CLASSIC REVIEW | Ringworld by Larry Niven

Ringworld is one of the best known Sci-Fi novels of the last fifty years. It is often cited along side Ender's Game as a must read member of the Sci-Fi canon long before its inclusion in the Masterworks series. This review was originally intended for the SFF Masterworks Blog, but it just didn't feel right to put it there as I didn't have as much to say as I thought I would.

So, this two hundred year old human, a sexy young blonde, and two aliens crash land in this bar I mean on this flat ring world object....

That is about the gist of Ringworld if a bit on the glib side. Ringworld is an adventurous style Sci-Fi read that has been lauded for generations now ever since it won the Nebula in 1970. Ringworld is hard Sci-Fi, but comes off feeling of a much lighter variety than most even amongst the discussion of genetic breeding, advanced propulsion, and the physics behind moving worlds. Humans have been proliferating dozens of worlds for generations in Known Space to the point that nearly the whole race is pampered all day round and few have any sense of adventure and desire to explore.

Cue human Louis Gridley Wu who at 200 is one of the few with the spirit to leave the comforts of his home and the non-stop party that is everyday life for most humans. After a mysterious two-headed alien from the cowardly and technologically advanced Puppeteer race asks him to journey on a covert mission he acquiesces along with his latest nubile sex partner Teela and a cat-like bi-pedal alien from a warlike race that has been decimated over generations. The group is than off to investigate a mysterious ring around a star and be cannon fodder for the Puppeteer who is basically scared of his own shadow.

In many ways the species names give far too much away to the point of not being veiled at all. Nearly all the characters have ulterior motives for going on the adventure and one in particular is holding back a lot of knowledge. Niven's greatest weakness is the lack of explaining the emotions that the characters are going through. They come off as either two willing or too stilted given some of the revelations that come up. Teela especially comes off as just a sex object and is given very little depth.

Overall, the ideas of evolution are the most interesting aspect explored and many of the other scientific concepts and races are appealing yet the actual story seems to be lacking that aspect that makes you care about it all. Ringworld is clearly an essential read if you're into Science Fiction, but it doesn't seem to hold up as well as other classics written in the same era such as The Left Hand of Darkness or Rendezvous with Rama which also won the Nebula around the same time.

Without Ringworld we probably wouldn't have the video game Halo it has also clearly influenced Banks' Culture novels. I give Ringworld 6.5 out of 10 hats.  I can see why some find Ringworld to be an such a wonderful read what with its massive universe building in such a small page count while telling a fairly original adventure story, but the characters were too one dimensional and the main story was not as grabbing as some of the underlying developments that are sure to be addressed in later volumes in this now long running series (eight books at last count in what is know as the Known Space universe). What Niven started with Ringworld does beg further exploration of the Universe as there are many unanswered questions about the Fleet of Worlds and other races that I'm more than a little curious about. The possibilities for this Universe are quite vast; hopefully they just don't end up as feeling as dated as this effort.

NOTE: After I started reading Ringworld the story seemed very familiar and first I wondered if I had read it before, but that wasn't exactly the case. My reading of Ringworld may have been hampered by Strata by Terry Pratchett which I read a few months prior during a rash of old Pratchett reading. Pratchett's Strata was intended as a comedic version of Ringworld so a lot of the setup, characters, and story were quite similar.

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MINI-REVIEW | The Fan Man by William Kotzwinkle (Vintage)

William Kotzwinkle is best known as the author of the novelization of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and the Walter the Farting Dog children series. Most people don't realize what amazing adult fiction he has written such as his Doctor Rat, which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1977 along with a lot of other counter-culture themed novels. Kotzwinkle is also the author one of my favorite reads earlier this year The Bear Who Went Over the Mountain (pub. 1995) about a bear who happens upon a manuscript and decides to try to get it published, which leads him on an incredibly funny journey to bestsellerdom. Kotzwinkle manages to stretch what sounds like an ehh idea into a book that is a complete joy to read. I would recommend Bear to anyone, even those not interested in speculative type reads although it is more in the vein of a Muppet movie for adults. After reading Bear I was eager to get into some other Kotzwinkle books, which led me to The Fan Man, one of Kotzwinkle's earliest works and is still something of an underground classic having been in print more than 35 years. The Fan Man is a week in the life of Horse Badorties told from his point of view in his very own hippie language circa 1970. Horse is not a horse. Horse is an aging hippie burn-out with a serious case of ADD who somehow makes everything he wants happen. Well, kinda. He is not the down and out type. He has everything he needs in his piles of trash and somehow finds anything he could ever want when he wants it until he sees something else he wants. It takes a little while to get use to Horse's voice as every fourth word is Man. As in "Hey Man. What's going on, Man." But once you get use to that it is an amazingly silly journey with the Knight of the Hot Dog as he goes on missions that quickly turn into wanderings in NYC. At first I thought I would get burned out on Horse, but quickly grew on me. I was constantly shocked by the different levels to Horse as he interacts with people. Surprisingly, Horse is something of a musical genius with his moon lute and leads a choir of young ladies whom he is hoping to eventually bed. Nearly every page had me chuckling as Horse switches between pure lucidity to ramblings no one even in a drugged out state could follow. Overall, I was surprised how fresh a book written 30 plus years ago still holds up. It was nice to see how NYC looked back than as well when it wasn't such a clean place. This was when the West Village was still very much the center of counter culture. At a breezy 200 pages this can easily be read in a couple sittings as most chapters are only a few pages and Horse's thoughts and dialogue drew me in. I give The Fan Man 8 out of 10 Hats. Now if only Kotzwinkle would write the follow-up to Bear which is supposed to be Bear for President I'd be a very happy reader. Book link: US Europe Canada