CLASSIC REVIEW | Ringworld by Larry Niven

Ringworld is one of the best known Sci-Fi novels of the last fifty years. It is often cited along side Ender's Game as a must read member of the Sci-Fi canon long before its inclusion in the Masterworks series. This review was originally intended for the SFF Masterworks Blog, but it just didn't feel right to put it there as I didn't have as much to say as I thought I would.

So, this two hundred year old human, a sexy young blonde, and two aliens crash land in this bar I mean on this flat ring world object....

That is about the gist of Ringworld if a bit on the glib side. Ringworld is an adventurous style Sci-Fi read that has been lauded for generations now ever since it won the Nebula in 1970. Ringworld is hard Sci-Fi, but comes off feeling of a much lighter variety than most even amongst the discussion of genetic breeding, advanced propulsion, and the physics behind moving worlds. Humans have been proliferating dozens of worlds for generations in Known Space to the point that nearly the whole race is pampered all day round and few have any sense of adventure and desire to explore.

Cue human Louis Gridley Wu who at 200 is one of the few with the spirit to leave the comforts of his home and the non-stop party that is everyday life for most humans. After a mysterious two-headed alien from the cowardly and technologically advanced Puppeteer race asks him to journey on a covert mission he acquiesces along with his latest nubile sex partner Teela and a cat-like bi-pedal alien from a warlike race that has been decimated over generations. The group is than off to investigate a mysterious ring around a star and be cannon fodder for the Puppeteer who is basically scared of his own shadow.

In many ways the species names give far too much away to the point of not being veiled at all. Nearly all the characters have ulterior motives for going on the adventure and one in particular is holding back a lot of knowledge. Niven's greatest weakness is the lack of explaining the emotions that the characters are going through. They come off as either two willing or too stilted given some of the revelations that come up. Teela especially comes off as just a sex object and is given very little depth.

Overall, the ideas of evolution are the most interesting aspect explored and many of the other scientific concepts and races are appealing yet the actual story seems to be lacking that aspect that makes you care about it all. Ringworld is clearly an essential read if you're into Science Fiction, but it doesn't seem to hold up as well as other classics written in the same era such as The Left Hand of Darkness or Rendezvous with Rama which also won the Nebula around the same time.

Without Ringworld we probably wouldn't have the video game Halo it has also clearly influenced Banks' Culture novels. I give Ringworld 6.5 out of 10 hats.  I can see why some find Ringworld to be an such a wonderful read what with its massive universe building in such a small page count while telling a fairly original adventure story, but the characters were too one dimensional and the main story was not as grabbing as some of the underlying developments that are sure to be addressed in later volumes in this now long running series (eight books at last count in what is know as the Known Space universe). What Niven started with Ringworld does beg further exploration of the Universe as there are many unanswered questions about the Fleet of Worlds and other races that I'm more than a little curious about. The possibilities for this Universe are quite vast; hopefully they just don't end up as feeling as dated as this effort.

NOTE: After I started reading Ringworld the story seemed very familiar and first I wondered if I had read it before, but that wasn't exactly the case. My reading of Ringworld may have been hampered by Strata by Terry Pratchett which I read a few months prior during a rash of old Pratchett reading. Pratchett's Strata was intended as a comedic version of Ringworld so a lot of the setup, characters, and story were quite similar.

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MEME | Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks

We're still hard at work on the SF and Fantasy Materworks Reading Project and still showing how we stack up in the scheme of things. We did this with the Sci-Fi list of Masterworks first and not it is time to turn to the Fantasy set, which I was hoping to have done better at. What I've bolded are books read and italics means I own it, but it has been gathering dust. Hopefully in a year's time this list will look a lot more bolded.

1 - The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw - Gene Wolfe
2 - Time and the Gods - Lord Dunsany
3 - The Worm Ouroboros - E.R. Eddison
4 - Tales of the Dying Earth - Jack Vance
5 - Little, Big - John Crowley
6 - The Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
7 - Viriconium - M. John Harrison
8 - The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle - Robert E. Howard
9 - The Land of Laughs - Jonathan Carroll
10 - The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea - L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
11 - Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees
12 - The Book of the New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel - Gene Wolfe
13 - Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin
14 - Beauty - Sheri S. Tepper
15 - The King of Elfland's Daughter - Lord Dunsany
16 - The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon - Robert E. Howard
17 - Elric - Michael Moorcock
18 - The First Book of Lankhmar - Fritz Leiber
19 - Riddle-Master - Patricia A. McKillip
20 - Time and Again - Jack Finney
21 - Mistress of Mistresses - E.R. Eddison
22 - Gloriana or the Unfulfill'd Queen - Michael Moorcock
23 - The Well of the Unicorn - Fletcher Pratt
24 - The Second Book of Lankhmar - Fritz Leiber
25 - Voice of Our Shadow - Jonathan Carroll
26 - The Emperor of Dreams - Clark Ashton Smith
27 - Lyonesse I: Suldrun's Garden - Jack Vance
28 - Peace - Gene Wolfe
29 - The Dragon Waiting - John M. Ford
30 - Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe - Michael Moorcock
31 - Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams - C.L. Moore
32 - The Broken Sword - Poul Anderson
33 - The House on the Borderland and Other Novels - William Hope Hodgson
34 - The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers
35 - Lyonesse II and III: The Green Pearl and Madouc - Jack Vance
36 - The History of Runestaff - Michael Moorcock
37 - A Voyage to Arcturus - David Lindsay
38 - Darker Than You Think - Jack Williamson
39 - The Mabinogion - Evangeline Walton
40 - Three Hearts & Three Lions - Poul Anderson
41 - Grendel - John Gardner
42 - The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick
43 - WAS - Geoff Ryman
44 - Song of Kali - Dan Simmons
45 - Replay - Ken Grimwood
46 - Sea Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories - Leigh Brackett
47 - The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
48 - The Forgotten Beasts of Eld - Patricia A. McKillip
49 - Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
50 - The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales - Rudyard Kipling

