Rating: 
Summary: Love Baxter, but this book needed work
Review: I loved Baxter's other novels, but this one just didn't do it. It was not as imaginative as his others, and most of all the writing was bland and much of the plot tedious and boring. The plot and setting had potential, but I think he should have spent more time working on it before delivering what I read.
Rating: 
Summary: thank you, stephen baxter.
Review: i read "ring" two times and ...it still opens my mind. it's so unbelievable, baxter is so great. if you like hardcore thoughts, hardcore ideas and a complete new world in one book: READ IT!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly, I was disappointed
Review: I'm not normally driven to write a really critical review, after all it's so easy to say "I hated that novel". Well, someone else probably liked it just as much, so where's the value in that?
But I've read plenty of hard Sci-Fi over the years and I really can't remember a drier or more barren Sci-Fi novel than this one.This is my first SB novel, and I picked it up solely on the recommendations for SB by Arthur C. Clarke himself. (sorry Arthur) Hard science can be a wonderful instrument in a novel to hold a reader's attention in the universe being created, but I remember little more from this novel than the internal workings of the Sun. Other reviewers have alluded to the "textbook" quality of this novel, and I have to agree. I skipped the last 100 pages just to end it all, and read the final 20. I've never done that before. To be fair to Stephen Baxter, I do have "The Time Ships" on my shelf ready to read, so I reserve judgement. Seriously though, I never felt real affinity with any of the characters, and the "Sun character" that held so much import in the bulk of the story, was disposed of summarily after the fact. Look elsewhere. Try "The Mote in God's Eye"
Rating:
Summary: A physics lecture, not a story
Review: Lots of ideas. Lots of physics. No believable characters or plot, unfortunately. Maybe Baxter would do better writing nonfiction.
Rating:
Summary: Meandering through the World of Big Physics Ideas
Review: Ring is about a group of diverse, but sketchily drawn, characters who take a big trip, visiting giant superstings and other big physics stuff on the way. The universe is in danger, and our heros plan to watch the fireworks. Or something like that -- the motivations, and even the goals of the characters really aren't too clear. It's pretty awful, but I'll give it more than one star since I was sort of curious about what they would find when they got to the big battleground, though not so curious that I was able to slog though the entire book.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I ever read
Review: Ring was a fast-paced, interesting book. The science it covers includes immortality, planetary engineering, time travel, stellar evolution, and much, much more! Its plot is believable and leads the main characters through first the solar system in the 40th century, then a Biosphere-like habitat controlled by religious fundimentalists, then traveling through a dying universe with alien technology, and finally... Throughout the book the story was consistantly good. If you liked this book you might also like Vacuum Diagrams by the same author.
Rating: 
Summary: Ring: A Hard Sci-Fi Techno-babbling Great Book
Review: Ring was certainly filled with techno-babble unintelligable
to most readers. However, the babble was made somewhat understandable through the author's style of writing. The story puts humans in their place, rather than as guardians of intergalactic domains as much romantic sci-fi tends to do. The story goes along quite well in a few parts.I found this
book worth the read, and I plan to read the rest of the Xeelee sequence when I find the time and money.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing and Beautiful
Review: Science Fiction has fallen into a woeful state in recent years. A quick glance at the local bookstore will see the shelves chuck full of unimaginative fantasy noveles and long sections of Star Trek, Star Wars, BattleTech books. I have begun to stray away from this side of the bookstore, simply because I have begun to find is depressing.
And yet, all hope is not lost! Upon a recent trip to the store I found a novel by Stephen Baxter entitled "The Ring". I had heard good things mentioned about him in the past and figured I might as well check the author out.
I bought the book and, several days alter, was finaly able to peel myself away from it. "Ring" is hard-science fiction at its best, tons of theoretical science mixed with characters who we can truly care about as well as descriptive language which still makes the hair on the back of my arm stand up. Baxter's description of the dying solar system still haunts me when I think about it.
Buy this book! At the very least its better than "Star Trek: The Mystery of Kirk's Hair".
Rating:
Summary: Depressing and Beautiful
Review: Science Fiction has fallen into a woeful state in recent years. A quick glance at the local bookstore will see the shelves chuck full of unimaginative fantasy noveles and long sections of Star Trek, Star Wars, BattleTech books. I have begun to stray away from this side of the bookstore, simply because I have begun to find is depressing.
And yet, all hope is not lost! Upon a recent trip to the store I found a novel by Stephen Baxter entitled "The Ring". I had heard good things mentioned about him in the past and figured I might as well check the author out.
I bought the book and, several days alter, was finaly able to peel myself away from it. "Ring" is hard-science fiction at its best, tons of theoretical science mixed with characters who we can truly care about as well as descriptive language which still makes the hair on the back of my arm stand up. Baxter's description of the dying solar system still haunts me when I think about it.
Buy this book! At the very least its better than "Star Trek: The Mystery of Kirk's Hair".
Rating:
Summary: VERY VERY GOOD
Review: Sometimes, you read a book so good, so thought provoking, so full of breathtaking ideas about our universe, that when you sit there after reading it, you say "My God, this has opened up my mind to endless possibilities." Ring is that book. Stephen Baxter has written a masterpiece of Hard Science fiction. It spans millions of years, exploring the human spirit and the universe around us. This is the book that will make you look at things in a new light. Good Job, Stehpen, and keep up the good work.
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