Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A very disappointing sequel. Like many others who have commented, I am a big fan of "The Mote in God's Eye", and although sequels often fall short of the original, this one fell shorter than most. It has flaws that would discredit a first novel by an unknown author, quite frankly: characters are introduced and developed, made interesting, and then dropped without explanation and never referred to again. Same for subplots. The dialogue is confusing, and the protagonists make leaps of logic that I found impossible to follow. Perhaps worst of all, I did not recognize the "Empire" of this story as being the same "Empire" from TMIGE. Certainly, 30 years had passed, but too many things had been stood on their heads, and none of the characters seemed to have noticed. It was as if the authors decided that the social and political background of the first book was no longer commercial, and so they performed major surgery on it -- unfortunately doing a sloppy job and killing the patient in the process.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining talk-a-thon
Review: Eighteen years in the making! the cover proclaims. Not that I believe they spent the last eighteen years writing it but I guess everyone is allowed some poetic license. To any potential readers out there if you're thinking of reading this book and haven't read The Mote in God's Eye, then stop right now and go read that book and then come back. Okay? I'll wait. In any event, as you no doubt figured this novel is a sequel to that SF classic, which detailed First Contact with a race very different from humans in good and bad ways . . . and the worst way caused us to seal them up in their solar system to prevent them from spreading. But now it's thirty years later and there's a good chance that the Moties are going to come out. Now what? Do we wipe them all out or try to negotiate with them in hopes of forming some kind of compromise. As you can probably infer, this isn't as action packed as the last book was, in fact it consists of mostly dialogue, pages and pages of people talking and trying to manuever politically and strategically and whatnot. So some fans were probably put off from page one. But all in all for a book that has been slammed a million times it's not that bad . . . sure the engrossing mystery is gone and so are lots of the breakneck action but excitement can be found in the slow build up and the endless back and forth talk. If anything the two strikes working against the book are it's too long (especially toward the end, which just keeps going and going and going . . .) and none of the new characters are memorable at all. The old people are back, mostly Kevin Renner and Horace Bury and they make out well but even the others aren't even featured and the newcomers (especially Jennifer and Glinda Ruth) are so one note that it borders on annoying. However, the Niven/Pournelle team manages to capture your attention once you've gotten far enough into the book and by stringing along a series of minor climaxes they successfully keep the reader moving along with the plot (which, for all the manipulations, is oddly straightforward). So no, they did try something different with this one so they have to get credit for that . . . without the shock of the new that the last book had this novel can't hope to measure up but it's an entertaining book on its own and a welcome look at a race and concept that deserved revisiting.
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly mediocre, but has its good parts.
Review: First off, I read this off and on during one semester - no other fiction for 3 months. I found that ultimatly, it didn't keep my interest much of the time and I gravitated toward my electric circuit theory textbook more often. I was excited after reading the Mote in God's eye because of its innovative ideas, creatures, and good characters. I was disappointed when nothing of the sort appeared in the gripping hand. The gripping hand described the motie political systems and ever-changing rule and power-struggle. That's pretty much it. History is interesting when you read about specific battles and relationships and clandestine occurences. These are described but the motie species is still much to distance to really care or be interested in. The writers' had yet to humanize the moties enough for anyone to be interested.
I have an inkling that they began to mimic human society very specifically just like the finchclick-guys mimic their human mentor's - successfully only some of the time (some go insane). I was never sure if it was intentional or that's just what they did. The writers' never made that clear enough. Also the mimicked alliences may have been too tediuous and I always wondered if some of the things they were doing could be found in a middle-eastern history book (their most prized finchclick guys were modelled after the muslim trader character).
I swear that the writing changed tones and style 180 degrees all over the book. This must be due to the fact that there were two writers because I found myself just becoming enthralled with one aspect of the story and utterly bored with parallel ones. Like the snow monster mystery in the beginning had my interest piqued, but the story completley switched to a loosely motie-related substory - which was boring. I think that I have to read more of each author's non-collaborative books' to find out who made this book so difficult for me to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: A terrific sequel! You'll love it if you love Niven!
Review: First the praise- This is a terrific and spellbinding sequel to "The Mote in God's Eye". "The Gripping Hand" keeps you turning pages with a well crafted suspense and tension not quite equal to "Mote" but completely engaging in all comparisons to SF's best. The caveats- Niven and Pournelle seem to have kept pace with current science but their characterization in this story is totally 50's and 60's. All the characters and the society seem to sound like WWII generation jingoistic capitalists, a la Heinlein. Some of the dialogue and attitudes can be jarring to more philosophically liberal or younger readers. What tends to gall me the most about Niven books is the importance given to the character's title or educational degrees in society. This is a hierarchal, elitist view that nags anyone of more egalitarian bent. Niven seems to think people with titles,rank,or money are more important or capable or better. I categoricly disagree with that, probably because I'm from a younger generation with less faith in society's institutions and those persons it elevates to high title and office. So it's like I said- If you can put aside the WW2 generation characters you will find a terrifically interesting and well-paced science fiction sequel that is the equal of most any SF books written during most years. If you read "Mote in God's Eye" don't miss this because as a sequel it's almost as powerful and great!
