Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Ringworld graphic novel duology. I borrowed this from the library.

Story (3/5): Four beings journey to a mysterious Ringworld in hopes of having a place for sentient beings to flee to when the universe ends in 20,000 years. This is an old story redone in graphic novel format. I liked the concept behind the story but it seemed oversimplified here. I read the original book a really, really long time ago (in high school) and don’t remember much about it except I thought it was kind of boring.

Characters (1/5): I pretty much hated how the characters here were done. Nessus was not at all how I had pictured him. Louis Wu is an overconfident asshole. Speaker, the Kzin, is just always angry and has no more dimensions beyond his anger. And….don’t even get me started on Teela, she’s basically on the trip because she is lucky, super hot, and apparently Louis needed someone to have sex with anytime they take a break on their journey. They are awful characters and just well...awful.

Setting (3/5): I love the concept and setting of the Ringworld and it was portrayed okay here. We actually don’t see a lot of it in this book.

Writing/Drawing Style (2/5): The drawing in here is mediocre at best. Some of the action scenes are very hard to follow. There isn’t a lot of detail and way too much text is crammed in on the panels. The dialogue is awkward and the whole thing is generally poorly written and just didn’t translate well to graphic novel format. There is way too much over explaining as well. This is done in a manga-like format but without chapters and you read it in the standard English direction (front to back, left to right).

My Summary (2/5): Overall this was pretty bad. I finished it but I wouldn’t recommend it. The characters are poorly done and over simplified. The drawing and dialogue is awkward. The whole thing is just kind of a mess and this story doesn’t translate well into a manga-like format. I am not planning on reading the second volume and would recommend skipping this. ( )

I never read Larry Niven's novel which the this graphic novel is based on. The story is about members of 3 different groups, Humans , the warrior and cat like Kzin, and the Puppeteers(whose civilization is based on an ethos of cowardice) and their quest to investigate an alien mega structure known as Ringworld. After reading this comic book version of the book I will be reading the novel. The graphic novel serves as a good introduction to writing style of Larry Niven. While a novel might emphasize the descriptions of the worlds the characters and the tech, with the graphic novel all that is given to you so the reader can concentrate on the dialogue between the actors. This and other graphic novels area good way to get reluctant or non readers to begin reading.It was also a fun break in between heavier reading material . It makes me wonder what a wrier and an artist could do to make War and Peace in a more accessible graphic novel type form. Ring world is no War and Peace but it is a fun read, and I look forward to my library buying Ringworld the graphic novel part 2. ( )