nicanical

Larry Niven's Ringworld is about a massive artificial bracelet encircling a distant sun, and the motley crew sent to explore it. This solid premise is wasted by weak character growth, and the relegation of the titular Ringworld to mere MacGuffin.

The story starts slow, with the first third spent assembling the crew. Niven didn't need to spend a third of the story assembling the crew. Then, when the crew finally reach Ringworld, they just pass the time discussing Puppeteer machinations while jetting around on flycycles. The plot moves along on its own, as if by providence which . . . is actually close to the truth because the story features an interesting concept of luck (a concept that strips the characters of their agency though).

The writing is amateurish in parts: there are clumsy constructions (e.g., strange choices for metaphors); the coined expletive "tanj" is ridiculous and overused; and similar character voices with the omission of too many tags makes the dialogue hard to follow. Ringworld also dates itself through some stereotypes expressed.

I read somewhere that Niven wrote Ringworld to resolve loose ends, and tie his short stories together in anticipation of more novels. If true, it explains why the story feels like such an afterthought. This, fortunately, is somewhat mitigated by Niven's wonderful worldbuilding.

Starts with short stories set during World War II, drawing on Roald Dahl's experiences; these stories are a little boring in their simplicity but are notable as the initial efforts upon which Dahl developed his skills.

Following are polished, understated pieces with good characterization that you might read in The New Yorker (in fact, some were published there). I liked The Mildenhall Treasure best. The Great Automatic Grammatizator is also notable today, being about a machine replacing human authors.

Dahl's prose is pleasant to read: clearly polished, well-edited, and readable in its diction and structure.

I like this follow-up to A Princess of Mars but it feels like it's on rails because of its constant fast pace, and how luck (or chance) resolves many of its conflicts.

The Gods of Mars has greater variety in settings and characters than Princess thanks to the introduction of two races: the Therns and the Black Pirates. Edgar Rice Burroughs gives readers more of the same action from the first book, set against a backdrop of new histories and superstitions intertwined with those of the Red Martians and Tharks, met previously. We also learn what happened to Dejah Thoris after the ending of Princess.

Burroughs follows a pattern: John Carter is captured; in captivity, John Carter meets an ally or a damsel in distress; John Carter escapes, rescuing his new companion; John Carter is captured again. Gods is several of these arcs back to back. I worry about subsequent entries in this series being too predictable.

A collection of short stories set in Larry Niven's Known Space: a broadly integrated vision of the future Solar System with Earth and Belter politicks, Mars colonization attempts, and some Alien contact. Extrasolar colonies are mentioned too, and some characters hail from these colonies. Because of their age, the stories have elements that may appear contrived or silly—space helmets have cigarette dispensers built into them for example—but such elements are mostly quaint and not detracting.

Niven's writing style is tolerable: choppy pacing, confusing narrative jumps, characters lacking depth, and exposition that sometimes read like science textbook excerpts are balanced out by his big ideas, worldbuilding, and the generally creative conflicts and obstacles that thwart his protagonists.

Carry On, Jeeves is a collection of P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie and Jeeves shorts. It includes the four from My Man, Jeeves, so it can stand-in as a starting point to the series if following publication order. I started with The Code of the Woosters, so my expectations were set by that that book. The shorts lack the room for situations to snowball as they did in Code, but they are still funny and charming.

My favorite stories are the last three:

• Fixing it for Freddie has a sweetness to it in addition to Wodehouse's humor;
• Clustering Round Young Bingo reminds me of Code: Bertie is called upon for his burglary skills and even Aunt Dahlia makes an appearance. There's also backstory on how Anatole comes to cook for her in Code;
• Bertie Changes His Mind is the only Jeeves story narrated from his perspective. There's mischievous fun in seeing Jeeves move behind the scenes.