Ringworld

Read until they started floating around the Ringworld. I kept waiting for the interesting part, what was there in the Ringworld and why that would be of any importance. But I couldn't bare the thought that it would never happen, and this was going to be one of those books about the journey, not the end. And the journey is boring. I don't much care for alien races, unless they are very well developed perhaps. And they were not. Giving weird names and appearances does not a good character make.

I did not like the main character at all. Nothing to relate to. Reading some reviews, people seem to have an issue on how the female character was portrayed. I did not share that feeling because ALL of the characters felt really blend to me.

I'm giving Ringworld a 3, but this is a conditional rating. I think Ringworld is both a book with a terrific story and convincing world-building, but it is unfortunately told through the eyes of flat, uninteresting characters utilizing dated, often chauvinistic dialogue. A lot of “golden age” sci-fi falls into this trap, having been written by middle-aged white men in an era when this sort of behaviour and attitude was left unchecked. I understand that, and can usually appreciate the work as a piece from its place and time. It feels jarring though when the only female character behaves ignorantly, acts clumsy, and is hyper sexualized by the writer - and the male characters around her treat her critically because of these things. However, if you can look past this (and there were a few moments where I really struggled) the concept of the Ringworld itself is good fun, especially when Niven manages to blow your mind with the scale of it. I do feel like I'm kind of done with the saga though and as interesting as the Ringworld is, I don't feel compelled enough to read the other four books in the series.

I'd heard the Sci-Fi channel was in the process of making this book into a mini-series and decided to give it a shot. Being an inspiration for Halo also tipped my interest. This one follows the idea of a Dyson Ring, which has always been an intriguing topic to me. The idea that one Dyson Ring could have the habitable area of 3 million earth-size planets is mind-blowing. The world was more interesting than the characters, unfortunately. There is some controversy about the minimized role of women in this book, which I'd also agree with.