Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Del Rey (New York, 1985). 1st edition, 1st printing. 495 pages. $17.95.
Description
"NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN NIVEN AND POURNELLE. I LOVED IT "--Tom Clancy They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods. Now the conquerors are descending on the American heartland, demanding servile surrender--or death for all humans. "ROUSING . . . THE BEST OF THE GENRE."--The New York Times Book Review "From the Paperback edition."
User reviews
LibraryThing member NightHawk777
There is something fun about these Niven/Pournelle books i've read recently. Which seems strange to say, as a couple of them are based in Hell, and this one is set during an alien invasion.
Maybe it's the adventurous feel of the story. At first I thought this book was dragging, but it picked up its
This was written back when the Cold War was still hot. A lot of the story plays off of the Soviets and US not trusting each other. Even to the very end I still didn't trust the Russians in this story.
There are some interesting Americans as well, including the president, a certain congressman, a semi-retired biker/drifter, a gang of classic survivalists (I forgot all about these guys), and just a whole lot of people trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There is plenty of focus on how normal people find ways to cope during this post apocalyptic scenario.
Another fun plotline here is the government gathering together a small group of science fiction writers. I won't say why, but they are very amusing.
The aliens in the story are very interesting. Their society is based on a herd mentality. Which basically means a lack of individuality, and a big focus on the herd. It was humorous when one of the Russians thought these were natural communists.
I thought of many things while reading this story. War against individualism. Clash of cultures. Baby elephants. Zulu warriors. NORAD. Atom bombs. Gamma rays. Shotgun vs elephant :)
I really enjoyed this one.
Maybe it's the adventurous feel of the story. At first I thought this book was dragging, but it picked up its
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pace after a couple of chapters. There are a ton of characters here, and the first few chapters spend time introducing them. This was written back when the Cold War was still hot. A lot of the story plays off of the Soviets and US not trusting each other. Even to the very end I still didn't trust the Russians in this story.
There are some interesting Americans as well, including the president, a certain congressman, a semi-retired biker/drifter, a gang of classic survivalists (I forgot all about these guys), and just a whole lot of people trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There is plenty of focus on how normal people find ways to cope during this post apocalyptic scenario.
Another fun plotline here is the government gathering together a small group of science fiction writers. I won't say why, but they are very amusing.
The aliens in the story are very interesting. Their society is based on a herd mentality. Which basically means a lack of individuality, and a big focus on the herd. It was humorous when one of the Russians thought these were natural communists.
I thought of many things while reading this story. War against individualism. Clash of cultures. Baby elephants. Zulu warriors. NORAD. Atom bombs. Gamma rays. Shotgun vs elephant :)
I really enjoyed this one.
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LibraryThing member andyray
I think it's time to rest from the Niven-Pournelle twosome. This effort doesn't seem to be as good, though it is more complicated and quite proficient in theory. The aliens are small elephants with two trunks and that's hard to overcome with a leap of the imagination. But if you should do that,
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well, you have to imagine them able to fire rifles with the trunk and clawed hooves. If you can manage that, I hope you can grok the language and their family surnames, such as Chintithpit-mang (the "mang" being the family name). It's an interesting enough story, but it is strrrretched out toooo loooong with its 581 pages (any good story shouldn't take more than 300 pages, tops m-- Andy's rule). Just know you are going to have to read this slooooowly and long. Show Less
LibraryThing member duhrer
A couple of years ago, a colleague of mine recommended "The Mote in God's Eye" to me, also by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Since then, I've read and enjoyed "Oath of Fealty", "Lucifer's Hammer" and "The Burning City" by the same pair.
At around the time this book came out, I (as a twelve year
If you've enjoyed "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Stand" or any other similar bit of disaster fiction, this book is certainly enjoyable enough. Well worth taking along to the pub on a rainy Sunday (as I did).
At around the time this book came out, I (as a twelve year
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old) was a huge fan of Stephen King, blazing through everything he had published to that point. Some of his books (notably "The Stand") were long, but all had a fairly simple vocabulary and cinematic plots. Reading "Footfall", I realized that it had that same feeling. It's a long, fast run over even terrain, where Banks and Macleod require slower passage over steeper ground. "Footfall" is also very cinematic. Each scene comes easily to mind and seems like something that can and should have been filmed (it would have made a good miniseries, and I swear bits of it showed up in "Independence Day").If you've enjoyed "Lucifer's Hammer" or "The Stand" or any other similar bit of disaster fiction, this book is certainly enjoyable enough. Well worth taking along to the pub on a rainy Sunday (as I did).
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LibraryThing member Jasignature
Long, pedantic and a really thin message for such a thick read. I wonder if these two Writers are commissioned by the USA government to do some subtle 'propoganda' within the ranks of Sci-Fi?
If ever you are given a copy of this book - place under foot and keep walking.
If ever you are given a copy of this book - place under foot and keep walking.
LibraryThing member ashleyludwig
Another Niven and Pournelle fun filled Sci Fi Thriller! Give way to the willing suspension of disbelief and enjoy as the Sci Fi writers work with NASA and the government to stop the aliens from pummeling planet!
