Rating: 
Summary: One of the best works of Science Fiction I have ever read.
Review: This happened to be one of those books that I picked up and put down many times at the bookstore. One day, however, I bought it and brought it home. Needless to say, I became a hermit until I finished the book. Niven did a great job of pulling in the reader and keeping him/her engrossed into the story.
It is a great story of humans meet aliens, and the conflict that
ensues in the aftermath of the discovery. If you like Science Fiction
and have not read this book yet, you should give it a try. You will
not be disappointed. If you are not a Science Fiction fan, read the book anyway, you will become one. Enjoy :-)
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a must read for any SF fan.
Review: Robert Heinlein referred to Mote as, "Quite possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." He could not have been more right. The basis of the story, mankind meets alien, is stock SF material. Niven however, carries it off with astounding grace. The aliens are a complex society, with endless currents and sub-currents moving through them. Far more than a story of conflict, this novel choses to explore a truly alien society, and predict mankind's reaction to it. Niven then goes where most writers do not, into the implications of the discovery of his new species, and reaches some unsurprising, but quite honest, conclusions about mankind. Definitely one of the ten best SF books I have ever read
Rating:
Summary: The most ingenious alien creatures I know.
Review: This book is more than just a man vs. alien book. It is man's reaction to a truly alien species that in most ways is far superior to us. It is a tale about how man's most simple thoughts save him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful pacing
Review: The story is wonderfully well-paced, with three distinct "action"
sections, and a final court-room style showdown. Each action section
grips you to the climax, and then you take a breather and start
building up to the next. I'd love to see a film based on this! The
science fiction elements are good, but it'd still make a decent story
without it. However, the romance is rather poorly done. - Rujith.
Rating:
Summary: A Review of the Sequel to A Mote in God's Eye
Review: For all who read The Mote in God's Eye and found themselves asking questions and wanting more, The Moat around Murcheson's Eye, by critically acclaimed authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, is a must read. This sequel provides a stunning close to the conflicts left unresolved at the end of The Mote in God's Eye and introduces new twists and characters to the already extensive futuristic universe created by these authors.
This book picks up the plot twenty-five years after the end of The Mote in God's Eye. His Excellency Horace Bury and his personal pilot Kevin Renner are conducting intelligence work for the Imperial Government in the distant system of Maxroy's Purchase. However, things soon become murky as many inhabitants of the planet express body language patterns belonging to the dreaded Moties, the first and only intelligent aliens ever to be encountered by humanity. This, in turn, leads Bury and Renner to believe that the aliens have escaped quarantine and are now loose upon the galaxy. They immediately leave Maxroy's Purchase and head for the Imperial Capital of Sparta, where they hope to gain leave from the Emperor to pay a visit to the Blockade Fleet at Murcheson's Eye, the battle group responsible for denying the Moties entrance to the galaxy beyond their own system, where tales of corruption and negligence have seeped through to the Empire. This quest will pit them against political barriers, space battles and Bury's own failing health in a race against time to stop the Moties from escaping into open space.
If you think that this synopsis sounds complicated and convoluted, you're right! But the fast-paced story and lucid writing of these talented authors keep this book a page-turner right until the explosive climax. The engaging characters of the first book reappear in the sequel and allow the reader to see where life took them after The Mote in God's Eye's end, while new faces keep things interesting and offer fresh view points and personalities. The intense emotional conflicts and tensions between old and new characters enrich the story beyond the action, making for a dramatic storyline, and as always, the immense cultural differences between humans and Moties is all the more evident as the story approaches conclusion.
