Jerry Pournelle (1933–2017)

I strongly suspect and freely admit that my expectations going into a book substantially impact my enjoyment and ratings. I seem to be unable to manage this. Well, I went into this particular book with low expectations. It’s a 1985 hard sci-fi dealing with first contact and alien invasion. I prefer my sci-fi with a little less science and a little more wonder and atmosphere than most hard sci-fi. But dang it if I didn’t enjoy the heck out of this one. Sure, it starts a bit slow, it’s show more mildly misogynistic, a tad bloated, and it features gun toting baby elephants as the invading aliens. That’s right, small elephant-like aliens with a bifurcated truck that splits again with creating four digits on each trunk. This is no spoiler as it’s shown on the front cover (at least on my hardbound). Even the book’s characters can’t help but laugh the first time they see the aliens. But like the plot, there’s more beneath the wrinkly skinned exterior.

Let’s start with the plot, on the surface, it’s straight-forward. Aliens are approaching with a large generation ship, and they haven’t just come for our peanuts. The authors (yes, plural - Niven and Pournelle) do a skillful job of slowly revealing the aliens and their motivation, culture, and capabilities. I appreciated how not only were humans confused about the alien’s herd thinking, but the aliens are equally confused about our individualistic approach. It takes a while to get beneath the alien’s thick skin and really understand their backstory, society, and ethos, which is well thought-out and helps to drive a number of plot points. This is what really kept me turning pages and make this book fun.

It’s also epic (sort of like the movie Independence Day was epic). There were over a hundred characters and dozens of locations. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, nothing mind-blowing, but satisfyingly unpredictable. With Niven and Pournelle as ringmasters, I assume the science is accurate enough, and takes on some big technical challenges (especially the ending). The story is also a good blend of intrigue, suspense, and action.

The book isn’t perfect. I think it could have been trimmed in some places and expanded in others. I would have love to experience things like how the aliens dealt with jungle warfare and meet their first earth elephant. Instead, we are told about these events briefly and second hand. Meanwhile, we get to experience much detailed and tedious government organization and decision-making firsthand. Also, the aliens come across a bit thick. This is somewhat cleverly explained, but I still was bothered balancing their impressive capabilities with their lackluster intelligence. Of course, aliens might say the same thing about us.

An alien invasion extravaganza, driven by a slow reveal of the alien race’s history, purpose, and abilities, that makes for an entertaining tale by putting the entire planet in peril. Four stampeding stars! show less

I wasn't sure if I was going to really be interested in this book off the NPR Reader's Choice Science Fiction and Fantasy list as I'm down to the last thirty, but I ended up being drawn into the story and the alien culture of the Moties. Part space-opera, part first-contact, part horror, I raced through this novel (probably at the expense of some of the finer points of the alien society) as each twist of the plot made me more and more nervous for the ending. The authors are not afraid to show more dispose of characters, and there is violence a-plenty. The image of the miniatures inside the spacesuit with the dead man's head during the evacuation of the MacArthur is horrifying and haunting, especially from the perspective of Bury, who thought that he could capitalize on the creatures as novelty pets. The interactions between the captain and the admiral are intense, and Rod's decision to finally abandon ship is written beautifully and emotionally.

Not something that I would normally have picked up, but I'm glad it was on the list so I did! show less

The dream team of Niven and Pournelle are back with another thick, broad-scope, end of the world novel. They go back to the basics this time; there are no aliens, space travel, or galactic empires. Lucifer's Hammer is a simple asteroid disaster story, with the narrative split into roughly equal thirds.

The first two hundred pages focuses on our ensemble cast prior to the asteroid hitting earth, as scientists assure the public that it has a near zero chance of coming anywhere close to Earth. show more Tensions rise as that number climbs over the weeks, with a lot of characters running for the hills, but a solid majority sticking to their nine-to-five grinds until the very end. The second portion is the shortest, detailing how each of characters survives (or dies) during the ensuring apocalypse scenario. The final third follows two large communities that coalesce in the weeks after the disaster, seeking to find high ground above the inland lakes that is both defensible and low enough to avoid the coming brutal winters of the imminent ice age.

Unfortunately, Lucifer's Hammer is not dreamy at all. This is my least favorite of their shared works, in no small part because what they do best is missing completely: aliens. Both Footfall and The Mote In God's Eye are highlighted and buoyed by creative, well-developed alien species. Here we're stuck in the human realm, a place where Niven and Pournelle often become mired in their own decrepit viewpoints. And lets talk about those characters for a moment, because there are an egregious amount of them. There are simply too many to develop effectively, and I often found myself confused (especially toward the end) trying to keep track of them all. This confusion is worsened by some unforced errors in naming, with some primary characters named Harvey, Harry, and (Al) Hardy.

