenage years in the early 2000’s when playing Halo for the first time. I can still hear the title screen music of Georgian chants that influenced the soundtrack, and be greeted by the Ringworld in all its majestic glory. My goodness, the scale of it all! Later on, I learned about the novels that influenced the Halo world and set myself to immerse myself in the literature.
The original Ringworld was released by Larry Niven in October 1970. The story was an adventure of a bored Louis Wu and his companions to the Ringworld and their eventual escape. I will possibly create a book review for the original novel, but for this post, I will focus on its sequel, Ringworld Engineers. Louis Wu and Chmeee return to the Ringworld along with a new member named The Hindmost. This time, they discover that the Ringworld has become unstable and will collide with its star soon. The gang must locate the control center of the engineers who built the Ringworld.
From my experience, this book is fast-paced, and by fast, I mean fast. While the story proceeds at a good pace, the movement of characters from scene to scene requires, at times, a re-read of the paragraphs. You can start at a plot location and somehow end up in another due to the stepping disks, a teleportation-type device, and the author’s lack of descriptive writing on physical location. This is a needed plot device because the distances are vast, to say the least. You are having to imagine a world many, many times bigger than our own, and its scale is hard to wrap your mind around. The best advice is to not worry so much about trying to find your footing in where you are and focus on what the author is trying to tell.
However, the world-building that the author gives is grand! You get to meet a different array of creatures that populate their own individual worlds within the Ringworld and the dilemmas they have living there. You also get to learn about the creators of the world and the expansion of the lore. I really enjoyed the imagery and adventure. This story delves into the creation story, where there is such a thing as the “tree of life” and if you’ve read the original Ringworld, you get a good little surprise at the end. Oh, and I can’t forget about Risharthra! Let’s just say, it’s a very interesting cultural habit among the species in Ringworld.
Overall, this is a great sequel to the original novel, and I am sure it sets up the future books he wrote as well. I recommend that those who might have found the original novel ok, continue with this book. For those who loved the original, you will not be disappointed! It will be a great read!
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