Rating:
Summary: Larry Niven ... another way to spell unique
Review: Following up on "The Mote in Gods Eye" was a difficult job, which is why it took so long. Staying true to the original, this sequal does not dissapoint.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting if you were a big fan of "The Mote in God's Eye"
Review: I am a big fan of "The Mote in God's Eye" and I was enthusiasticabout reading the sequel even though I'd heard it was not asgood a read. (Of course sequels rarely are). However, I still enjoyed reading more about "Moties" and the magnificently constructed world constructed by Niven & Pournelle. Sure it didn't get off the ground as fast, but about half way thru the book I was hooked quite thoroughly and I think that if you love Moties as much as I do, you'll be hooked as well! I gave "The Mote" a 10 rating and I give this sequel a 7. ----- B.H. Dixon
Rating:
Summary: Average scifi
Review: I have to agree with other reviewers. This book is not that great. I truly enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye", a masterpiece, and was eager to go back to its universe. Unfortunately, "The Gripping Hand" is a tedious exercise of authorship. The book is divided into two parts. The first one prepares the actual action in which the moties are involved (no spoiler, this is very predictable). It is just an unbearable tale of space politics and average character development with very little action. The second half is more interesting, and it does make use of some slick ideas, but the story is too fragmented to be exciting. In summary, Larry and Jerry wasted a couple of good ideas, and a lot of the credit they gained from "The Mote".
Rating:
Summary: Average scifi
Review: I have to agree with other reviewers. This book is not that great. I truly enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye", a masterpiece, and was eager to go back to its universe. Unfortunately, "The Gripping Hand" is a tedious exercise of authorship. The book is divided into two parts. The first one prepares the actual action in which the moties are involved (no spoiler, this is very predictable). It is just an unbearable tale of space politics and average character development with very little action. The second half is more interesting, and it does make use of some slick ideas, but the story is too fragmented to be exciting. In summary, Larry and Jerry wasted a couple of good ideas, and a lot of the credit they gained from "The Mote".
Rating:
Summary: The Moties are Back!
Review: In this sequel to The Mote in God's Eye, humans and the alien "Moties" once again come into contact with dramatic results. The Empire of Man has a blockade to keep the Moties bottled up in their own system because the Moties are explosively expansive and would quickly overrun the Empire. Horace Bury, an Imperial Trader, and Kevin Renner, his pilot, travel through the Empire helping Naval Intelligence quell rebellion. But Bury and Renner, veterans from the first contact with the Moties, have another goal: to make sure that the Moties stay penned up in their system. When they find possible evidence that the Moties may escape, they pull all the strings they can find in order to visit the blockade. Events unfold quickly and they end up once more in the Mote system, trying to prevent a disaster. They have help of Chris and Glenda Ruth Blain, the two children of the first expedition's captain. The Blaine's have unique insight into the situation because they grew up around the only Moties allowed into the Empire. The tension is thick at times, and the space battles are well plotted. However, there are large stretches consisting of political intrigue and Motie history lessons that slow down the plot considerably. I think the sections are interspersed well enough to hold the reader's interest. Some of the plot twists were hard to follow, especially once the Moties are involved. However, considering the chaos involved during battles and throwing in completely alien thought patters, it's probably fair to have some confusion in the plot. The characters are engaging, but I found it a little annoying that some of them just drop out of the story at the end without resolutions. The Gripping Hand is definitely easier to read if you have the background found in The Mote in God's Eye. However, like most sequels, it doesn't live up to the promise of the first book. It's entertaining, but not destined to be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Standard sequel fare...
Review: Look, this is a sequel folks, and like nearly all sequels, it loses some of the magical mystery of First Contact. The sequel further explores the question of, do we (can we) blow up the Moties, or do we (can we) negotiate. It's a question that keeps getting repeated over and over again in real life, between warring societies...Just look at Israel now, and the people they consider "aliens" -- the Palestinians. Only the Moties, with their stratospheric evolutionary and reproductive rates, present the greatest possible risk. Besides that single question, this is more of a flat-out adventure book, with lots more hard SF stuff thrown in... As with the first book, the writing is not literature, or even about the future human society -- it's about the cool aliens...
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