Though this book was clearly written to describe the concept of the Ringworld (a manmade, doughnut-shaped planet surrounding a sun), the characters and plot are interesting in their own right. Two humans and two aliens journey to the Ringworld, each for his own reasons, and in the process learn the Truth about several matters among their races. I'm not surprised this is included in so many lists of the Best Science Fiction Books. I did get a little tired of the older man/younger woman cliche so common in SF (a 20-year-old girl and a 200-year-old man? Come on!) but all in all it's a reasonably believable story. One note to readers, however: no, you didn't miss anything. The author often glosses over stuff without describing it, I guess to enhance the mystery. I was halfway through the book before I figured out that no, I hadn't accidentally skipped over an important paragraph somewhere. It all gets explained eventually. I would definitely recommend this to SF fans. ( )

This is a great read that creates a world that the reader would most probably have never imagined could exist. The scope of the world presented by Larry Niven is baffling when you start to think of the engineering that would be necessary to pull this off. Highly recommended for science fiction lovers. ( )

This book was ooookkaaay. I really loved the first part of the story. Mr. Niven does a great job of introducing the reader to his future. I also loved the ginormous concepts. Instant travel, vast and old alien empires. And then there is the concept of Ringworld itself. But about 3/4 into the story I started to lose interest. By the end of the book, I was just ready for it to be over. I doubt that I'll pick up any of the sequels. ( )

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Very dated feel to it I thought. Nice imaginative ideas, but poorly scripted with a disappointing lack of follow through. Some bizarre choices of plot devices that do not read well, when compared to more modern sf. ( )