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 rest of the plot takes care of itself, as if by providence, but actually by one crew member's good fortunes. ( There's an interesting concept for luck that unfortunately strips the characters of any appearance of agency).
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.
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 rest of the plot takes care of itself, as if by providence, but actually by one crew member's good fortunes. ( There's an interesting concept for luck that unfortunately strips the characters of any appearance of agency).
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.