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theobromo's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
angorarabbit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing, Slavery, Colonisation, and War
Invented words are substituted for American curse words but the meaning is clear. Spicy bits can be skipped with no loss to the story.defcon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Part of what makes it such a slog is that the SF is unimaginative and thinly drawn. I expected at the very least the Ringworld itself would be an interesting entity but it really wasn't, just another excuse for the author to write pointless and meandering vignettes that expand on his cartoonishly reactionary viewpoints. Many of the "revelations" in the book's plot were very obvious and/or came across as the author attempting to write Arthur C. Clarke fanfiction (now Clarke was someone who could offend a modern sensibility but actually tell a compelling sci-fi story).
What struck me as I read this is that the author clearly read plenty of SF, and enjoyed it, but did not himself have a mind for science, for systems, for fantasy or extrapolation. All of his world building comes across as regurgitations of half-digested meals. He's a not terribly smart or curious guy who tried to write terribly smart and curious characters, and the disconnect is palpable.
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism
storyorc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Ringworld, with its carefully-considered technologies for air, landscape, a day/night cycle, spaceports, defence and more, is just the start. Teleportation has rendered all human cities one homogenous soup. One weapon disables and addicts an enemy via artificial bursts of happiness. The ships have a stasis field that freezes you in time when it detects trouble. Some races can move entire planets. The idea of breeding for luck is a surprise through-line that explores how being the luckiest person alive might make you something that is barely even human.
Oh, and one of the principle characters is from a two-headed, three-legged horse alien race of highly-advanced cowards. I love him.
Multi-faceted characters
- Speaker-to-Animals, an ambassador from the warrior tiger-man race, the kzin, is bloodthirsty, patriotic, and eager to command, but he is also scared at times, admits when he's in pain and is capable of highly intelligent deductions in the heat of battle (and hates being called cute).
- Sweet, pitiful Nessus, who curls into a ball at the first sign of danger, is also an outcast among his kind for being bold enough to meet with aliens, longs for a mate, and is not above calculated cruelty when his mission requires it.
- Teela Brown wears the skin of your typical 70s sci-fi feeble-brained woman but she contributes scientific theories to the group, does better mental math than the protagonist, and as the story evolves, her recklessness is cast in a very different light to plain old stupidity.
- Louis is... ok Louis Wu is an everyman but he skates around some macho stereotypes thanks to his willingness to admit being afraid of pain, his patience with Nessus, and his indifference to power. He only wants to explore and have sex but he's also sharp enough to hold his own. (See content warning for light-spoiler notes on his misogyny.)
Game theory politics
Bucking the trend of early hard sci-fi being all plot and no character, this party is like a group of colleagues desperately trying to remain professional on a business trip whilst the extended proximity reveals more and more to admire and despise about each other. Since the outcome of their mission to the Ringworld will greatly effect their races' futures, each character, despite being atypical for their race, is trying to optimise a particular cultural value - survival for Nessus, honour for Speaker, and whatever Teela's luck decides it wants - with Louis mediating. They hurt each other constantly, often while regretfully explaining their logic for doing so. At times, the coldness of it reminded me of the chess-like moves Cixin Liu's characters make in his Remembrances of Earth's Past trilogy. And yet, Ringworld retains its jovial road trip atmosphere between the gut punches.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement and Homophobia
[LIGHT SPOILERS] --- HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA: Louis insists that a race who can fly entire planets around the galaxy can't possibly have a mated pair of beings using 'he' pronouns who produce offspring. --- MISOGYNY: Louis does think of women almost exclusively in terms of sex and is initially very dismissive of Teela as a bit of a bimbo (she's 20, he's 200 btw). However, the narrative laughs at this by constantly having Teela display not only scientific aptitude but useful practicality. Later, we even get an explanation as to how her shallowness and recklessness make total sense due to special traits she has. If there were even one more nuanced female character in the book, I would give Niven the benefit of the doubt in making Teela a pseudo-bimbo. However, the only other named woman also happens to be juvenile (despite a huge age) and is a sex worker who does little besides seducing Louis. She even talks a bit caveman due to their language differences. Worst of all, they decided she was a sex worker initially simply because she was one of only a few women on her old crew. Awesome. Oh, and the kzin and puppeteer races BOTH have non-sentient females. I maintain that this book is less sexist than usual for its time, but it still stings here and there.jojo_action's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation
Moderate: Trafficking