If you read the others, you have to read this one

books:


	• Ringworld Throne Larry Niven Del Rey, 1997 - 368 pages view larger image
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Ringworld Throne

A fairly good read, multiple story lines, a little slow moving with all these different story lines going on, not as engrossing as the previous Ringworld Novels but still worth reading.

Not Free SF Reader

A return to the Ringworld after a long writing delay. At the start, the Ringworld denizens have to deal with vampires of a sort. Yep, whacky. Later on, Louis Wu and our puppeteer friend have some of the same work to do, as he and Speaker To Animals' son are taken captive by a vampire Pak Protector.

They end up involved in a Protector conflict, vamps vs the others. In general though, the usual suspects aren't really the main focus of the book, it is the Pak struggle that occupies this position.

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If you read the others, you have to read this one

That is the ONLY reason to read it, too. His plot is thin and his characters are stale. Still, if you made it through the first two, you will find some closure in this one. (At the very least, you can say you read them all.) The science behind his fiction is so close to scientific possibility that something always brings readers back to see what he has dreamed up next.

Pity Niven lacks punch when her writes on his own. His book with Pournelle are stellar.

Worth a read for die-hard fans.

I read Ringworld Throne when it was first published in 1996, again in 2004 following the publication of Ringworld's Children, and have now read it a third time. It does improve somewhat on a second and third read, but overall I agree with the many 2-star reviews already on the amazon website.

On the other hand, I think there is a saving grace that reviewers have missed, and which I would like to point out.

**spoiler alert**

The book follows two story arcs, neither of which involves Louis Wu or his alien companions in a substantial way. In the first, a large team of ringworld natives goes on a quest to destroy a vampire nest that has grown up in the shadow of the boiling ocean (as described in Ringworld Engineers). This quest seems provincial, and holds little interest for readers attracted to the world-spanning narratives that made Niven famous. In the second story arc, Louis Wu witnesses several protectors battle for domination of the ringworld. Unfortunately, most of the action takes place in a series of brief battles that are incompletely described. Louis Wu's chief involvement here is that he gets to see it all unfold on TV.

**even more spoilers**

These two story arcs are not clearly related, and Niven never explains how they might be connected. However, Niven implies that ringworld has descended into anarchy precisely because the current protectors were vampires before their transformation. Ringworld vampires are not sentient, and they lack complex social organization. This lack of psychological sophistication as breeders makes them short-sighted, dictatorial, and occasionally bloodthirsty, once transformed into protectors. They don't mind that ringworld has fallen into a pre-industrial state, as this has presumably allowed the vampire population to increase significantly.

Thus, the two story arcs are not unrelated. They are two halves of the battle against vampires. This unity would have been more evident if Niven had included the word "vampire" somewhere in the title.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Come back to the Ringworld . . . the most astonishing feat of engineering ever encountered. A place of untold technological wonders, home to a myriad humanoid races, and world of some of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written!

The human, Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee . . . legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the Protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed before they can reach the Ringworld. Vampires are massing. And the Ghouls have their own agenda--if anyone dares approach them to learn.

Each race on the Ringworld has always had its own Protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a Protector. But who will sit on the Ringworld Throne?

"Niven's work has been an intriguing and consistent universe, and this book is the keystone of the arch. . . . [His] technique is wonderfully polished, his characters and their situations are nicely drawn . . . wraps up (maybe) a corner of a very interesting universe."
--San Diego Union-Tribune

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