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  • Ringworld

  • Written by: Larry Niven
  • Narrated by: Tom Parker
  • Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (119 ratings)

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Ringworld cover art

Ringworld

Written by: Larry Niven
Narrated by: Tom Parker
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Publisher's Summary

Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, Ringworld remains a favorite among science fiction readers and listeners.

The artifact is a vast circular ribbon of matter, some 180 million miles across, with a sun at its center. Pierson’s puppeteers—strange, three-legged, two-headed aliens—discovered this “Ringworld” in a hitherto unexplored part of the galaxy. Curious about the immense structure, but frightened by the prospect of meeting the builders, they set about assembling a team to explore it:

Louis Wu, human—old and bored with having lived too fully for too many years, seeking an adventure, and all too capable of handling it.

Nessus, puppeteer—a trembling coward from a species with an inbuilt survival pattern of nonviolence. This particular puppeteer, however, is insane.

Speaker-to-Animals, kzin—large, orange-furred, and carnivorous. The kzin are one of the most savage life-forms known.

The party’s expedition, however, goes disastrously wrong when their ship crash-lands and its motley crew faces a daunting trek across thousands of miles of Ringworld territory.

©1970 Larry Niven (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

What listeners say about Ringworld

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Pretty underwhelming

Finally decided to give this a listen after hearing so much about it over the years, but I have to admit that i this book didn't live up to expectations. This book has some good ideas and an interesting premise, but this gets bogged down by dull characters and mediocre storytelling. I also wasn't a fan of the narrator.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not for me.

I don't enjoy old science fiction and I mistakenly bought an old science fiction novel.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

very dated interesting concepts but without depth

charactes are pretty flat and more time is spent on interesting moments then padding out the cool stuff with more explanation

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Give the narrator a chance!

Great series of books but the narrator takes some time to find his voice, but he does and it is thoroughly enjoyable.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Longstanding Favourite of Mine

Larry Niven creates believable worlds and populates them with interesting characters like no other. Ringworld is a Sci-fi classic and the performance of the audio book was enjoyable.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

I’m sure it was alright in its day

Characters are flat and boring. The story is slow and you never feel any real suspense. The story just happens to you and you’re left bored and only very mildly interesting like you may feel in the dentist chair while he digs around in your mouth. I only toughed it out because it’s a classic. If you want fun/interesting hard sci-fi then listen to the bobiverse. Im sure dennis e. taylor stole some ideas from here especially for “heavens river” but he massive improved on them.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

long and boring

struggled to finish and that rarely happens with sci fi. Long-winded descriptions, you dont feel the characters they seem hollow. everybody runs around doing their own thing, hard to track. Not enjoyable, anticlimactic

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

scifi 101

loved story from my teen years. very nice to listen to it after so many years

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Wow this book has some sexist tones!

Alot more sexist than expected. Female depiction is concerning. Definitely contains an old mans fantasy.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Bicycle tricycle flycycle

You'll see what I mean once you get to the flycycle section. Lol.

Very fun read.

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