Choko's Reviews > Ringworld

*** 3.55 ***

The stars are for the concepts and the two main alien characters✨😃

I just finished my re-read of this 1970's novel and I enjoyed it, but I agree with almost all who read it for the first time in this century - It just hasn't aged well... The concepts are very intriguing and I even liked the characters. The "lucky sex bimbo" and her role in the whole thing was exploitative and I believe that was the author's point, but the matter of fact way Louis Wu thought about women and their roles in the hierarchy was quite cringe! We are talking about a male character who, because of current medical advances, looks young but is 200 years old and thinks nothing about hooking up with a very young and naive woman, Teela Brown... Doesn't help that she tells him she loves him after just a night of passion 😃. Despite all of this, which was typical for the time it was written in, the ideas of the Ringworld, its existence, the reasons for it and the aliens are fun and imaginative to read about.

I loved Nessus, the Pierson's Puppeteer, all two heads and cowardly disposition:) Also enjoyed the feline alien Kzin, Speaker-to-Animals, and really got a kick out of him sniffing around Louis Wu when he was hungry:))) I kind of wish he had eaten Teela Brown. Humanity wouldn't have lost much...

Which brings me back to Teela.... Goodness gracious! I know she was selected genetically for luck, but did that mean she had to lack all intellect and somehow reach adulthood with no human experiences that make you a human being? That part actually was the hardest for me to accept in the whole Science Fiction typical suspension of disbelief givens... Let's all hope her luck will make her happy for the rest of her life...

Yes, this has aged badly, but there are still valid reasons for hardcore fans of Sci-fi to give it a try, if not for anything else, at least to see that what we see as new has been around for a while and appreciate the history of the genre 😊👍

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you find what you Need in the pages of a great book 📚📖📚😃👍!