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Ringwelt Thron (Ringworld #3)
by
Larry Niven
Something is going on with the protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed, vampires are massing, and the Ghouls have their own agenda. Each race has always had its own protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a protector.
Published
(first published January 1st 1996)
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Once upon a time, a science-fiction author wrote a novel about a Big Dumb object. It would go on to win the trifecta: the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best novel, not to mention become the iconic novel about Big Dumb Objects. It is now, essentially, a classic.
Fans with engineering degrees from MIT decided to crunch the numbers and ask difficult questions about how this Big Dumb Object could actually work the way the author said it works. Because that's what fans do. However, the author dec...more
Fans with engineering degrees from MIT decided to crunch the numbers and ask difficult questions about how this Big Dumb Object could actually work the way the author said it works. Because that's what fans do. However, the author dec...more
Nov 01, 2009
Benjamin Duffy
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy-sci-fi
I believe it was Isaac Asimov who said that in true science fiction, the setting is the real protagonist. In this third Ringworld book, Niven is finally arriving at that stage; there's frustratingly little of Louis Wu (undoubtedly Niven's most interesting and compelling character) in the first half of this book, so it was slow going for me until the Ringworld itself roped me in. By that, I mean that eventually I kept pushing forward, not because I cared what happened to the people, but more beca...more
Niven created an interesting landscape and ideas for the 1970 Ringworld. Louis Wu returns in The Ringworld Throne, cast amidst a landscape of boring characters with one dimensional personalities. The first 200 pages moves like molasses and the plot only really begins halfway through the novel; the writing is pretty uncompelling, but besides its lack of much of a plot for a the first 200 pages, the concept of rishathra and interspecies sex seems to take up the majority of the social relations/dev...more
SUMMARY:
Come back to the Ringworld . . . the most astonishing feat of engineering ever encountered. A place of untold technological wonders, home to a myriad humanoid races, and world of some of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written!The human, Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee . . . legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the Protectors. Incoming spacecraft are bei
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I was excited to find this book, because I hoped Niven had something new to say about the Ringworld. Well, he didn't. In fact, I almost gave up after the first hundred pages or so, because I found it so deathly dull.
The first half of the book deals with a whole slew of characters, most of whom never appear again, hunting vampires. I'm not sure what this was supposed to accomplish in terms of plot structure. It was, frankly, boring and seemed to serve no purpose other than to let Niven mention th...more
The first half of the book deals with a whole slew of characters, most of whom never appear again, hunting vampires. I'm not sure what this was supposed to accomplish in terms of plot structure. It was, frankly, boring and seemed to serve no purpose other than to let Niven mention th...more
The downhill trend of the series continues. In and of itself, it's a fairly acceptable book, but it's worse than Engineers (book 2). Action jumps around, the whole vampire hunter thing to which half the book is devoted leads essentially nowhere, a crew of 4 (which is easy to keep track of) plus no-more-than-2-at-a-time auxilliary characters is gone, replaced by dozens of characters, many of them with 6-syllable names, most of those entirely unpronounceable...
Random junk words are introduced, whi...more
Random junk words are introduced, whi...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The entire first half the book is completely unnecessary and the whole book is incredibly hard to follow (a problem I had all previous books too). Niven doesn't have a great talent for clearly describing environments his characters are in. I found myself reading and re-reading and re-re-reading things over and over again. He seems to contradict himself in his imagery often and that causes my imagination to come to an aggravating halt.
The first half of the book barely involves the main characters...more
The first half of the book barely involves the main characters...more
Everyone says this book is rubbish, and it really is. The last third is stupidly complicated - a pea and shell trick with teleporters that goes on for so long the author looses the peas and the plot.
The first half is really a short story with side characters that has been stretched out to fill a novel. I could almost cope with a soft porn alien vampire novella (True Blood in space!) - almost. Except it's the same sex over and over again. And it's relentlessly male heterosexual wish fulfillment -...more
The first half is really a short story with side characters that has been stretched out to fill a novel. I could almost cope with a soft porn alien vampire novella (True Blood in space!) - almost. Except it's the same sex over and over again. And it's relentlessly male heterosexual wish fulfillment -...more
This is the third of four “Ringworld” books by Larry Niven. It chronicles basically two series of events: The forming of a coalition of various hominid/human races to battle against a proliferating vampire race, and the further adventures of Louis Wu and his merry companions, Hindmost, the Pierson’s Puppeteer, and Acolyte, a Kzin, son of Chmee (you gotta read the previous books to get who these are).
