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Rating:  -
I read Ringworld Throne when it was first published in 1996, again in 2004 following the publication of Ringworld's Children, and have now read it a third time. It does improve somewhat on a second and third read, but overall I agree with the many 2-star reviews already on the amazon website.
On the other hand, I think there is a saving grace that reviewers have missed, and which I would like to point out.
**spoiler alert**
The book follows two story arcs, neither of which involves Louis Wu or his alien companions in a substantial way. In the first, a large team of ringworld natives goes on a quest to destroy a vampire nest that has grown up in the shadow of the boiling ocean (as described in Ringworld Engineers). This quest seems provincial, and holds little interest for readers attracted to the world-spanning narratives that made Niven famous. In the second story arc, Louis Wu witnesses several protectors battle for domination of the ringworld. Unfortunately, most of the action takes place in a series of brief battles that are incompletely described. Louis Wu's chief involvement here is that he gets to see it all unfold on TV.
**even more spoilers**
These two story arcs are not clearly related, and Niven never explains how they might be connected. However, Niven implies that ringworld has descended into anarchy precisely because the current protectors were vampires before their transformation. Ringworld vampires are not sentient, and they lack complex social organization. This lack of psychological sophistication as breeders makes them short-sighted, dictatorial, and occasionally bloodthirsty, once transformed into protectors. They don't mind that ringworld has fallen into a pre-industrial state, as this has presumably allowed the vampire population to increase significantly.
Thus, the two story arcs are not unrelated. They are two halves of the battle against vampires. This unity would have been more evident if Niven had included the word "vampire" somewhere in the title.
Rating: -
A return to the Ringworld after a long writing delay. At the start, the Ringworld denizens have to deal with vampires of a sort. Yep, whacky. Later on, Louis Wu and our puppeteer friend have some of the same work to do, as he and Speaker To Animals' son are taken captive by a vampire Pak Protector.
They end up involved in a Protector conflict, vamps vs the others. In general though, the usual suspects aren't really the main focus of the book, it is the Pak struggle that occupies this position.
Rating: -
A fairly good read, multiple story lines, a little slow moving with all these different story lines going on, not as engrossing as the previous Ringworld Novels but still worth reading.
Rating:  -
I really enjoyed the first Ringworld book, and although the second (Ringworld Engineers) was a bit so-so, I was still willing to give this one a shot. Unfortunately, it was terrible. The plot is very disjointed and thrown together. There are at minimum two unconnected stories. The first concerns a group of vampire hunters. Louis Wu is largely absent for that part of the story. Most of the first half is spent with the reader wondering why any of this is important. The second half of the novel concerns Louis Wu and some protectors. I won't spoil the plot for you, but suffice it to say there is almost nothing new in either of these plots. You simply don't care what happens to the characters. Good grief, I don't want to ever read about another protector again.
Rating: -
This is actually one of the better efforts from Niven in the last l5-20 years. I read Ringworld in the 70's and Ringworld Engineers in the 80's, so I had forgotten what had occurred previously. However, I don't think it is essential to read those books first.
The plot is basically that in the first half of the book that the races of Ringworld join together to eradicate the vampire menace while having a few orgies along the way. In the second half of the book, Louis Wu, Hindmost and Acolyte, Chmee's son, are drawn into the civil war between the Protectors. I actually enjoyed the first half of the book more.
The dialogue and direction got a little confusing to me as the book progressed toward its end. I have noted this before that I wish Niven would let the rest of us know what the heck is going on sometimes. He seems to have some problems getting that across.
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