We spend the first several hundred pages getting to know these characters, but end up with not much to show for it, making for an opening that is both dull and gratuitous with detail. I've read enough bourbon-swilling and lustful adultery from these two, thanks. The middle portion during the disaster itself is probably the best, though the mass of characters gets in the way because the dream team insists we see every moment through every group’s eyes, meaning that what should be exciting and momentous grows tedious after it’s repeated for the tenth time. I will say that one of the strengths of Lucifer's Hammer is it's ability to show how quickly things can go bad, and by "bad" I mean grotesquely horrific. This book is not afraid of detailing the morbid realities of an apocalypse.

In my reading, the main thematic viewpoint is a borderline deification of science and technology. In N&P's minds, modern society takes for granted so many luxuries that function as the crux between where we are now, and a feudal peasant society that includes human sacrifices for sun gods. They have a decisively pessimistic view on innate human nature, seeing humans as scared sheep, quick to revert to safety and close mindedness when faced with challenges beyond their comprehension. It's also full of their classic soapboxing about conservative complaints from the era, including: NASA not getting enough funding, Ralph Nader's consumer protection policies, hippie communes, environmentalism, anti-nuclear power policies, you name it. This drags the entire book down even further. It's reactionary, silly, and obtuse. Most of these points get hit hardest in the final third of the novel, which left me with a horrid taste in my mouth.

The post-Hammerfall world is divided into the civilized valley, run by a senator, who works mainly within the framework of necessary socialism (though there is the required griping about how they can't wait to get back to some form of capitalism). The one black person in this community, a former astronaut, literally says that he's "seen enough equality" in his lifetime. They happily take up slavery as a necessary evil as they pat themselves on the back for leading society towards technological advancement. Then there's the seething mass of Luddite, religious, ethnic, militarized, and communistic cannibals who spread through communities and absorb them through violence and acceptance of their cannibalistic rituals. It started to feel like a satire at points, though I'm sure that it wasn't intended to be, knowing their real life politics.

What else is there to say? This is basically all of the bad from the dream team without much of the good. I didn't enjoy Seveneves, but it does this disaster plot much better. Hell, even Niven and Pournelle did it better a few years later with Footfall, which I discovered was the book they initially wanted to write, at least until the publisher told them to nix the alien part of the plot. Thankfully they were able to correct that error, but sadly I am unable to correct the error of reading all six hundred pages of this. show less

For some reason I always find Larry Niven much better with Jerry Pournelle than without; [b:Inferno|100369|Inferno (Inferno, #1)|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388270577s/100369.jpg|2015541], [b:Lucifer's Hammer|218467|Lucifer's Hammer|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388268115s/218467.jpg|1842237] and [b:Footfall|116356|Footfall|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320440216s/116356.jpg|1913289] are all winners (they have collaborated on quite a few other titles, show more but I have not read them yet). The Mote in God's Eyeis generally considered to be their partnership’s best book (have a look at [a:Larry Niven|12534|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1182720933p2/12534.jpg]’s Goodreads page).

I believe the blurb by [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg] that appears on many editions of the book’s cover* has been around since its first publication in 1974; and it has undoubtedly helped to shift thousands of copies (mine included). I guess it is a little like if you were a guitarist and Jimmi Hendrix tells people you can shred like a demented mofo. Who can resist that kind of recommendation? Is it just hyperbole though? Is The Mote in God's Eye worthy of the accolade?

Yes, it is.

This is a first contact story rendered very believable and engrossing by the authors’ skills and attention to details. The “Moties” are one of the most well conceived alien races I have ever come across. They are very alien, very strange yet they have enough human character traits to be understandable. Of course, completely inscrutable aliens are fun but the more understandable aliens can be more emotionally invested in.

As the novel was written in the 70s its age inevitably shows in places. There are terms like “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” that we do not see in modern sci-fi. Today’s authors tend to invent new words for “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” sounds very quaint as they are now commonplace in the form of smartphones and tablets. These few terms notwithstanding I would argue that The Mote in God's Eye stands the test of time very well. The alien’s design and their extreme specialization are just as wonderfully “SF-nal” on this reread as it was when I first read about it decades ago.

I have no idea who write what in the Niven / Pournelle partnership but they clearly work very well together, there is a unified voice in their highly readable prose style. The characters are better than just flat plot devices, though the book is clearly more about the plot than the characters. Both authors are excel at writing hard science fiction and the science details make the story that much more vivid and believable without ever bogging the book down with excessive infodumping. The “dramatis personae” at the beginning of the book kindly provided by the authors to help the readers keep track of a fairly large cast of characters is an interesting feature. However, the book is written so well that I never found it necessary to refer to it at any time.

The central and very human theme of this book seems to be how difficult it is for different races to coexist peacefully when there is a conflict of interest and when negotiations are hampered by deceptions. The issue is not entirely resolved in this book but leaves a lot of room for the readers to speculate and draw their own conclusions. There is a less well received sequel called [b:The Gripping Hand|218453|The Gripping Hand (Moties #2)|Larry Niven|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356162269s/218453.jpg|441605] which I am not sure I will read as I am more than satisfied with this book’s ending.

One of the all-time greats IMO.

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* Heinlein’s blurb reads “possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read”. show less