This is a story about a man. No, it's a story about a giant ring habitat hundreds of light years away. Maybe not, maybe it is about a woman with extraordinary luck. Oh well, maybe its a story about how flawed the Ringworld is because it has no surplus resources and can only allow stasis or decline on a civilization scale. Urk. Well it could be about how we're not human until we've suffered a bit. Whatever else you can say about Larry Niven's 'Ringworld', you can't say it lacks multiple focusses in its narrative. In fact there are too many, resulting in a lack of focus in the narrative once we've landed on the Ringworld, and that narrative becomes even more diffuse once you include the standard science fiction writer's fixation with human sexuality. I think that back in the sixties and seventies there were hordes of science fiction writers just wandering around in a state of monomania. It's bizarre and incongruous and presumably existed to underline that these books were not for children. Anyway, so we have a lack of focus once we land on the eponymous Ringworld. But what is a Ringworld, who are our characters, and what is driving the plot?
In the far future the invention of teleportation, an instantaneous and ubiquitous form of travel, has rendered the Earth culturally and racially homogeneous. Contact with alien life form has been mostly with warlike and feline Kzin and the eccentric double-headed birdlike Pierson's Puppeteers. The human homogeneity and the advent of longevity-giving boosterspice have made it easier for many and harder for some as the boredom of immortality settles upon them. Our protagonist, one Louis Wu, is such a bored adventurer and is recruited by a Mad Puppeteer along with a Kzin and a genetically lucky companion to go forth and investigate a massive artefact outside of known space. The story is about their recruitment, journey, crash, exploration and ultimately the escape.
So, the idea is great and epic, and the concept of the massive artificial Ringworld is awesome in its scope but the story fails once we get there. Why is that? It must be due to the lack of focus, and the fact that not a lot of interest happens on the Ringworld itself. There's much philosophy and sociological commentary but that can only serve to counterpoint a faster and compelling narrative, which does not exist here. There's some half-hearted romance, which serves mainly to underline how the character with genetically engineered luck has been unconsciously manipulating her companions, but it is fairly nominal. In fact, the revelation that her luck has motivated practically the whole adventure for her own self-improvement totally undermines all the other characters and destroys the finale. The final point of the triangle of disappointment is that the exploration of the Ringworld is rather dull.
What is a Ringworld? It's a massive artificial structure, a ring built around a sun with a radius of presumably about an astronomical unit (AU = average distance from Earth to Sun) which is intended for habitation. It's a variation on a Dyson Sphere, where you would build a whole sphere around a sun and live on the inside surface. They're awesome ideas but ultimately abstractions which may never exist in reality. Such a ring would have the surface area equivalent to many dozens or even hundreds of Earths. It would also have no mineral treasure to allow further development or building and would be dependent on imported minerals for such purposes. It would also require the builders to totally clean out their solar system (and neighbours) of all material for the building and even then would be a huge target for meteors. Note, you can't have a Dyson Sphere or a Ringworld without some plan for dealing with meteors and comets.
Now, I've been a bit negative as I tend to be at times. It's not that bad a classic science fiction novel. In many ways it's actually rather good. The narrative simply becomes a bit disappointing and that's sad. Also, dissension is wrought between the characters as that story goes on and it's never resolved well. The main plus is that does have a massive Ringworld outside of known space and a cowardly manic depressive bird thing with two heads. I guess we can call that an even result. Go ahead and read 'Ringworld', it's not brilliant but it's kind of good in an odd way. For brilliance, always read 'Gateway' instead.
O.
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