This reads like an extended Star Trek episode, which puts it into a category of fluff I usually don't mind. Unfortunately, the scope of the Ringworld, often touted as the reason this became a classic, didn't blow me away as it might have in 1970. Larry Niven relies heavily on the awe and mystery of this world yet doesn't bring the sort of gravitas a novel like Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama uses to impose his ancient floating structure. Part of the problem is how I just can't take these characters very seriously. The women are either dumb blonde archetypes or whores, anyway they seem to exist only to be sexed on. The male protagonists are too narrowly drawn to relate to. Sci-fi authors from this time period often sacrificed character for big ideas, and sometimes that's fine, but I wasn't getting enough trade off here.

I guess I'm glad I read it but I doubt I'll remember it.