It’s been twenty years because the quixotic and worlds-weary Louis Wu discovered the Ringworld. Now he and Speaker-to-Animals are going back, captives of the Hindmost, a deposed puppeteer leader.

With Louis’ help, the Hindmost intends to restore his status by bringing back such extraordinary treasures from the Ringworld that his fellow puppeteers will have to be impressed. However when they occur, Louis discovers that this Ringworld is no more stable-and will destroy itself within weeks. To endure, he can locate the control center from the legendary engineers who built the planet.

His mission becomes a wild and gripping project blended with the mysteries and spectacular systems that only Larry Niven can conjure.