Moves the story forward. Still tying things together. I did enjoy it but the series is getting tedious for me. Not so much a criticism on the book rather how long series impact me. I love the stories but slogging through a series gets old. ( )

Not as good, imho, as the one right before it, but it did develop some interesting dynamics within the puppeteer's power plays. Seems to be very human-ish for an alien species, and I would have liked to have seen it develop in a more alien-centric way like the smart eels. They, on the other hand, really stole the show, albeit not as well as they had in the third novel. It wraps up with a mind-wipe which kinda blows but we know him from his future self and he didn't remember anything anyway so at least we're consistent. It still pisses me off some. Kinda makes me wish that the ringworld series was rewritten with a significant portion of the third ringworld book omitted. :) I jest, a little. I read these for the ideas. The ideas are good, but like any novel centered on the ideas, they have to keep coming or else you're gonna have to rely on some excellent writing.
It was almost there. Just not quite. Still, I enjoyed these prequels. ( )

Classic Niven. I love the way his characters think. His descriptions are quite vivid - I can always get great mind-pictures from his writing. ( )

Classic Niven. I love the way his characters think. His descriptions are quite vivid - I can always get great mind-pictures from his writing. ( )

This is another of the novels and stories Niven seems to be writing with co-authors, filling in the details of his Known Worlds universe. It's a good read, and the return of Louis Wu is always fun, but I fear Niven is wrapping up his world and plots too neatly--here we have Louis Wu and Nessus, so this is a prequel to the Ringworld series, but we also have characters and situations from other series including Sigmund Ausfaller and the Protectors: where will it end? ( )