The Mote in God's Eye

Rating:
Summary: A solid Hard SF piece
Review: The strength in this book is the Motie civilization itself. The authors create a very believable society of aliens who have a severe problem of their own. The book is solid and my only complaint is that it probably could have been leaned out a bit in the number of pages. If you are new to Niven I would start with some of his Known Space books instead but never the less this is a great piece of hard SF.

Rating:
Summary: All hail Niven and Pournelle
Review: I became a Larry Niven fan in the early '80s when I was a kid and I must confess that when I first tried to read this book (in 1978) I gave up almost immediately. I stopped reading his stuff before the decade was up until I bought "N-Space" a collection of snippets of his work. The chapter from this book was like an electric jolt and I had to purchase the full novel immediately.
Although it slows down consideraby in the last third once most of the explanations are complete I have no complaints. Asking Niven and Pournelle to leave some questions unanswered in the hope of preserving mystery is a lost cause! :)

Rating:
Summary: A good idea, not handled too well.
Review: This book is a nice mix of hard science fiction (faster than light drives, spaceships) and soft science fiction (social psychology of alien species) which makes it particularly interesting. The strength of the book in fact lies in its invention and depiction of the Moties as a differently-developed society comprising individuals specialized for various tasks or roles: somewhat like skilled professionals but on a planetary scale. Thus they have classes or castes of masters, mediators, workmen and others, each specialized in that role and unable to perform any other. An interesting idea and the glimpses of Motie society in the book are fascinating.

That said however, the characterization is pretty flat with the human characters in particular being rather one dimensional and predictable. The other weakness of this book (which cannot be helped of course) is that having been written in the 1970s, its picture of human society reflects those times, with a bias towards systems that are quasi-feudal and women restricted to very ornamental roles at best. At the time it was published, this was probably the norm; it does get quite a bit jarring now and one almost gets the feeling that in some ways, the Motie society is more enlightened than human at times!

Not a great book but certainly a decent read. I gave it 3 stars for the Motie society idea, else it would rate just 2.

Rating:
Summary: good but not great
Review: The good things about this book are the fascinating alien species we encounter and the realistic first contact scenario, but the book has many flaws. The human characters are all flat and interchangeable. Indistinguishable from each other in manner of speech or personality. They are one-dimensional. In addition, the authors dont give a a complete sense of the worlds or ships they inhabit. What does the inside of a ship FEEL like, the authors give little attention to the way things feel or sound or smell. This makes their universe feel like a place of cardboard walls. I wish they'd brought the human element to life the way they did the alien.

Rating:
Summary: Well Deserved Fame
Review: The Mote in God's Eye is a book i've been meaning to read for quite some time now. Having been a big fan of some of Niven and Pournel's other work I was anxiouslly awating what is called by many their "masterpiece". I can't quite agree. I thought The Legacy of Herot was better but perhaps that is disqualified as it is also written with Steven Barnes.

This book is very refreshing. It avoids all the stupid cliches that clutter up more modern Sci-Fi novels. It takes the story of first contact to a whole new level. It contains passages that are absolutly riviting and will leave you begging for more. For anyone new to the Sci-Fi/Alien genre I would definetlly encourage you to take a journey to The Mote in God's Eye.

Rating:
Summary: A plausible first contact novel
Review: This is more-or-less a hard science fiction novel, chronicling the first meeting between mankind and an alien race. The titular Mote in God's eye is a reference to a nebula that looks like a brooding face with an eye (a red supergiant) with a spec of dust in it (a smaller star, and home to the aliens). Due to the nature of space in the region, the Moties are bottled up in their system, while human beings have built a large empire of multiple star systems. The humans eventually figure out how to get to the Mote system, and the interaction of the two cultures for the first time is the bulk of the novel.

As hard science fiction, the book works fairly well. The authors invent something called "Alderson Points," which are like Buck Rogers's Stargates - points in space where instantaneous travel between distant points is possible. Likewise, they invent energy shields and weapons for the human spaceships. These are standard sci fi technologies (although they would have been more inventive in 1974). The Moties are a more ingenious invention. However unlikely their physical appearance (they have 3 arms and one ear, for example), their society is well-constructed and logical, yet sufficiently alien. They are not simply a (non-western) human culture transported into space.

The strength of the novel lies in its story. It sucks you in and gets you involved. The characters are generally well-written and individual. The authors spring a couple of surprises on you that come from nowhere and completely change the tenor of the story. It's a book that is difficult to put down. To me, it's superior to Le Guin's "Dispossessed," which won the Hugo and Nebula that year.

There are some minor problems - like most U.S.A. sci fi written in the '70's, it uses an imperial (monarchy) system of government. The social system is prudish and misogynist - in many ways it seems very quaint and old-fashioned (and therefore unlikely). These are (very) minor problems, however, and do not detract from the wonder, excitement, and utter confusion caused by first contact.

Rating:
Summary: A very good read but that's all.
Review: This is a "First Contact" novel, and was heralded as a great one when it came out in 1974. It is not. It is irritatingly flawed in a number of ways that greatly detract from the book, in my opinion at least.

Firstly, the "Empire of Man" is essentially, from a political standpoint, a cross between the British Empire at its zenith, and the Roman Empire. The "Navy" is EXACTLY like the British Navy with spaceships instead of sailing ships. Overall, the Empire is one-dimensional and not at all plausible.

Secondly, the aliens. They are implausible. Yes, the notion of a very old species with specialized sub-species is interesting. But not these aliens. Niven/Pournelle postulate rat-like aliens (the Moties) who can instinctively invent high-technology gizmos without standard sized parts, written plans, etc. Sounds like an invention by someone who never built anything, i.e. the authors.

