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)
- 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.
Body of work of <a
type="amzn">Larry Niven </a>
Body of work of <a
type="amzn">Edward M. Lerner </a>
Web sites:
http://www.edwardmlerner.com/
This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations. 
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