Footfall (1985)

by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournell

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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2,049	23	2,963	(3.71)	50

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▾LibraryThing recommendations

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Same series: The Mercenary (CoDominium)
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Janissaries by Jerry Pournelle (1979)
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Same series: Sundiver, The Uplift War (First Uplift Trilogy)
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein (1964)
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English (21) Italian (1) Danish (1) All languages (23)

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Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)

A lightweight military sci-fi adventure about an alien invasion. Entertaining, but not terribly memorable or significant.

Read in the 1990s. (

)

sturlington | May 17, 2013 |

A large and well-written novel about an alien invasion and planetary catastrophe. Not top-notch Niven, and his tendency to use confusing polysyllabic alien names gets to be a bit much (as it often does in his work), but it's an exciting and interesting book with sympathetic characters and a well-handled plot.

It does end rather abruptly, though. I liked it better after the third or fourth re-reading. (

)

PMaranci | Apr 3, 2013 |

Who knew that elephants could so easily be stopped. (

)

CLimberger | Jul 13, 2012 |

The set up/intro of the characters is somewhat brutal... but needed. Once it gets going.. the story takes off and is a 'can't put down' book IMO. The end was disapopinting.. a bit 'flaky' or goofy.. but everything leading up to it (destruction caused by aliens, etc) was awesome. Some great 'disaster'/destruction scenes... My first and still one of my favorite PA books. (

)

ft_ball_fn | Jun 20, 2012 |

Bomb Kansas! For that alone read this book (and try doing it without your thumbs) (

)

ziska | May 7, 2012 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Larry Niven	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Pournell, Jerry	—	main author	all editions	confirmed
Harris, John	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Whelan, Michael	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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▾Common Knowledge

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Series (with order)

Canonical title

Footfall

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1985

People/Characters

Linda Crichton Gillespie (a Washington debutante)

Jeanette Crichton (sister of Linda Crichton Gillespie)

Dr. Richard Owen (astronomer)

Dr. Mary Alice Mouton (astronomer)

Major General Edmund Gillespie (USAF; astronaut)

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Hugo Nominee (Novel, 1986)

New York Times bestseller (Fiction, 1985)

Epigraph

Dedication

To Robert Gleason

First words

Within its broad array of nested rings, the planet was a seething storm.

Quotations

Shuttle three, Challenger, was already lost to sight. Roy caught sight of a gunship's yellow flame just before it disappeared into a missile explosion. "Maneuvering. Stand by." Roy's sense of balance protested as Jay turned the Shuttle. "What have we got?" "Missiles. We've got five miles per second on those snout ships. The missiles only get one pass. They can't hit us if we keep veering. " "You hope." "Semper fi, mac. Let me know when you think you have a shot at something." "Yeah, sure." The missiles were in the main compartment, and the big bay doors weren't open. The ring of green lights dropped away aft. "Go, baby, go." Roy prayed. Talking to the ship. Why not? What else can I do? "Maybe we should open the bay." "No point." The dreadful green lights were fading. "Our missiles can't reach them either. Save 'em for Mommy Dearest. How long before we're in range?" "Maybe an hour, if we don't get hurt, and they don't get more acceleration." Roy poked numbers into Atlantis's computer. "Looks to me like they're pouring on all they have." "So are we. Roy - " "Yeah?" "General Gillespie said Michael might not make it." "Yeah, I heard." "That leaves it up to us." " Well, there's Challenger." "Heard from Big Jim lately?" "No." Big Jim Farr. Six four, only he managed to lose two inches in the official records. Laurie Culzer and Jane Farr and five kids were sharing a house in Port Angles. "Think he's had it, Joe." "I think we act like he's out." "Which leaves us." "Which leaves us. Maneuvering. Stand by."

Last words

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Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

MacDonald, John D.

Herbert, Frank

Clancy, Tom

Publisher series

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Alpha Centauri in fiction

Footfall

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to our solar system from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. The aliens are intent on taking over the Earth.

Haiku summary

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345323440, Mass Market Paperback)

"NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN NIVEN AND POURNELLE.

I LOVED IT!"
--Tom Clancy

They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star.

The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.

Now the conquerors are descending on the American heartland, demanding servile surrender--or death for all humans.

"ROUSING . . . THE BEST OF THE GENRE."
--The New York Times Book Review

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:39:27 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

The earth faces a terrible challenge from alien invaders from space in this novel by the authors of Mote in God's Eye (1975). They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods. Now the conquerors are descending on the American heartland, demanding servile surrender--or death for all humans.… (more)