by Larry Niven
First published 2013
Twenty years have passed since Louis Wu first encountered the massive artificial ring encircling a distant star. Now the world-weary explorer finds himself a captive aboard a puppeteer ship, along with his alien companion Speaker-to-Animals. Their captor is the Hindmost, a disgraced puppeteer leader who believes that spectacular artifacts from the Ringworld will restore his political standing among his cautious species. But when they reach their destination, Louis makes a terrifying discovery. The colossal structure has become unstable and faces complete destruction within months. To prevent catastrophe and save their own lives, Louis must find the control center built by the Ringworld's mysterious creators. His search takes him across the failing megastructure, where he encounters advanced technologies and deadly obstacles. The fate of trillions of inhabitants hangs in the balance as Louis races against time to locate the engineering systems that keep this artificial world intact.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, space-opera, hard-science-fiction
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, race-against-time
Setting: Ringworld
Period: 20 years later
Audio CD · Blackstone Publishing