Imagine a ring around a star. A ring shaped like a giant canal, with sides high enough to keep an earthlike atmosphere in, and a floor covered over with dirt and teeming with billions, even trillions of beings spread out over a surface area greater than all the planets in our solar system. The very concept of Ringworld is so cool that it gives any book set there an extra star. In spite of this, I give it only two stars, which should tell you how bad everything except the setting is.

First, there is the constant, and distracting, obsession with alien sex. The concept of "rishathra"- sex between races- is mentioned at least once in every scene involving non-humans. It is the focus of many conversations that do nothing to move the plot forward. And when Niven describes it you get the distinct impression of a thirteen year old nerd trying very hard to be as blasé as James Bond. ("Ho hum, the aliens are having sex, I've certainly seen this before, let's watch!") Niven is thus entered onto the list of sci-fi writers who manage to make sex completely uninteresting. Indeed, I'd say he's so bad at it that he might even dethrone Robert Heinlein from the top of that list.

Second, the plot itself is convoluted and makes very little sense. The book jumps back and forth between a group of aliens who make a trek across the Ringworld and Louis Wu, a human trapped on the artificial construction who must battle to save it from a weird alien menace. However, the aliens could easily have been eliminated from the book - as far as I could see there was no connection between them and the main Louis Wu storyline. Not that the main storyline was anything to write home about. The weird aliens were all battling each other for the privilege of saving the Ringworld, so I'm not exactly sure where the sense of menace was supposed to be coming from. Add to that the haphazard introduction of a new character halfway through the book and the gimmicky deus ex machina resolution, and the plot entirely fails to deliver.

It should be noted that this is the third - or perhaps even fourth- book in the Ringworld series, so longstanding fans may not be as confused as the reader who is picking it up for the first time. But whether you are a fresh reader or an old fan, my recommendation would be to stay away.

I first read Niven's original "Ringworld" in 1996. I read "Ringworld Engineers" directly afterward. Both books were highly entertaining, and when I came back to this 'mental playground' in 1997 with "Ringworld Throne", I was pleased by the further extrapolation which took place; extrapolation which might not be very enjoyable if users have not already read Niven's book "Protector" or who are more interested in the Ringworld as a piece of technology, as opposed to the lifeforms which inhabit it.

Because ultimately, the Ringworld series is not about technology. The Ringworld is simply a canvas. It's the races and characters and societies which Niven introduces upon the Ringworld, that are the real meat of the books. Especially the mythic and awesome Protectors. Beyond Kzinti and Puppeteers, the Pak and their Protector legacy are at the heart of the Ringworld novels. Learning about them and seeing how Ringworld natives-turned-Protector react and behave, was the primary pleasure of "Ringworld Throne" for me.

Of course, there are the complaints about rishathra; sex between hominids of different species. But then rishathra has always been a source of controversy, since the moment Niven first introduced it. All I can say is, if you are an SF reader too hung up on sex to explore the social dynamics of rishathra from an anthropological perspective, then yes, you should probably not be reading this book. But honestly, there is hardly anything steamy about "Throne". Nothing graphic. Not to me anyway. You'd have to be a severely closeted prude to find the descriptions of rishathra in this book anything beyond tame.

Ultimately, Niven strikes a good balance between expounding on the wonders of the Ringworld as an artifact, and expounding on the wonders of the Ringworld as a place, populated by real people. Like most Niven tales, "Throne" is a tourist's tale, told for the benefit of other tourists. If you are not a tourist, or do not have the tourist's hunger to go to strange places and see strange things and experience the 'strangeness' of new realms, then no, you won't like this book.

But if this aptly describes you, what the Hell are you doing reading Science Fiction in the first place??

Thanks for "Throne", Larry! I have read it a couple of times now, and found it better and more enjoyable with each pass-through. I am now off to read "Ringworld's Children" and the unfolding of the drama surrounding the Tunesmith-monster!