My favorite part of the book was the first, and indeed if this was the only story in the book it...more
My favorite part of the book was the first, and indeed if this was the only story in the book it...more
I'm on the fence about this series, especially this book. It seems as though each successive entry is more and more preoccupied with interspecies intercourse, also known as "rishathra", and how it is used in some way to facilitate peace and trade. How it helps isn't really explained very well; most of the time, at least in this book, they do it because they're curious and, frankly, loose.
Half of the story is about how two characters, from a species that strictly forbids any sex aside from a sin...more
Half of the story is about how two characters, from a species that strictly forbids any sex aside from a sin...more
Pretty fun, but not as fun as the first two, helps round out the story a bit. But there were a lot of different perspectives, and I got confused in some sections, it felt like there were some descriptions left out so something would be mentioned as if you should know what it was or they would be doing something that I had not incorporated into my understanding of the scene, "the landscape was passing at just under the speed of sound", wait... when did they start moving?! Just a little confusing...more
Luis Wu is self-marooned on ringworld, and seems to be thought of as a wizard or a god depending on how primitive the education of the species you talk to. He is not through punishing himself for saving 95% of the people of ringworld by sacrificing the other 5%. Can a god find redemption for his sins?
I'd heard from other fans that this was the least favorite of this series, and I agree. It was hard to follow, and not a great story. It kinda felt to me like Niven just wanted to bang out another b...more
I'd heard from other fans that this was the least favorite of this series, and I agree. It was hard to follow, and not a great story. It kinda felt to me like Niven just wanted to bang out another b...more
After Ringworld Engineers, Niven apparently thought he could squeeze one more book out to make a proper trilogy. I'm not really clear why he bothered from a plot perspective, not much happens here and it's not really all that clear what's going on anyway -- for much of the plot, his main characters are just spectators. On the other hand, what is clear is that Niven has a great fascination for inter-species sexual activity, which is frequent throughout the book. Not bad, but a thin shadow of the...more
Apr 15, 2011
Brett Devall
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Larry Niven fans, completionists
Shelves:
science-fiction,
disappointing
This book has some things going for it, but is by far the low point of the Ringworld series. There were some nice developments in the societies on the Ringworld, in particular the revelation of how the ghouls are able to communicate almost instantaneously across the ring.
The story itself is actually two smaller stories which only come together at the very end, so it feels like reading two smaller books at the same time. I'm used to novels switching between different characters' viewpoints throug...more
The story itself is actually two smaller stories which only come together at the very end, so it feels like reading two smaller books at the same time. I'm used to novels switching between different characters' viewpoints throug...more
Third in the Ringworld novels, and as much as I enjoyed the first two, I have to admit this one was pretty awful. I just couldn't get into it, and I just pushed through just to get it into the "read" pile. It might have helped if I'd read it while [b]The Ringworld Engineers[/b] was fresher in my mind, because I think a lot of my dissatisfaction with the story stemmed from not remembering who most of the characters were, apart from Louis Wu & Co. Also, a good portion of the story was [i]not[/...more
I wouldn't recommend the series. The first book was cool. But once you get past the concept of the ringworld, the rest isn't that great. It seems that most of the plot revolves around these dozens of alien races that interact with eachother on the ringworld. It's standard practice when 2 alien species meet that they, as a way of saying hello and making peace with eachother, have sex. And this wasn't meant to be erotic. That's just the way things are.
Once again this book follows Louis Wu's adventures on the Ringworld. What's notable is that this book goes into far greater detail about the inhabitants of the Ringworld than its predecessors, and really makes it feel like a living, breathing place.
Good, but make sure you read Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers before tackling this, or you won't get much out of it.
Good, but make sure you read Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers before tackling this, or you won't get much out of it.
