Welcome to the eleventh instalment of Dust Jacket. First, an apology:
Due to forces beyond my control, our scheduled review of The Windup Girl has been set back. We’ll return to that novel when we can.
And now a special thanks:
Thanks to David and Miztres for their review of American Gods. Luke and I were exhausted after completing five reviews in five weeks, and we needed a much deserved (IMO at least) break. David and Miztres stepped up and delivered a fantastic review.
But now we’re back from Hugo month with our regularly scheduled look at some of the classics of science fiction literature. This week, we’re off to explore the wonders of Ringworld, Larry Niven’s Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award-winning 1970 novel.
As always, I’m joined by my co-conspirator Luke, the world’s harshest critic. Special thanks are due to Luke this week, since he was the one that brought Ringworld to my attention and provided me with my copy of the novel.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Louis Wu is celebrating his 200th birthday, but finds himself bored. He believes he’s experienced all life has to offer. He is contemplating a solo trip into deep space when he is recruited by Nessus, a Pierson’s Puppeteer, for an exploratory voyage beyond known space.
Wu is joined by Speaker-To-Animals, a cat-like Kzin, and Teela Brown, a young human woman and Louis’ love interest. Guided by Nessus, they travel to the homeworld of the Puppeteers, where they learn of the existence of Ringworld, an artificial ring planet about one million miles wide, encircling a Sol-type star. The Ringworld has a habitable flat inner surface equivalent in area to approximately three million Earth-sized planets. Night is provided by an inner ring of shadow squares which are connected to each other by thin ultra-strong shadow square wire.
Together, the intrepid group begins their exploration of Ringworld, encountering primitive humans, a native barbarian hero called Seeker, ruined cities, automated security systems and Halrloprillalar, a crew member on a starship once used for trade between the Ringworld and other inhabited worlds.
They also find themselves stranded on the planet, and Louis is forced to devise an escape plan to get them home again.
