Fate of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner

I read Ringworld in the early 1970’s and frankly I know I liked it as I ranked it as an E for excellent in my book database but beside the basic premise, I don’t remember a great deal. This book would have served me better 20 years ago. As is it gathers together the characters from several books and a couple of series and attempts tie them together under the label of the Known Earth Series.

Frankly I’m not sure this was a wrap up and not a precursor to a new series. The number of variables, races, venues and philosophies strains my recollection. I have only read 28 of Niven’s books and have uniformly enjoyed them. Sadly I didn’t really enjoy this because I have just enough recollection of the players but have trouble remembering the game they played. Some reviews I read stated it stands alone well, I would disagree and feel at least brushing up on the precursors would make the book more compelling.

I would recommend either going to Wikipedia and brushing up on background or tracking down all the books and reading them.
From Wikpedia:
• 1970: Ringworld
• 1980: The Ringworld Engineers
• 1996: The Ringworld Throne
• 2004: Ringworld's Children
• 2012: Fate of Worlds (by Niven and Edward M. Lerner)
Five prequels have been written, set in the same Ringworld universe, and written in collaboration:
• 1988–2009: Man-Kzin Wars (by various edited by Niven)
• 2007–2011: Fleet of Worlds (by Niven and Edward M. Lerner)
• 2008–2009: Juggler of Worlds (by Niven and Edward M. Lerner)
• 2009–2010: Destroyer of Worlds (by Niven and Edward M. Lerner)
• 2010–2011: Betrayer of Worlds (by Niven and Edward M. Lerner)

I did enjoy the books when I read them and if it had been more recently I am sure I would have enjoyed this book more. I do recommend the Niven style of creating warm, memorable characters.