The one interesting alien was the Mediator class. This notion, of Mediators working subordinate to the Masters, was creative and interesting. Probably the sole original idea in the book.

The character development in this novel is poor. Captain Rod Blaine is one-dimensional and uninteresting, as is Sally Fowler and most other characters. Excepting Kevin Renner, none of the characters act like real people.

The politics of the Empire are simply asinine. Mankind is not going to combine a British-style monarchy with high-technology and interstellar travel. The authors couldn't even be bothered to invent new titles for the aristocrats. Nope, they lifted them verbatim from Great Britain. Even the British don't really have aristocrats these days, but in this book, here they are. Unconvincing.

Despite these faults, this book is a better-than-passable read. A great book it ain't.

Rating:
Summary: a story that grabs you
Review: The Mote in God's Eye is a very good story. Perhaps the writing isn't all the best, but the story keeps your attention and the parts hang together. It's a 4-star story with three-star writing.
Other reviewers have complained that this 31st century empire sounds like the 50s (r maybe even the British empire). They want a society that is Berkeley political correctness evolved for a thousand years? Nope. That doesn't work in this story. This is a conquering society rebounding from dark ages after the collapse of the First Empire. Successful military societies are authoritarian. Societies that collapse develop feudal rulers who are still around running things when the dark ages end. Hence, the hereditary aristocracy. As for the position of women, read the book. After a collapse and depopulation, the men of the empire aren't about to risk the mothers of the next generation in combat. They get to keep the home fires burning. Kinder, kuchen, and kirche.
A reviewer complained that most of the colonies are "New something or other" accusing the authors of a lack of imagination. Look at the map of North America, folks. The names of three U.S. states, one Canadian province, and one Mexican state start with "new". Ditto lots of cities and towns. As for the planet whose natives speak with a Scottish brogue, the authors' premise is that groups of colonists from individual places on Earth migrate to form new colonies, just as so many did to the New World on Earth. I can easily imagine a bunch of Scottish nationalists deciding that they are fed up with English rule and migrating to another world. The story hangs together.
Leaving aside the human society, the aliens required a lot of imagination. Good going, Niven and Pournelle! The description of their society also hangs together. The series of revelations as the humans try to understand the aliens are a lot of fun to read. Particularly clever is the secret the aliens are hiding in plain sight and the way it is finally revealed.
My favorite characters are Renner the smart mouthed sailing master, Bury the treacherous, and Buckman the astrophysicist. I thought Rod Blaine was okay. One of the few details of the plot that didn't hang together for me was having him make captain at 24. Granted, the British navy had captains even younger than that in the 18th century (Nelson was a captain at 20). But those had started as midshipmen at 13 and thus had most of a decade of service experience. Blaine shouldn't have been more than a few years out of the academy. Future marquis or not, it takes time to gain enough experience to run a major warship. The authors justify that by saying that the crews have to be very young men to stand up to long periods at 2-3 gees. Maybe so, but Cargill the chief engineer and Gunner Kelley of the marines are certainly into middle age. Ditto the Russian admiral who commands the expedition to the Mote. I think he is also rather interesting.
It's more than a little saddening that the level of ignorance and anti-religious bigotry in our society is so high that the word "Mote" in the title is dismissed as a "religious myth". I think the play on words using "mote" from the King James translation of one of the gospels is really clever.

Rating:
Summary: Classic SF portrayal of first contact
Review: A classic sf novel from the '70s, TMIGE is one of the best "first contact" novels existing although there is a lot to criticize; much of the perspective is sexist, good girls don't talk about "it", and the colonized worlds all have anglicized names (TMIGE is not a multicultural future). But TMIGE holds up quite well in spite of some of its dated writing.

The reason is the simple: the way in which Pournelle and Niven describe the aliens, their thoughts and culture. They really do an excellent job and that is really what kept me reading TMIGE. In my opinion it says a lot about their power of description that a contemporary reader would wade through some of the less progressive aspects and stay with the story.

Although I've criticized them for their dated portrayal of humanity in a larger sense they did a fine job in predicting general trends of humanity. The rise and fall of human civilizations on outer worlds and the reconstruction of some semblance of a union of governments under an empire; that all seems believable.

I'd recommend TMIGE as a fairly good read if you're willing to forgive the authors their faults. I did and enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: Good idea, bad delivery
Review: I have to agree with previous reviewers who have been disappointed by this book. The authors start with some interesting ideas about an alien civilization (my main reason for giving the book three stars) but then go on to do quite a mediocre job of developing a setup and plot to go around these ideas. First of all, I can think of dozens of scenarios for human civilization in the 31st century that are far more interesting than the one presented here. The authors seem to have expended the least amount of energy possible in working out their universe. The most disappointing thing about it is that there has been zero social development since 1974 (it actually seems more like the 50's in many ways). As an indicator of how unoriginal this society is, most of the planets in the "Empire" have names in the form of "New [substitute Earth city/country here]." Navy ships have names like MacArthur, Patton and Lenin. Why? Couldn't they spend a little effort and come up with a scenario that wasn't quite so silly? My second beef with this book is that the human characters are as dull as their society. They have absolutely no depth and are easily predictable because they are all cliches. A couple of humans, Kevin Renner and Horace Bury, have some potential but they never do develop into substantial characters. The alien characters actually have more presence and carry more interest than the humans. This is odd because it is obvious that the authors really want the reader to empathize with both races (especially humans), but in the end they couldn't make me care about the humans at all.
I think what bothered me the most about this book, though, was that I kept seeing paths down which the authors could have gone that held much more interest than the ones they chose. It seems that they never really bothered to develop all the implications of their original idea.