Only 6 read out of 50 with 5 others owned but not read. Pitiful. That'll be changing as my next read for Masterworks will be Lud-in-the-Mist. So what does your list look like?

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REVIEW | Time and Again by Jack Finney

My first SFF Masterworks Blog review is live for Jack Finney's classic Time and Again. I think this is definitely one of my best constructed reviews with thanks to Larry for his keen eye and pushing me to raise my game. Go on over and take a gander and be sure to check what else is going on. We're already up to 9 reviews within less than two weeks of launching.  Sure plenty more are to come, but you've gotta start somewhere and we've already tackled George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream and Philip K. Dick's Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?.

At some point I'll add my reviews to Mad Hatter's, but for the time being they'll only be available at SFF Masterworks.

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MEME | Gollancz SF Masterworks

A few of my fellow SF and Fantasy Materworks Reading cohorts have been posting what they have read in the SF Masterworks series and I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring.  What I've bolded are books read and italics means I own it, but it has been gathering dust.  Hopefully in a year's time this list will look a lot more bolded.  This list also includes new Masterwork releases coming out later this year and the first section of roman numerals of the list are a special run of hardcovers in the series, which are also in the numbered series.

I - Dune - Frank Herbert
II - The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
III - The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
IV - The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
V - A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
VI - Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
VII - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
VIII - Ringworld - Larry Niven
IX - The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
X - The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

1 - The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
2 - I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
3 - Cities in Flight - James Blish
4 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
5 - The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
6 - Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delany
7 - Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
8 - The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe
9 - Gateway - Frederik Pohl
10 - The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith

11 - Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon
12 - Earth Abides - George R. Stewart
13 - Martian Time-Slip - Philip K. Dick
14 - The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
15 - Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
16 - The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
17 - The Drowned World - J. G. Ballard
18 - The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
19 - Emphyrio - Jack Vance
20 - A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick

21 - Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
22 - Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock
23 - The Book of Skulls - Robert Silverberg
24 - The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
25 - Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
26 - Ubik - Philip K. Dick
27 - Timescape - Gregory Benford
28 - More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
29 - Man Plus - Frederik Pohl
30 - A Case of Conscience - James Blish

31 - The Centauri Device - M. John Harrison
32 - Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick
33 - Non-Stop - Brian Aldiss
34 - The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke
35 - Pavane - Keith Roberts
36 - Now Wait for Last Year - Philip K. Dick
37 - Nova - Samuel R. Delany
38 - The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells
39 - The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
40 - Blood Music - Greg Bear

41 - Jem - Frederik Pohl
42 - Bring the Jubilee - Ward Moore
43 - VALIS - Philip K. Dick
44 - The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin
45 - The Complete Roderick - John Sladek
46 - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
47 - The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
48 - Grass - Sheri S. Tepper
49 - A Fall of Moondust - Arthur C. Clarke
50 - Eon - Greg Bear

51 - The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
52 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
53 - The Dancers at the End of Time - Michael Moorcock
54 - The Space Merchants - Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
55 - Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick
56 - Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg
57 - The Simulacra - Philip K. Dick
58 - The Penultimate Truth - Philip K. Dick
59 - Dying Inside - Robert Silverberg
60 - Ringworld - Larry Niven

61 - The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
62 - Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement
63 - A Maze of Death - Philip K. Dick
64 - Tau Zero - Poul Anderson
65 - Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
66 - Life During Wartime - Lucius Shepard
67 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
68 - Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
69 - Dark Benediction - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
70 - Mockingbird - Walter Tevis

71 - Dune - Frank Herbert
72 - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
73 - The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
74 - Inverted World - Christopher Priest
75 - Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle
76 - H.G. Wells - The Island of Dr. Moreau
77 - Arthur C. Clarke - Childhood's End
78 - H.G. Wells - The Time Machine
79 - Samuel R. Delany - Dhalgren (July 2010)
80 - Brian Aldiss - Helliconia (August 2010)

81 - H.G. Wells - Food of the Gods (Sept. 2010)
82 - Jack Finney - The Body Snatchers (Oct. 2010)
83 - Joanna Russ - The Female Man (Nov. 2010)
84 - M.J. Engh - Arslan (Dec. 2010

So what's my count? 13 read, which illustrates exactly why I wanted to get involved in the Masterwork Reading Project.  The two lonely italic books owned but not read is Ringworld, which is also my next scheduled pick for review after Time and Again from the Fantasy Masterwork list and The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard.  Look for my review of Time and Again early next week over at the SF and Fantasy Materworks Reading Blog.


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