The Moat around Murcheson's Eye provides a rapid fire, exciting read that'll keep you on your toes and leave you satisfied yet wanting more. For those of you who have read the first book then this continuation will answer questions and provide a thrilling ending to the series. However, it will prove confusing to those who have not read The Mote in God's Eye as there is little explanation about the original characters, and information is not revisited from the first book. Nonetheless, it will prove exciting to all and presents everything that a sequel is meant to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Five-Word Review
Review: "Star Trek" meets "Starship Troopers." As in the 1960s series and the original Heinlein novel. Take that however you will.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I first read this one at 15 and have been dying to review it ever since! This is an epic space opera played out on a grand scale, with an engaging cast of characters and bursting with ideas. It's theme of first contact with aliens is handled better than any other example I can think of in SF.Set a thousand years in the future, the novel takes place in a fragmented space empire reeling from a series of civil wars. Against this background an ailing warship is sent to investigate an enormous unidentified vessel approaching the sun. This turns out to be powered by a "light sail", a sheet of gossamer fabric thousands of miles across which the ship must navigate against: this is one of the earliest and most dramatic uses of the "sunjammer" thesis first postulated by Robert Forward in the (1950s?) The discovery of dead aliens aboard and the subsesquent expedition to the alien homeworlds reveal a fantastically advanced culture locked into a tragic cycle of overpopulation and war, and with the meeting of technologies, threatens human survival as they begin to learn the secret of faster than light travel which would enable them to swarm through the galaxy. There are passages of great potency and swashbuckling in the book: the encounter with the alien ship, the destruction of one of the human ships and the voyage across the foreign planet by fugitive survivors are unforgettable, as is the genuine sense of wonder evoked by the description of the alien civilisation. Unfortunately the book does have its faults: it is immensely long and lacks real descriptive power robbing it of its visual potential unless you are empowered with a superb visual imagination. It also adopts the language of sailing to an unwarranted extent giving it the feel of a seafaring tale, and the future described is peppered with terms associated with the British Empire, with minor characters who sound as if they served at Waterloo. Also, the lack of real drama in some important passages weakens the whole and gives it at at times a wearily trudging pace. The last hundred pages are taken up in political wrangling which further interfere with but do not spoil the tremendous power of the whole. Despite these weaknesses, THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE is an unforgettable read: its feeling of exploration and adventure are rarely matched in SF: plus its basis in hard science renders it a must for every fan of technological science-fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Unique, and one of the best
Review: Some science fiction books are driven more by technology and plot situations, and other are driven more by characters and dialog. The great Isaac Asimov's stories usually were the latter; for example, in his great Foundation series, there's surprisingly little gee-whiz gadgetry.
Niven's stories have always been very strong on brilliant futuristic gizmos and clever alien creations, but weak in terms of fleshed-out characters interacting in a deep way that you'll find in other genres of fiction.
So I can understand some of the negative reviews; it could be that those folks are just not fans of Niven-style sci fi.
If you're new to Niven, I strongly suggest you read his "Known Space" series before this book. In fact, start with his short story collections before you move on to the classic Ringworld. The stories get higher- and higher-tech. He even admits it, in the preface to his short story "Safe at Any Speed." For a writer, it's basically a tough challenge to create an interesting plot when he has pretty much painted himself into a corner with so much incredible technology, not to mention a human race that has been successfully bred for luck!
That's what makes this book such a kick. I love that, in contrast to his Known Space books, this book is pretty low tech. It's retro, in the way that Star Trek: Enterprise is to its TV predecessors. I also really dig the Moties. I love that the central dilemma they're facing, the thing that regularly imperils their entire civilization and makes them such a threat to us, is something that we dealt with almost trivially years ago. To me, the concept that it never even occurred to them to deal with it as we had, reinforces their alien-ness.
So I give this book 5 very enthusiastic stars, but with two caveats: first, a big part of my enjoyment of this book wasn't so much because of its own merits, but due to what a marvelous and fun contrast its (relatively) low tech was in comparison to Niven's Known Space books. Second, in my opinion, the sequel to this book (The Gripping Hand) is not nearly as good an effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Laughing At It, Not With It. Boring, Wooden, Unrewarding.
Review: He's no Asimov and this is definitely not a classic of the genre. This book has dated badly. I don't imagine there will be any "Special 30th Anniversary Edition" coming out.
I had the misfortune to be stuck with it on a trip through California after I stole it from the Turtle Hill Youth Hostel in SF so I'd have something to read. Boy did I ever get the punishment I deserved. Corny characters, bad science inventions, and a really unenlightened cold-war, paranoid ethic.
One problem is that I've been reading Iain Banks' Sci-Fi lately and that has set the bar pretty high for what's good or not.
Rating:
Summary: Larry Niven ... another way to spell unique
Review: Unexpectedly one of the best books I have read, Larry Niven creates a world with a mystery. A world where common humanoid biology has been turned on it's ear. Followed by the equally compelling "The Gripping Hand"
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