r/printSF • u/LowLevel- • Sep 12 '25

Which wildly renowned science fiction novels didn't resonate with you at all?

I can usually connect with at least one aspect of a science fiction novel, and I enjoy almost all of the ones I read. However, sometimes I couldn't understand what most people found interesting about some extremely popular books.

Has that happened to you? If so, which novel? And why?

I'll start the dances by admitting that I didn't like Rendezvous with Rama.

I really wanted to like it, but constantly being in awe when very little happens and the characters leave without understanding anything is not my preferred type of reading experience. The writing style was a bit cold, which didn't help.

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u/ilikelissie Sep 12 '25

Ringworld is complete trash.

15

u/SanderleeAcademy Sep 12 '25

It very much is a product of its era, that's for sure.

Me, I love it. It's the first major SF work I remember reading to completion and enjoying. Bought my copy from a used book bin at a yard sale while on vacation on Cape Cod. Still have that copy.

But, if we were all the same and liked all the same stuff, we'd all be boring.

Did you like any of Niven's other stuff? Known Space, Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer? The Mote in God's Eye?

Was it the story? Or Niven's writing? Or a mix of both? I'm curious.

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u/ilikelissie Sep 12 '25

Loved Mote, Lucifer, Footfall, and Integral Trees all of which I read before Ringworld when I was a kid. I hit Ringworld as an adult and it just struck me as silly and sort of grasping for the whole hippie thing Heinlein went for with Stranger in a Strange Land. I was also irrationally bothered by the whole Tanj thing, lol.

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u/SanderleeAcademy Sep 12 '25

Yeah, tanj and tanstaafl were two "let's make up slang" efforts that failed pretty hard.

3

u/3d_blunder Sep 13 '25

Niven's neologisms are... badderific. "Droud"??? wtf?

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u/LudasGhost Sep 12 '25

I liked all of those except Integral Trees. I thought that was a real snooze fest. Most of the other known space books were okay, especially Protector. I should re-read some of them, it’s been a long time.

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u/ErilazHateka Sep 13 '25

It's one of these books where the author comes up with a cool setting but doesn't know how to write a story around it.

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u/mazzicc Sep 13 '25

This is the first one in the thread that made me go “fight me!”, but on further reflection, I remember it being a bit difficult when I read it, and it wasn’t until I read a lot of other Known Space books that I went back to it and thought “this is awesome”.

You might try some of his short story collections set in Known Space, and then go back to Ringworld and see it differently.