This was one of my formative SF books of childhood, and for the most part, still holds up well, especially in the sheer mind-boggling nature of the Ringworld itself and the true alien-ness of the puppeteers.

Where it fails in today’s eyes, of course, is his (and his characters’) treatment of the women. One is little more than an empty shell damsel in distress for much of the book (though he attempts to make this plot-driven, it’s still an issue); the other is a sex toy.

The scale of the (literal and figurative) world building (and probably some nostalgia for how this book influenced my SF tastes in my youth) is enough for me to keep this rated highly, but it definitely feels dated in its interpersonal relationships.

More of Niven’s big-concept world building (literally), as Louis Wu returns to the Ringworld and learns much more about its history and creation as he tries to save it.

At first I thought he’d avoid the problems with his female characters from the first book - though that was by virtue of not having female characters at all, which maybe isn’t the best way to do it. But then women were encountered, and once again, they tend to exist mainly to provide exposition and sex. There’s even a section where Wu basically spends a page whining about being horny, and congratulating himself that after living for 200 years, he can exist with a woman in the same room without actually molesting her.

So...there’s that. But, like the first, Niven’s character weaknesses are (for me, a male with almost five decades of indoctrination into our society’s lopsided values) offset by the larger ideas and plot. Your mileage may well vary.

The central book of a trilogy, between two #PKDAward nominees (one in 2018, one this year). More YA adventures on the high seas but in space, in a far-future pseudo-18th century society among a shattered solar system.

A satisfying end to the Revenger trilogy. Not all questions answered, but those most central to the main adventure are. If the “high seas adventure in space” conceit works for you, it’s a good series.

This was the best of the three, though I'm not sure if I'd find this one or the first one (which was also a P.K. Dick Award nominee) as more deserving of award nomination status. The first did the lion's share of the worldbuilding, but this one pulled the strings together...if not in a nice, neat bow, then at least well enough to not feel let down at the ending.

Mostly, my thoughts on this one mirror those from when I read the first book: "...while I recognize the conceit of 'adventure on the high seas IN SPACE' as an attractive one for many, it's simply never particularly caught my interest. I'm not sure if that's because I'm not much into 'adventure on the high seas IN WATER' tales and the switch to '…IN SPACE' isn't enough to make it work for me, or if I just find the conceit itself a little…well, silly. Not that solar sails and the like aren't scientifically sound, but the overly-literal application of the idea always feels a bit far-fetched."

One of my main points of confusion: I was never entirely able to build a very clear picture of the layout of the ships, in part because gravity or the lack thereof was usually only mentioned when there was a need for a character or object to float in or out of a room, characters would do things like kick their feet up onto a desk (which just doesn't seem like a terribly easy or natural maneuver in no- or low-G), and though the ships often "felt" more or less like traditional SF ships (oriented horizontally), the only way for there to be any normal-ish gravity based on the thrust from their sails would require them to be oriented vertically.

Still: The adventure was fun, the Ness sisters are an enjoyable pair and each of them has their own arc over the course of the trilogy, and the series was a good read.

It is not easy to read near-future dystopian SF set in an America waiting for the outcome of a contested election after the fascist incumbent loses but the Texas Gov. invalidates the electoral votes and it goes to SCOTUS. Complicating matters is ecological, economic, and sociological collapse brought on by losing a war with China, but if you swapped that backstory out and replaced it with a global pandemic....

While that’s background world building, and only tangentially ties to the main plot of a lawyer working to release his client, a young woman branded a terrorist for journalism work among protesters (also hitting pretty damn close to home), much of the book is remarkably uncomfortably prescient.

We came far too close to the state of the country as presented here, and could still tip over into it if the next wannabe fascist dictator is more savvy and less volatile than the last. Definitely an uncomfortable read, and if the sequel wasn’t one of this year’s P.K. Dick Award nominees, I may not have made it past the first few chapters.

That said - it was well written, and there’s an element of fighting for something better against all odds that gives it a faint hope punk feel. It was enough to get me through, and hope that the sequel continues along those lines.

Another apocalyptic trudge through wastelands (Appalachia during the long winter of an ecological collapse), finding other travelers, & trying to avoid predatory groups. Well written; not my thing.

This really isn’t meant to be a slight on the book. It’s definitely an “it’s not you, it’s me” thing; this just isn’t my favorite genre/storyline, however well done it is.

Not quite as “we came far too close to this” as its predecessor, so a bit easier to get through. Has some interesting ideas for a post-ecological-collapse approach to legal liability. But I kept failing to engage with the main character, and by the end, the various legal maneuvers and parties involved got me confused; I understood the ending point, but was still a bit unclear as to how exactly it got there. Not sure if that was the book, or my difficulty in engaging.

A curious book, that ends up being something very different than it was for most of its length. Amusing, though not the laugh-fest the blurbs made it out to be, and I wonder if in large part I'm simply not British or gay enough (or both) to really get it.

A really strong collection of short stories and one novella. I really enjoyed the way these slipped between the real and the fantastic, and between mundanity and surreal horror and humor.

I think my favorite story was “The Son’s War”, for its amusing and unexpected ties to a certain unnamed musical artist.

What started as fairly standard post-apocalyptic setting (small pseudo-medieval communities relying on poorly understood surviving tech) went in more interesting directions than I expected.

This was both more engaging and more amusing than I thought it would be, both through Koli’s inquisitiveness and through Monono’s window into history and cultural touchstones.