A pretty dismal entry into the Ringworld series; one of Niven's worst overall. Dismal plotting, dismal characterization, hardly any sense of adventure-- told in a flat, toneless narrative that had this reviewer anxious to get it all over and done with. Not recommended, ESPECIALLY if you like the Ringworld sequence-- Ringworld Throne effectively kills it.
Después de Mundo Anillo e Ingenieros de Mundo Anillo, Larry Niven hizo esta nueva secuela en un tono que solamente puedo calificar de... extraño. El hilo conductor no es consistente, y parece que Niven hubiera decidido dejar de lado por un momento la ciencia ficción dura por la novela de intrigas. Mala elección. El libro no aporta nada realmente relevante a la serie ni aclara más cosas de las que fueron ya mostradas en Ingenieros de Mundo Anillo.
Ni siquiera creo que el libro sea importante al n...more
Ni siquiera creo que el libro sea importante al n...more
This was definitely not as good as the first two books of the series. It was choppy and disjointed, like the publisher decided that no editor was needed. Oops! Bad move. The story took forever to develop, which was fine for the first half of the book, but I didn't feel like the story ever got started and then it was suddenly over. Disappointed.
I loved the original Ringworld. This one only ok. Parts of it were outright boring - vampire hunting. The protector portion at the end just felt confusing and lame. I wasn't all that impressed really but felt like I needed closure. I'll probably read Ringworld Children as well but I don't anticipate being impressed. I still love the concept of Ringworld and there are so many possibilities....its a shame that it was squandered.
This is the third in the Ringworld series, but really the 5th (or so) in the Known Universe series. One can read the first Ringworld without the others, but one must read Protector before reading the rest of the Ringworld series.
This is an entertaining book, but it is not nearly as good as most of Niven's other works. There is little plot, and the book is quite confusing throughout for short periods of time. Characters just suddenly appear (who is "King?"), and new situations arise with little...more
This is an entertaining book, but it is not nearly as good as most of Niven's other works. There is little plot, and the book is quite confusing throughout for short periods of time. Characters just suddenly appear (who is "King?"), and new situations arise with little...more
Louis Wu must deal with a couple of crises on the Ringworld.
This direct sequel Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers has none of the good qualities of the two first books. It is confusing, unfocused and adds nothing Known Space. Avoid it.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1063
This direct sequel Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers has none of the good qualities of the two first books. It is confusing, unfocused and adds nothing Known Space. Avoid it.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1063
This was a disappointment. I mean, Niven knows how to get you to turn the page, but the first part of the story is about characters I'm not really attached to, and the second part was something of a rushed train wreck. It's the opposite of over-written, it was under-written
Well for all of you Sci-Fi Lovers heres a book for you and hoo wowie. Alright well Larry Niven was reccomended to me by my english teacher for I was not really one for fantasy and sci-fi. I'm more of the non-fiction kind of guy. I would read the first one first before starting the other 2. My only problem keeping this book from 5 stars is that Niven focused most of this book on some Cruddy vampires. If you like vampires then done read this one they kill em all which is nice, but a better half of...more
I floundered around the plot somewhat, and didn't really get why Louis, the Hindmost, and Bram were doing what they were doing. Maybe I didn't pay attention, but Niven lost me a bit on this one. Still kind of fun, but I hope Ringworld's Children is easier to follow.
Unlike the first two Ringworld books, the action in this one one is almost non-stop. But several flaws make it a difficult read. The first part of the story involves a conflict between a few races and space vampires. The conflict was interesting, but I found it difficult to keep track of the various characters, many of which are introduced once. Later in the book, a second set of characters are faced with trying to solve several fake technology issues. If only I could make complete sense of this...more
Dec 29, 2010
Amanda Atkins
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
futuristic,
sci-fi-fantasy
Not my favorite so far of the Ringworld series, but interesting none the less. By the end of this book, Ringworld itself sounds IMMENSE and populated with all sorts of interesting hominids. Louis Wu and the gang are still around to save the day and cause a stir. And again, the whole rish part of it is great (who wouldn't love alien sex??).
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Laurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths...more
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Sep 30, 2011 11:37pm
Jul 31, 2012 04:11pm