The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld)

A return voyage to the astonishing world of Larry Niven’s Ringworld, with even more remarkable adventures and surprises, and a solution to that tantalizing question left from the earlier book: how was Ringworld built and by whom?It’s been twenty years since the quixotic and worldsweary Louis Wu discovered the Ringworld. Now he and Speaker-To-Animals are going back, captives of the Hindmost, a deposed puppeteer leader.With Louis’ help, the Hindmost intends to regain his status by bringing back such extraordinary treasures from the Ringworld that his fellow puppeteers will have to be impressed.But when they arrive, Louis discovers that the Ringworld is no longer stable . . . and will destroy itself within months. To survive he must locate the control center of the legendary engineers who built the planet.His quest becomes a wild and gripping venture, blended with the mysteries and spectacular technologies that only Larry Niven can conjure!Praise for Ringworld Engineers“For new readers, there’s fascinating adventure in plenitude. For old fans of Niven’s Known Space series, or of the original volume, there are all the fine, characteristic touches that delight us Niven fans, and which support his reputation for uncommon wittiness and fast narrative pace.”—Chicago Sun-Times“The Ringworld Engineers has all the imaginativeness, convincing detail, and narrative vivacity that have come to be associated with the works of Larry Niven. Furthermore, it answers a lot of questions that have been tantalizing his readers for a long time. Most highly recommended!”—Paul Anderson“When I finished The Ringworld Engineers, I cleared my calendar for a week, sat down, and reread every word of the Known Space cycle from scratch, then reread The Ringworld Engineers. It was worth the effort, and left me staggered by the breadth and scope of Larry’s vision. . . . If you count yourself as a true friend of Larry Niven, race right out and get this one.”—Analog Science Fiction Magazine“Another fine masterpiece from the master of science fiction . . . The coming conquest of space has always been a central myth of science fiction, and Larry Niven’s future worlds have made the most of it. The Ringworld itself is a dazzling notion, carrying the future evolution of technology about as far as possible.”—Jack Williamson“Adventurous exploration of a mind-boggling landscape.”—Publishers Weekly Review Ringworld (1970), the most celebrated work in Niven's "Known Space" sequence, posited a vast body of matter - enough for an entire solar system - spinning around a sun in the form of a single giant artifact of unknown origin: a continuous million-mile-wide ribbon provided with oceans, atmosphere, and vast flat projections (life-size "maps") of Earth and other inhabited planets. The present book takes up the puzzle some 20 years after Louis Wu's escape from the Ringworld. Kidnapped by the mate of Nessus, their two-headed alien companion of the previous voyage, Louis and his catlike ally Chmeee are transported to the Ringworld - now spinning dangerously off-center - in an attempt to discover the cause of the aberrant rotation before the world grazes its sun. Searching for clues to the design of the structure's long-vanished original engineers, they encounter various hominid and other races before finding the barely feasible, wholly appalling solution hidden beneath the "Map of Mars." Niven, a longstanding favorite with "hard" sf buffs, commands an impressive vein of invention, but his plotting here is limp and threadbare; the idea was more striking the first time around. (Kirkus Reviews) Product Description "This rousing sequel to the classic Ringworld continues the adventures of Louis Wu and Speaker-to-Animals on that fantastic planet."--School Library Journal An ALA Best Book for Young Adults Sequel to: Ringworld. Twenty years after discovering Ringworld, Louis Wu returns, the captive of a non-human race. To survive on the planet, which is no longer stable, he must locate the control center of the engineers who built the planet To house the dying Earth's inhabitants, a huge architectural ring is constructed in outer space. With gravity, an atmosphere, and a temperate climate, Ringworld gives humanity a new lease on life, but not without frightening consequences

"This rousing sequel to the classic Ringworld continues the adventures of Louis Wu and Speaker-to-Animals on that fantastic planet."—School Library Journal An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Conversion of hardcopy paperback originally owned bu Boston Public Library. ePub version lacks material that was originally on the first page of many chapters, resulting in numerous discontinuities in the story.