Pournelle, Jerry Books

Lucifer's Hammer

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 210 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The "Hammer" drops! 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Hamner-Brown comet, separately but concurrently discovered by a pair of very excited amateur astronomers, was still a very, very long way from the earth in a typical high eccentricity orbit having barely begun its descent toward the sun. As the world's telescopes are trained on the incoming comet and its orbit is calculated to higher and higher degrees of accuracy, the possibility of an impact with the earth escalates to an uncomfortably high probability. The minute changes in mass and momentum, outgassing and the resulting small changes in the comet's orbit caused by the sun's radiation make it impossible, even up to the moment of actual impact, to accurately predict whether the comet would graze the earth's atmosphere, pass it by entirely or devastate earth with a direct impact.

Panic begins to tighten its grip on the world as a zealous fundamentalist preacher whips the US into a religious frenzy suggesting that the comet is a punishment from God visited upon a wicked humanity. Hoarding begins and roads clog as the population begins a mass exodus from coastal cities in anticipation of the possible tsunami that would result if the comet landed in the ocean. Even a joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent into space to study the comet, now dubbed "The Hammer" by popular media, is unable to confirm or refute its potential collision with earth.

The final result is perhaps the worst of all possible outcomes. The Hammer does fall, having broken up into several smaller comets that land around the world with devastating results, striking parts of Europe, Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and both the Pacific and Atlantic. Volcanoes and earthquakes are endemic around the entire Pacific basin as fault lines shift in California and everywhere else along the fabled Ring of Fire. Tsunamis ravage every conceivable inch of exposed ocean coastline and upstream for miles along major rivers such as the Mississippi. Weeks of non-stop rain liberally loaded with salt from the ocean impact drowns a devastated world for weeks after the initial impact and flooding destroys practically every dam and levee, leaving a search for food a top survival priority. Civilization simply falls apart as people are forced to defend themselves and whatever they were able to salvage from one another.

"Lucifer's Hammer" is Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's graphic but frighteningly realistic vision of humanity's descent into anarchy and chaos and its struggle to re-establish a semblance of normality after an apocalyptic event devastates the world with inconceivable damage and death but does not actually push humanity over the brink of extinction - hoarding; heroism; brutality; the potential change in attitudes towards sex, sexuality, racism, marriage, religion and love; the evolution (or devolution) of government from democracy into potential more effective alternatives under the circumstances; the re-establishment of innovation and technological expertise; the potentially changing roles of women in a more basic almost feudally structured society; and, of course much more.

Most readers would class "Lucifer's Hammer" as science fiction. However, I believe it is fundamentally an exciting thriller and a very impressive extended essay on the psychology and anthropology of humanity's behaviour in the face of global tragedy. The science of the comet, its formation in the distant Oort cloud, its orbit, its structure, its evolution as it accelerates towards the sun and the aftermath as the remnants race away from earth back into deep space, is touched upon but only in a cursory fashion. Sci-fi fans will probably think the book relatively weak in this area and would have hoped for much more depth in the science. Thriller fans, on the other hand, will see "Lucifer's Hammer" as an exciting post-apocalyptic novel that just begs to be turned into a movie with an enormous budget for special effects.

From my perspective as a long-time fan of classic sci-fi, "Lucifer's Hammer" gets only three stars. Others, less concerned about the science will doubtless rate it higher. I recommend that you read it and judge for yourself. You'll enjoy the book no matter which genre your tastes favour.

Paul Weiss

Editorial Review:

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival--a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....
"Massively entertaining."
CLEVELAND PLAIN-DEALER

Inferno

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fan of Niven - love this book. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Since this is my third copy since the book was published, I like this story, needless to say, decrypting it is fun since it is the Inferno brought up to date.
Besides I read anything written by the authors but Niven is the family favorite for SciFi.

