"Nuke 'em till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark." Tells you all you need to know about this book. ( )

There is something fun about these Niven/Pournelle books i've read recently. Which seems strange to say, as a couple of them are based in Hell, and this one is set during an alien invasion.

Maybe it's the adventurous feel of the story. At first I thought this book was dragging, but it picked up its pace after a couple of chapters. There are a ton of characters here, and the first few chapters spend time introducing them.

This was written back when the Cold War was still hot. A lot of the story plays off of the Soviets and US not trusting each other. Even to the very end I still didn't trust the Russians in this story.

There are some interesting Americans as well, including the president, a certain congressman, a semi-retired biker/drifter, a gang of classic survivalists (I forgot all about these guys), and just a whole lot of people trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There is plenty of focus on how normal people find ways to cope during this post apocalyptic scenario.

**** MINOR SPOILERS ****
Another fun plotline here is the government gathering together a small group of science fiction writers. I won't say why, but they are very amusing.

The aliens in the story are very interesting. Their society is based on a herd mentality. Which basically means a lack of individuality, and a big focus on the herd. It was humorous when one of the Russians thought these were natural communists.
*** END MINOR SPOILERS ***

I thought of many things while reading this story. War against individualism. Clash of cultures. Baby elephants. Zulu warriors. NORAD. Atom bombs. Gamma rays. Shotgun vs elephant :)

I really enjoyed this one. ( )

Herd animals invade the Earth. Humans survive, resist, and conquor.

Timeframe: alien invasion ( )

A couple of years ago, a colleague of mine recommended "The Mote in God's Eye" to me, also by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Since then, I've read and enjoyed "Oath of Fealty", "Lucifer's Hammer" and "The Burning City" by the same pair.

At around the time this book came out, I (as a twelve year old) was a huge fan of Stephen King, blazing through everything he had published to that point. Some of his books (notably "The Stand") were long, but all had a fairly simple vocabulary and cinematic plots. Reading "Footfall", I realized that it had that same feeling. It's a long, fast run over even terrain, where Banks and Macleod require slower passage over steeper ground. "Footfall" is also very cinematic. Each scene comes easily to mind and seems like something that can and should have been filmed (it would have made a good miniseries, and I swear bits of it showed up in "Independence Day").

If you've enjoyed "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Stand" or any other similar bit of disaster fiction, this book is certainly enjoyable enough. Well worth taking along to the pub on a rainy Sunday (as I did). ( )

I think it's time to rest from the Niven-Pournelle twosome. This effort doesn't seem to be as good, though it is more complicated and quite proficient in theory. The aliens are small elephants with two trunks and that's hard to overcome with a leap of the imagination. But if you should do that, well, you have to imagine them able to fire rifles with the trunk and clawed hooves. If you can manage that, I hope you can grok the language and their family surnames, such as Chintithpit-mang (the "mang" being the family name). It's an interesting enough story, but it is strrrretched out toooo loooong with its 581 pages (any good story shouldn't take more than 300 pages, tops m-- Andy's rule). Just know you are going to have to read this slooooowly and long. ( )