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Leo Robertson's Reviews > Ringworld
Ringworld (Ringworld #1)
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I find it hard to believe anyone got through this one, let alone its whole legion of sequels and spin-offs.
The Ringworld is such a cool concept but it's SO poorly described, I defy anyone to picture what the hell Niven is on about. It was black and on the horizon blue, a ribbon, several squares were hovering there like... WHAT?! Take some time to do this thing justice, mate! We're gonna be spending a deal of time there...
It takes too long to get to Ringworld, then when they do, nothing happens. Plus I couldn't work out how they'd landed? Wasn't there supposed to be glass on the inner surface or something? Did I read that? So confused.
It was kind of fun to see how male writers handled female characters in the 70s though ;) Ahaha, so badly. Worst sex scene ever ("impaled herself"? More like "flattered YOURself"!)—it just came outta nowhere and ended just as abruptly.
Can't recommend.
The Ringworld is such a cool concept but it's SO poorly described, I defy anyone to picture what the hell Niven is on about. It was black and on the horizon blue, a ribbon, several squares were hovering there like... WHAT?! Take some time to do this thing justice, mate! We're gonna be spending a deal of time there...
It takes too long to get to Ringworld, then when they do, nothing happens. Plus I couldn't work out how they'd landed? Wasn't there supposed to be glass on the inner surface or something? Did I read that? So confused.
It was kind of fun to see how male writers handled female characters in the 70s though ;) Ahaha, so badly. Worst sex scene ever ("impaled herself"? More like "flattered YOURself"!)—it just came outta nowhere and ended just as abruptly.
Can't recommend.
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Reading Progress
May 16, 2015
– Shelved
May 16, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 10, 2017
–
Started Reading
June 10, 2017
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)
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by
Manny
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 10, 2017 01:32AM
Damn... past its sell-by, I see. But it was great when it was fresh.
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Manny wrote: "Damn... past its sell-by, I see. But it was great when it was fresh."Yeah! I've seen your other recommendations though—will go for them :)
Is this based in the New Forest? My bad, that would be Ringwood.
Niven is just a terrible, terrible writer.
@Jason: ahaha@Paul: glad you agree- I really struggled with this one... Some of the ideas were interesting, but it didn't seem worth wading through the prose to the end!
Leo wrote: "Some of the ideas were interesting, but it didn't seem worth wading through the prose to the end!"I stuck with this as it's quite short, I was reading it with a group, and it's supposed to be a classic. The only other book of his I tried was Rainbow Mars, and I gave up less than 100 pages in.
Manny wrote: "Damn... past its sell-by, I see. But it was great when it was fresh."Totally. I loved it when I read it as a teenager. Forty years later I reread it, and... flat.
Jason wrote: "My bad, that would be Ringwood. "
Haha! Love it. [ETA: Actually, it's still growing on me. I think my next homebrew may be Ringwood Engineers]
Paul wrote: "Niven is just a terrible, terrible writer. "
I wouldn't go that far. One "terrible" is sufficient.
Derek wrote: "I wouldn't go that far. One "terrible" is sufficient. ."
Fair enough, I wouldn't want to be too too harsh
Seriously I think 9/10 low-star reviews mention sexism / representation. THIS IS NOT A CRITERIA FOR JUDGING A GOOD READ (history has proven)