It really is a cakewalk through Hell 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If the Divine Comedy had actually been funny, it probably would have been something closer to this tribute, Inferno. As it is, the cast of characters Niven and Pournelle assembled, real and fictional, are as nuanced and complex as a reader could ask for and the point of the story is subtle if inescapable. A book for both SF and non-SF readers, Inferno transcends its genre

Editorial Review:

After being thrown out the window of his luxury apartment, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier wakes to find himself at the gates of hell. Feeling he's landed in a great opportunity for a book, he attempts to follow Dante's road map. Determined to meet Satan himself, Carpentier treks through the Nine Layers of Hell led by Benito Mussolini, and encounters countless mental and physical tortures. As he struggles to escape, he's taken through new, puzzling, and outlandish versions of sin--recast for the present day.  

The Mote in God's Eye

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 147 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Thoughtful Concept within Engrossing Plotline 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book kept me very well distracted from beginning to the end, and beyond that as well. In the moment, the action and story was already an impressive display on Niven and Pournelle's parts, but it was the thought that must have been put into the details which made the story live after I'd long closed the book and put it back on the shelf. If you enjoy true science-fiction novels, this is an absolute must. It will not disappoint.

Nefarious undertones 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Earlier in the book, a scientist states that evolution from sentient beings would stop because they would start caring for the weak. Authors' circular logic about evolution is justified by the characters' stereotypes, 1000 years in the future, cold and heartless Russian, scheming Arabs with lots of money etc.... I found all these stereotypes quite distasteful because the book plows forward as if these were just "given facts" of evolution. Toward the end, the casual attitude the main characters have in controlling alien population was smacking of "Final Solution" which was the actual title of a chapter. Because the main characters had so much money they were discussing things like Planned Parenthood for aliens. Throw in an idiotic love story (as if George Lucas wrote them), I felt like I was reading a high school version of the Nazi's manifesto about World Order and how it must be maintained. Skip this book if you are looking for an insightful look into the future or something resembling reality.

Editorial Review:

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.

Footfall

Larry Niven

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

What in the ...??? 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I fully understand reading should be about escapism. But elephants attacking Kansas??? Aircraft carriers in space??? The President calling on SF writers to devise a plan to battle the invaders. Ugghhh!!! You've got to be kidding me. Sad to say, I read Footfall after having just finished Lucifer's Hammer and The Mote in God's Eye, two excellent classics (sci-fi or not)that should be at the top of anyone's "must read" list. But for you LN/JP newbies just starting out... start with the aforementioned books first.

And if I could say something to LN/JP: you guys owe us another 50 pages to this story. I can't believe I suffered through 400+ pages for THAT ending??? Give me a break.

Editorial Review:

"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

The Gripping Hand

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Robert Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." The San Francisco Chronicle declared that "as science fiction, The Mote in God's Eye is one of the most important novels ever published." Now Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, award winning authors of such bestsellers as Footfall and The Legacy of Heorot, return us to the Mote, and to the universe of Kevin Renner and Horace Bury, of Rod Blaine and Sally Fowler. There, 25 years have passed since humanity quarantined the mysterious aliens known as Moties within the confines of their own solar system. They have spent a quarter century analyzing and agonizing over the deadly threat posed by the only aliens mankind has ever encountered-- a race divided into distinct biological forms, each serving a different function. Master, Mediator, Engineer. Warrior. Each supremely adapted to its task, yet doomed by millions of years of evolution to an inescapable fate. For the Moties must breed-- or die. And now the fragile wall separating them and the galaxy beyond is beginning to crumble.

Burning Tower

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Return to the "vivid and unusual" (Kirkus Reviews) world of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Burning City, where the fire god has retreated into myth, leaving the residents of Tep's Town unprotected for the first time in their history.

Unfortunately, a fiery fate isn't the only danger the town is facing. From out of the desert come monsters -- great birds with blades instead of wings, driven by some unknown force. Although they can be killed, the threat these terror birds pose is worse than death. Danger on the roads means no trade. No trade means that Tep's Town will be no more.

Sent by the Lords of Lordshills to discover the source of the terror birds, Lord Sandry and his beloved, Burning Tower, must travel into a world where magic is still strong -- and wheresomeone or something waits to destroy them!

Filled with the sweeping adventure, memorable characters, and imaginative world-building that have defined the novels of Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Burning Tower is another triumph.

