The Gripping Hand

Rating:
Summary: a very disappointing sequel
Review: The Mote in God's Eye was one of the best sci-fi stories of the last 30-odd years. In order to stand up to it, Niven and Pournelle had to produce something really good. They didn't make it.
First of all, the story of "The Gripping Hand" makes very little sense unless you have read "The Mote.." Even then, the story of the sequel doesn't hang together very well. For one thing, the first part where the threat of Moties breaking out turns out to be a false alarm doesn't seem like it goes with the rest of the book. It's as if the authors wrote two different stories about the same people and pasted them together. Most of the characters introduced in that first part except for Renner, Bury, and Bury's companion Cynthia disappear.
I think that the authors have taken too many of the interesting sharp edges off of both Renner and Bury. In particular, Bury was much more convincing as the man out to increase his power no matter what (in "The Mote..") rather than the Arab patriot he became in the sequel. As for Rod and Sally Blaine, the walk-on part they have is dull and so are they. A reviewer complained that the authors don't get inside the mind of an 18-year old girl, Glenda Ruth Blaine, very well. Maybe not, but anyone who has ever dealt with teenagers will immediately recognize the "I'm 18, I know absolutely everything, and you're morons" mindset. They may not have a very accurate view from the inside, but their portrait from the outside is dead on. I did think that the motivation for her going to the Mote system with the birth control bug worked. Someone from a culture that believes that every problem must have a solution (the humans of the empire) who had further developed an intense identification with Moties by having a Motie mediator for a nannie would have been hard put to do anything else.
I found it very hard to tell who among the Moties was doing what to/with whom. Perhaps that was deliberate. Given the premise of the plot, I imagine that the Empire representatives who would deal with the Moties would have similar difficulties. I had to go back and reread the last 100 pages or so to see if the Moties are still bottled up. I don't think so. Much of the reason that the original blockade worked for 25 years is that the Moties were coming into a red giant sun having undergone jump shock and didn't know about either the sun or the shock. The function of the blockading fleet was more like finishing off cripples. It's going to take a much larger battle fleet to blockade this new Alderson point. The Moties' first breakthrough shows how easy it would be for their ships to get loose, at least in that system.
I had a hard time believing that the empire would have become so flabby and bureaucratized in just 25 years that their response to a new Motie threat would be that feeble. On the other hand, I found the original (in "The Mote..") description of a society that had collapsed into fragmentation and fedual dark ages but was recovering and reconquering the human race convincing. A society rising from feudalism will have lots of influence from the old feudal nobility. A conquering society will be military and authoritarian. The criticism that the society sounds too 50s (actually, it sounds to me more like the old British Empire) is badly made. As for the position of women, anyone who reads history will know that women's status has varied up and down enormously over the millenia. Anyone who expects women's lib to survive the next collapse of society (assuming there is one) is foolish.
All in all, I'm glad I bought my copy in paperback at the used book store rather than springing for full price in hardback. Now, if I can just get my nephew to return my copy of "The Mote.."

Rating:
Summary: Larry Niven's 'The Gripping Hand"; a good one!
Review: This book, a classic Niven, is very realistic story of the aftermath of first contact with extraterrestials. It is interesting, but it gets a little technical in some places. However, the story is a good one and I suggest you read it.

Rating:
Summary: Well... it beats the hell outta sniffing burlap
Review: TMiGE was a superlative work. As I have matured (read it when my guardians boought it in '74... 'm now 28) I was fascinated with the technology. Re-reading it, I am astounded by the Crazy Eddies who put so much *thought* into a nearly infinetly improbable question. Now, the publishers and agents are apparently Crazy Eddie, demanding a sequel from men who apparently wrote it with one hand on a napkin in the cafe waiting to cameo on Seinfeld. Either that or their Fyunch(click)'s went Crazy Eddie trying to run a publishing company. Renner's irreverence (He and Han Solo are my role models) has evolved into a self absorbed fop's attitude. Bury, whose greatest appeal was in the knowledge he was far more complicated than we could grasp, is yet another self made man out to save us from ourselves. Forget about knowing what became of Gunny Kelly, Engineer Sandy Sinclair, Commodore Jack Cargill, or anyone else you were even faintly interested in. No new faces, no new places. The Blaine-Fowler brats are... well, ones an unimaginitive naval officer, the other belongs on the set of 'Clueless' as a model to the statrs. If you want enjoyable reads with good combat scenes, read David Weber's Honor Harrington series. If you want your thoughts provoked, re-read TMiGE. If you run out of kindling or wish to re-enact the pioneer days before Charmin, buy The gripping hand.

Rating:
Summary: At times it was exciting, but...
Review: Too much of this book focused on issues that did not appeal to me. In fact at least half of the book did not even feel like it was Science Fiction. Some of the story-lines took crazy turns, if for no other reason than to "try" to keep the reader interested. The last hundred pages or so were fairly exciting. The final battle was good, but the ending was rushed. I can understand how the author(s) were trying to show us how humans may react to another species (all the long drawn out dialogue of Bury and others), or am I giving the authors too much credit? I still gave the book 3 stars because it peaked my interest at times, but I would have liked to see more focus on the Motie Civilization, and not little human soap operas playing themselves out in space.

Rating:
Summary: Worse Than The First One!
Review: Unfortunately I had the sequel to The Mote In God's Eye because I gotten both at the same time from the Science Fiction Book Club. Boy was I in for a chore.

The Moties were about to escape their system and would be able to do battle with the humans. I just plain thought this book was a bore. I will not be reading anything by these two again.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book.
Review: Unlike, seemingly, many of the others who chose to add their comments about this book, I found it to be well worth the wait. The premise of what the heck to do with the Moties has been one I have thought over many, many times since I read "The Mote In Gods Eye" so long ago, and I think that the solution the authors have come up with is not only insiteful, but rather neatly answers the questions they raised in thier original work on these quite unique aliens

Rating:
Summary: Worthy sequel
Review: Writing sequels to classic books is not easy. In this case the authors seem to have succeeded pretty well. The Gripping Hand certainly is a more mature book than the The Mote in God's eye, and is highly readable. All in all it may even be better!

This in contrast to The Ringworld Throne, the sequel to Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers, which really drags and contains a lot of soppy material that slopped over from Destiny's Road, another book unworthy of a great author.

Rating:
Summary: This was a wonderful book
Review: ~I really enjoyed this book, as I do almost anything by these two authors. I will read anything by Pournelle and almost anything by Larry Niven. I think the sequel truly breaks new ground. I only regret that the authors haven't given us a third book in the series. I particularly enjoyed the development of the Bury character, whose point of view was sadly neglected in 'The Mote in God's Eye'. similar remarks apply to the Moties. The reaction of the Hoard commander to Renner's shooting off nukes 'You fight like animals' was particularly revealing.