#188 in Classics
Ringworld
- 340
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- Hugo Award for Best Novel
- Nebula Award for Best Novel
- Locus Award for Best Novel
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
- Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
The idea is the star of “Ringworld”: an artificial ring around a distant sun, vast beyond easy imagining. That scale is why the novel counts as a science fiction classic. Some readers find the characters thinner than the setting and the opening third, spent gathering the crew, too long; the small part given to women also draws criticism. Best for readers who come for big concepts.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Ringworld is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. Ringworld tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, an enormous rotating ring, an alien construct in space 186 million miles in diameter. Niven later wrote three sequel novels and then cowrote, with Edward M. Lerner, four prequels and a final sequel; the five latter novels constitute the Fleet of Worlds series. All the novels in the Ringworld series tie into numerous other books set in Known Space. Ringworld won the Nebula Award in 1970, as well as both the Hugo Award and Locus Award in 1971.
Reading order · Ringworld series
Full order & progress →- RingworldThis book
7.77.7 / 10 - The Ringworld Engineers
7.57.5 / 10 - The Ringworld Throne
7.27.2 / 10 - Ringworld's Children
7.47.4 / 10
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.5 across 849 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 85% of the weight and the score stays at 7.7 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it. A further +0.20 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.7 | 99 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 7.5 | 750 | 88% |
Frequently asked
How long is Ringworld?
It has 340 pages — shorter than 72% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.7 and 7.8, closest to this book.
