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Summary: This book saved science fiction!
Review: Although most of you readers probably don't remember, the 1960s and early 1970s were the Dark Ages of science fiction. The excellent stories found in Astounding in the 1940s and in Galaxy in the 1950s were being replaced by the New Wave, a misguided attempt to mix SF and "mainstream" literature. Stories which analyzed the future of mankind and the universe were being replaced by flashy, nonscientific (and often antiscientific, even antirational) stories with lots of style but little substance. One of the few holdouts was Larry Niven. His book Neutron Star is probably the best example of his "guerrilla resistance" to the New Wave. Jerry Pournelle came along in the early 1970s. If Niven was the technological antithesis of the New Wave, Pournelle was its sociological antithesis: not afraid to stand up for "old-fashioned" values such as the military. In The Mote in God's Eye, the Old Wave emerges triumphant as Niven and Pournelle take a very old-fashioned story of interstellar intrigue (incidentally, without the slightest bit of sex) and turn it into a scientifically speculative novel that was then perhaps the best ever. If not for this novel, we might be reading Thomas Disch to this day. Thanks, Larry and Jerry.
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Summary: Instant Classic, Truly Unique Story
Review: This book is easily one of the best books I've ever read. It's an instant sci-fi classic. The story and plot are spell-binding not to mention brilliant and absolutely unique.
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Summary: An Excelent, and refreshing, look at "First Contact."
Review: I thought this was an incredible book. It had an unusual perspective on what it will be like to meet an new group of aliens. They wen't melevolent, they wern't primitive, they were just beings trying to survive in the universe, alot like us.
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Summary: _Fascinating_ aliens but stereotypical literary devices
Review: Just finished reading this book for an anthropology class. The alien society as described is fascinating, and is one of the most original ideas I have ever seen in Science Fiction. It is played out very well in the book. However, the human society as it is described is a conglomerate of every "Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica" stereotypical space opera you've ever seen. A society 1000 years into the future is still plagued with the social problems of the 20th century; they're all Christians, very religious and prudish, the "Empire's" space based navy is a parallel of the United States navy of the 20th century. Planets are divided the ethnicity of a particular region from earth that settled the ENTIRE planet and maintained their cultural practices over 1000 years on their own planet. For example, there's NEW SCOTLAND, where they all speak with a scottish accent and produce an inordinate amount of engineers (not sure if this is before Star Trek and Scotty or not) and there's St. Enkaterina which is full of only Russian descendents complete with choppy English accent. It's like they put all of their time into coming up with this, admittedly magnificent, alien race and just extended the state of the world of the 1970s into space ONE THOUSAND YEARS into the future. Likewise, the relations of the humans with the aliens is also sketchy on some points. In order not to have to deal with the invention of an alien language or dialect in the book. They only create ONE alien word in the whole book, instead the aliens pick up on english at such a startling rate that in a very short time almost every alien we come in contact with is COMPLETELY fluent in English, enough so to speak with idiomatic phrases and use christian swear words in the course of normal conversation. Very unbelievable. I don't want to describe the alien race too much as it would ruin the book for the people who haven't read it yet, but it was so cool it negated all of these things and made this book totally worth reading. It was explained to me by my anthro professor that the alien race was a product of Niven and that Pournelle was responsible for the creation of the human society. If this is true, I'm going to be looking for a lot more Niven and skip out on these co-authored books.
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Summary: Flat, boring, and unrealistic (if sci-fi can be realistic)
Review: Sorry, but I'm going to have to differ with all these rave reviews. I picked the book up based on the stellar recommendations and was not impressed. The characters read like some 50s pulp fiction romance and behaved quite unlike anyone I know. Maybe it's simply a reflection of the time when the novel was written. Character interaction seemed simplistic and predictable. As for the much ballyhooed first meeting between mankind and Motie--yawn. And the Motie civilization? Not very alien in my humble opinion. Think about it--the chances are VERY slim that any alien form we would encounter would resemble human form, both physically, mentally, and in terms of societal structure. Also, the first meeting between the two would be a tense, almost hairtrigger situation. Self-preservation being our prime directive, I believe humans would have high-tailed it home, nuked the moties back to whence they came, or both at the first sign of ANY trouble. Quite possibly I came to the table with expectations that were too high. All I know is that I read the reviews and find I can't relate to a single one. Thought I'd post a differing one.And, by the way, this is only my opinion. Thanks for your time!
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Summary: This should be included in the library of every SF fan
Review: I first read this book when I was a kid, back in the 70s. It cemented me as a fan of SF forever after. I recently re-read it, after an interval of almost 20 years, and found whole new layers of depth and excitement. Very cinematically written. A true classic.
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Summary: Science Fiction at it's best!
Review: The Mote in God's Eye is a classic. This is the story of man's first encounter with intelligent alien life while dealing with domestic crises. Special interest groups vie with each other and the aliens over how to manage the situation, with potential disaster just beyond the horizen. A book you could easily get lost in, every time you read it.
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Summary: Read this book and read the sequel; "The Gripping Hand".
Review: Like a lot of Niven/Pournelle's work, the characters in these two stories are not miles deep; despite the fact that they can get INCREDIBLY talky at times. Nonetheless, the imaginative firepower required to create the beings, the culture and the civilization of the Moties is nothing short of awe-inspiring. If you buy "The Mote," go ahead and order "The Gripping Hand" at the same time. You will not want to leave this fascinating universe any sooner than you have to.
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Summary: Good alien culture depiction
Review: The most interesting part of this book was learning of the alien culture of the Moties. These authors did an excellent job of depicting a believable and unusual (alien) culture. If reading of alien cultures appeals to you, you would really enjoy Becoming Alien and Being Alien, authored by Rebecca Ore and endorsed by Ben Bova. I am constantly recommending and loaning those two books to people I know; they are the best alien culture books I have ever read!
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Summary: SIMPLY THE BEST!!!!
Review: What can I say? Definitaly among the best books I have ever read. The main attraction for this book was how philisophical it was. Yes, there was action and adventure aplenty, but there was always something to think about. The concept of Motie society was so though provoking. I must admit, the Motie race is the most complex and interesting alien race of ANY WORK OF FICTION! And to think- their Messiah is supposed to fail! I do have one tiny criticism - why are aliens always so humanlike in physical appearance (Moties are mammals, they even nurse). Anyway, I do not think the characters are cardboard cutouts, in fact quite the opposite. Niven does a great job of describing people through dialogue - maybe people thought they were paper thing due to the lack of any formal descriptions. Anyway, it got a little wierd at the end with negotiations, but still interesting watching deep secrets seep out. SO READ IT, YOU WONT REGRET IT!!!
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