Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot his best work
Reviewed in Canada on March 4, 2021
I'm currently reading this series for the third time in my life (I just keep coming back to Known Space), and this book always disappoints a bit. And it certainly hasn't aged well since the first time I read it over 20 years ago. Where the first two books are consistently engrossing hard sci fi, Niven attempts to weave a more "human" tale (although many protagonists aren't strictly human, but I digress). It's a very different literary style from much of his older work. Unfortunately this isn't his strong suit. Where his other books have hints of misogyny and weak characterization, they never leaned hard on the characters to drive the narrative. I don't say that latter part as a critique of his work, it's just a different story telling style that is common with hard sci fi (must like with Asimov). But when he seeks to create a character drive tale, the cracks become much more apparent, and his portrayal of women, race, sex, etc, becomes problematic at best, and the story/story teller begin to show their age.
While I do certainly Enjoy this book, it is most definitely not his best work, and not recommended reading, except as a piece of the ringworld puzzle, especially in this day and age.