Fallen Angels

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Michael Flynn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Before Al Gore 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Just wanted to comment, does anyone realize that this book was written before Al Gore, and the current Global Warming movement. The story takes an interesting hypothesis, and then tells a story. Nothing more or less. I read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it. I reference it when I talk about the "rule of unintended consequences". Enjoy.

Interesting Idea, especially today, but not well written 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

While the idea of a green government destroying Americans rights and liberties is a very interesting idea especially during the debate on global warming, I found the writing and the character development to be too rigid and difficult to get into. You always felt like you were reading a story and couldn't get engrossed into it like you would a good novel.

Global cooling rules! 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

A tongue in cheek novel that looks at mankind's response to a new ice age while still fixated on solving global warming and minimizing science and technology. Also a novel about Science Fiction fandom, most of which went right over my head.

Editorial Review:

Two Marooned Astronauts Hunted Across a Frozen Alien World--Earth!

Exile-and Glory

Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Earth was stagnating from a lack of resources, from corrupt governments that stayed in power by keeping their people in ignorance and poverty, and by the established power structures that stifled the creative technologies that could solve the planet’s problems. But the governments and power structures didn’t yet control space, where bold new techniques could freely be applied and the vast resources of the solar system could be utilized by such courageous men and women as:

 

* Aneas MacKenzie—he had believed in the man he had helped to reach the office of the presidency of the United States, and had tirelessly rooted out corruption wherever he found it, until the trail led straight back to the White House. After that, no place on Earth was safe for him.

 

* Laurie Jo Hansen—she controlled a multi-national corporation more powerful than many governments. Unlike those governments, she wanted to see Earth’s problems solved and reaching the high frontier was the only way to do that.

 

* Kevin Senecal—he had made the mistake of fighting back against a juvenile gang, and accidentally killing one of them while escaping. Both the gang and the law were after him, and on all of Earth there was no place to hide.

 

* Ellen MacMillan—a young employee of the Hansen Corporation who fascinated Kevin, she was on a secret mission, and the biggest secret was her real name.

 

Two complete novels—High Justice and Exiles to Glory—in one volume by a New York Times best-selling author, telling of an Earth sinking into a morass of corruption, red tape, and failure of nerve, while a dedicated few dare to reach for the stars

Falkenberg's Legion

Jerry Pournelle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hard-Core Military Sci-fi...done right. 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

There are so few Military Sci-fi books I can read these days without cringing. But, since I'm thoroughly addicted to the genre, I tend to read em all anyway.

Dunno why I haven't read this series sooner, I've always been impressed with Pournelle, and "Footfall" is in my Top 10. Picking up Falkenberg's Legion renewed that faith, and reminded me that there are still good writers doing Military Sci-fi.

Almost the perfect mix of military action, politics and social commentary. Some interesting perspectives on military history, how the military has been used, how the military people view themeselves...and how that may play itself out in present and future roles. All mixed in this future world of the "Codomminium" and multi-worlds universe Pournelle has created in Falkenberg's Legion.

Excellent job, by someone who truely knows what he is doing...and has been doing it for quite a while. Can't wait to get the next book in the series.

I guess that is one advantage of starting a series late...no waiting :)

Go Tell the Spartans : A Novel of Falkenberg's Legion

Jerry Pournelle, SM Stirling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Do NOT Buy This Book. Buy The Prince Instead. 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

When I say not to buy this book, it's not because there's anything inherently wrong with it. Go Tell the Spartans is actually a great book. It's just that its content has been collected in a more complete edition. The first two books in Pournelle's novels of John Christian Falkenberg were The Mercenary, followed by West of Honor. Those two books were eventually stitched together into Falkenberg's Legion, which is now considered the first book in the series. There were three later books, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell the Spartans, and Prince of Spartans. The last two books were co-written with S.M. Stirling; all four were eventually collected as The Prince. Thus my advice, if you want to read Pournelle/Stirling's tales of John Christian Falkenberg - and you should, they're some of the best military SF ever written - pass on the individual books and buy The Prince instead, to have the complete series in one volume.

Editorial Review:

Called upon to train the people of the colony planet Sparta in the ways of war, mercenary John Christian Falkenberg and his Legion unwittingly transform their own deadly enemies into enemies of the planet as well. Reissue.