Come back to the Ringworld . . . the most astonishing feat of engineering ever encountered.  A place of untold technological wonders, home to a myriad humanoid races, and world of some of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written!                     The human, Louis Wu; the puppeteer known as the Hindmost; Acolyte, son of the Kzin called Chmeee . . . legendary beings brought together once again in the defense of the Ringworld. Something is going on with the Protectors. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed before they can reach the Ringworld.  Vampires are massing. And the Ghouls have their own agenda--if anyone dares approach them to learn.                     Each race on the Ringworld has always had its own Protector. Now it looks as if the Ringworld itself needs a Protector. But who will sit on the Ringworld Throne?                     "Niven's work has been an intriguing and consistent universe, and this book is the keystone of the arch. . . . [His] technique is wonderfully polished, his characters and their situations are nicely drawn . . . wraps up (maybe) a corner of a very interesting universe."           --San Diego Union-Tribune In Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers Larry Niven created Known Space, a universe in the distant future with a distinctive and complicated history. The center of this universe is Ringworld, an expansive hoop-shaped relic 1 million miles across and 600 million miles in circumference that is home to some 30 trillion diverse inhabitants. As in his past novels, Niven's characters in The Ringworld Throne spend their time unraveling the complex problems posed by their society. Vampires gather, the Protectors interfer with other species, and someone is destroying incoming spacecraft, forcing Louis Wu to return to become Ringworld's Central Protector. The glossary, cast of characters, and Ringworld parameters orient new readers to the series (Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers). Highly recommended for sf collections. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Another sequel to Ringworld (1970) is cause for celebration. The year is 2882, and something ominous is happening on Ringworld, the 600-million-mile artifact encircling a sunlike star 250 million light-years from Earth. Incoming spacecraft are being destroyed, the predatory humanoids known as vampires are breeding in alarming numbers, and the Ringworld Protectors, who normally stick to their own kind, are at war with other species. Enter Louis Wu, the 200-year-old human scientist who discovered Ringworld and has been sailing its oceans since saving it from almost certain destruction some time ago. Assisted by his faithful puppeteer and "kzin" sidekicks, Wu makes investigations that lead to the uncomfortable conclusion that Ringworld may need a single Protector chief to solve its problems--a position for which Wu becomes an unwilling candidate. The story suffers occasionally from having too many characters and hardly equals the fascination of its predecessors, but any addition to Niven's famous series should attract plenty of readers. Carl Hays Third in Niven's famous Ringworld series (The Ringworld Engineers, not reviewed), set on a colossal space habitat that forms a complete ring, 600 million miles in circumference, around its sun, and comes complete with cleverly engineered days and nights, seasons, oceans, mountains, and what-all. Earth explorer Louis Wu has been trying to evade the surveillance of the Hindmost, a manipulative alien puppeteer who, despite his advanced technology, is trapped on the Ringworld. Nevertheless, the Hindmost observes everything that occurs, especially--in the first (intriguing but largely irrelevant) section--how a motley band of assorted humanoids somehow pool their talents to wipe out a bothersome nest of Vampires. In the second section, exciting but very hard to follow, the Hindmost notes with interest that a powerful Someone seems obsessed with protecting and maintaining the Ringworld. And soon both Louis and the Hindmost are being controlled by a protector, Bram, a Vampire transformed by a virus and a particular diet into a superbeing. Neither is Bram alone--and the problem is that protectors of different species instinctively fight to protect their own species' genes. Someone, however, must take control of the Ringworld to ensure its survival. . . . Notably schizophrenic and confusing but inventive enough that Ringworld admirers will surely wish to investigate. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Readers who remember Ringworld from earlier encounters will no doubt relish the latest installment of the saga. -- New York Times Book Review, Gerald Jonas Long ago and far away, Larry Niven intended to write a big book for Del Rey. It was to continue another series, not Ringworld, and eventually it became clear that this new book just wasn't coming to life for him. So there we were in Florida, walking from the hotel to the convention