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The Hammer of God

The Hammer of God

List Price: $7.50
Your Price: $6.75
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable, But Not A Masterpiece
Review: No, this book does not deserve 5 stars. Sorry if the other reviewers confused you, perhaps they have not read any of Clarke's classics. Anyways, here's the straight dope:

Overall, this is a good book, but not a classic. It starts out somewhat slow, with a lot of sub-plots and science facts being thrown at the reader. However, once the story hits it's stride it gets better. It is a good read, and the technique of short chapters works well in this context.

That said, the basic plot behind this book is something of a sci-fi cliche, and not a revolutionary, never-before-seen idea like almost all of Clarke's books are. For this reason, among other small ones, I give it 4 stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Will Earth be destroyed? Who cares?
Review: Not a bad idea, but poorly executed.

This books is incredibly dry - full of scientific facts and future history that reads exactly like a history text book. We are only introduced to one character, and even then we only get brief vingettes of his life that do little to get us involved. In the end I just couldn't care if he lived or died or if the Earth was destroyed. Who cares?

Don't waste your time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Will Earth be destroyed? Who cares?
Review: Not a bad idea, but poorly executed.

This books is incredibly dry - full of scientific facts and future history that reads exactly like a history text book. We are only introduced to one character, and even then we only get brief vingettes of his life that do little to get us involved. In the end I just couldn't care if he lived or died or if the Earth was destroyed. Who cares?

Don't waste your time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another Clarker's fantastic voyage.
Review: Once again Mr Clarke takes us into the future I found this book very moving and thought-provoking. It has some crossovers to his 3001 Final Odyssey (the Skull Cap for example) The real data that he collected about wandering celestial objects is scary, after having read this book whenever I can I check out the skies looking for an imminent asteroidal or cometary impact.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Clarke doesn't make use of the potential this book has
Review: The Hammer of God has tremendous potential for an emotional, dramatic, and exciting story: an asteroid big enough to end civilization hurtles towards the Earth, humanity's only hope is a ship sent to divert the asteroid. However, Arthur C. Clarke does not take advantage of this potential because he does not develop the characters at all. As a result, this book is dry and uninteresting.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Much to the Book, but Fun
Review: The Hammer of God is a fast book, and there isn't much to say about it except that. I read this book in less than three hours, and thoroughly enjoyed Clarke's very short chapters and interesting tangents on the book's world. Most of it had very little meaning to the actual plot, consisting of rather shallow and typical characters, but its fun. I found it more interesting to read the details of this futuristic world and its lifestyle rather than the asteroid-hitting-Earth part of the book.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who wants to read science-fiction unless they are interested in what Clarke has to say about a possible future world of ours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one of Clarkes best!!
Review: The Hammer of God is a favourite of mine (I bought it two days ago). I have totally read it twice in the library. I like the story very much, it's realistic, comical and it contains a bit of tension and romance. The I love the chapter "Bay of Rainbows" where Robert Singh beats a robot in a Marathonrace on the Moon. This book is one of the best he's ever written, read it everyone!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Earth-shatteringly great
Review: The Hammer of God, written when Clarke was in his mid-70s, is one of Clarke's absolute best books. It tells the story of a huge planet killer of a rock on its way through space on a collision course with Earth, and the efforts made by humanity to prevent the collision (efforts that are sabotaged by religious fanatics who are convinced that the asteroid, named Kali, is quite literally the "hammer of God," sent to judge mankind for its sins). The Hammer of God has everything you could ever want in a novel: a good story, some suspense, a little action, interesting characters, wit, humour, sex, comments on religion (Clarke has even invented a new religion, called "Chrislam"), and such a wealth of ideas that it would be sufficient for a whole series of novels. It was optioned by Steven Spielberg (who later made "Deep Impact," without any mention of Hammer of God in the credits, though).
The subject matter concerns something that is highly relevant in our time and potentially more important than anything else: the danger from "planet killers," that is, comets or giant asteroids colliding with Earth. This danger has always been pretty much ignored (usually because of complete ignorance) by both common people and, which is a lot worse, the people in power, who really should know better. This book has helped raise the awareness of the danger, and, besides, it's a very enjoyable read. Very highly recommended.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lacks suspense
Review: The idea of a meteor, comet or asteroid striking the Earth is an oft recycled plot device in science fiction and it is hard to see why Clarke chose to travel down this well worn path.

As a thriller, this story is a dud. Since it is set in the future when humanity has settled on the Moon and Mars, the human race itself does not face extinction. While the loss of so many people would be a tragedy, it just does not have the same dramatic impact (pun intended) as it would if all of humanity still lived on the Earth.

The Hammer of God does not give us anybody to care about. The only character we really get to know is Robert Singh. No other characters really stand out. It would have made the story much more gripping if it gave us flesh and blood people that we could get to know. Putting Chrislamic saboteurs onboard the Goliath would have added a lot more tension to the story. Alas, there is barely any tension at all and the conclusion of the story is rather anticlimactic.

Where the story does work is its vision of the future. There are also some moments of humor, my favorite being the tale of the Baghdad carpet weaver who breaks wind in front of the Caliph. It is for this reason I give Hammer of God 3 stars instead of 2.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Major disappointment from a Master
Review: There's no doubt Arthur C. Clarke is a master of the sci-fi genre, especially when it comes to 'hard' sci-fi. I rank '2001,' the Rama series and even 'Fountains' among the true classics of modern literature. That said, Clarke fell far short of his own high standard in 'Hammer'. The plot consists of a re-hash of the doomsday asteroid scenario popular today (although he conceived it in the 1970s). There is minimal character development. The writing style (brief, 1-page snipets resembling news bulletins) produces boredom, as I kept waiting for some real action. Finally, the end is simply atrocious, and utterly predictable. Some commenters have stated they enjoyed "learning some science" from this book. I would respond that even the scientific background is lacking, and there are much 'harder' comet stories out there.

For those seeking end-of-the-world-from-an-asteroid stories, I recommend 'Hammerfall,' another tale set in the 1970s but one which thoroughly explores the concept and aftermath. Try Clarke's other novels, but steer clear of this one.


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