LibraryThing member Karlstar
A great sci-fi 'near future' adventure novel. In what his now common in TV and movies, aliens appear in the solar system and invade Earth. This is about how we fight back in various ingenious ways, using technology that was dreamed up for the space program in the 60's and 70's and never used. Sort
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of Independence Day many years before the movie. As usual with Niven and Pournelle, the characters are interesting and the action carries the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member wenestvedt
I first read this walking home one summer day from the Highland Park Library and was so engrossed that I was almost struck by cars at several intersections. This story of humans fighting back against alien invaders (who look like little elephants with two trunks) is a dandy treat. The humans are
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plucky, the invaders are hidebound, and in the end...well, I don't want to ruin it for you. Show Less
LibraryThing member PMaranci
A large and well-written novel about an alien invasion and planetary catastrophe. Not top-notch Niven, and his tendency to use confusing polysyllabic alien names gets to be a bit much (as it often does in his work), but it's an exciting and interesting book with sympathetic characters and a
It does end rather abruptly, though. I liked it better after the third or fourth re-reading.
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well-handled plot.It does end rather abruptly, though. I liked it better after the third or fourth re-reading.
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LibraryThing member HALLERAN1
The book that started me on Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
LibraryThing member RobertDay
"Nuke 'em till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark." Tells you all you need to know about this book.
LibraryThing member orderflow
Completely nuts and wonderful!
LibraryThing member ft_ball_fn
The set up/intro of the characters is somewhat brutal... but needed. Once it gets going.. the story takes off and is a 'can't put down' book IMO. The end was disapopinting.. a bit 'flaky' or goofy.. but everything leading up to it (destruction caused by aliens, etc) was awesome. Some great
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'disaster'/destruction scenes... My first and still one of my favorite PA books. Show Less
LibraryThing member memccauley6
They don’t write ‘em like this anymore! Admittedly, some would say with good reason…. but it brought back memories of all the fat paperbacks I sat up nights reading in the 80s. Cold War… teletypes… cassette tapes… Betamax machines… the Space Shuttle Challenger plays a key role in the
OK, OK, it *is* almost impossible to keep track of the hundreds of characters (there is a list inside the front of the book – always a sure sign of trouble)… there are plot holes you could drive a truck through… the aliens, well, to be honest most of the characters are not particularly believable, ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN!.... the science is somewhat laughable nowadays… and the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.
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final battle scene. I thought this book was a real hoot, like War of the Worlds written by Tom Clancy. (My copy had a blurb from Clancy on the cover!)OK, OK, it *is* almost impossible to keep track of the hundreds of characters (there is a list inside the front of the book – always a sure sign of trouble)… there are plot holes you could drive a truck through… the aliens, well, to be honest most of the characters are not particularly believable, ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN!.... the science is somewhat laughable nowadays… and the ending was abrupt and unsatisfying.
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LibraryThing member pauliharman
An enjoyable story of alien invasion
LibraryThing member tlockney
This is a serious "meh" read from Niven. I sometimes wonder (perhaps others have expressed this already) if Niven's collaborations with Pournelle were really a good idea. Maybe I'm forgetting some amazing book they wrote together, but so far, after revisiting this book and The Mote in God's Eye,
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I'm less than enthused. Both seemed to show far too much of Pournelle's political ideas drifting into what otherwise might have been a good story. Oh well, it was still an overall enjoyable read, but not one I'm likely to read a third time (my first read was probably around the age of 13 or so -- hence my memory of this being so useless to recommend it). Show Less
LibraryThing member kvrfan
When I picked up this book I wasn't expecting great literature. It was, after all, about an alien invasion. I was looking for something light and fun. But I found it so irritating, it finally took a sheer act of will for me to finish it.
I could write pages about what made the book so bad. This is
1.) Characterizations. The characters were cartoons. They had no depth. That was perhaps inevitable, given the fact that the novel's dramatis personae, listed in the front of the book, consists of four pages! That's too many characters, even for a novel of over 500 pages. A reader can't get a sense of any of them. Do any of them have emotional lives? Hard to tell, given that the premise of the book is literally earth-shattering, and there's no indication that anybody's carries any trauma over it. A lot of people die, but is anyone devastated, even when losing friends, family, mates? All just seem to shake it off and life goes on.
Worst are the characterizations of women. One of the major characters is a major in Army Intelligence who becomes adviser to the President. Yet she's portrayed as a real nitwit who giggles all the time in the middle of meetings and flirts with the head of the President's Secret Service detail even the most important things are going on.
The portrayals of the alien females are no better. The aliens apparently have an even stronger patriarchal civilization than the Earthlings do. (Must be a universal law of nature in Niven-Pournelle's view?
2.) Dialogue. When the characters are cartoons, I suppose you can't expect them to talk like real people. But did the "sound" of it have be so painful? Which leads to . . .
3.) The writing in general. Who can take this kind of writing seriously:
[SCENE: The aliens have invaded Kansas by parachuting in. Reports are coming in to the President and his advisers, and they are curious to know what they look like.]
The Admiral lifted the phone. "Carrell . . . Yes, put the photographs up on the big screens. Let everyone see what we're up against."
There were five screens. One by one they filled with pictures of baby elephants. Some hung from paper airplanes and wore elevator shoes. Others were on foot. All carried weirdly shaped rifles.
Laughter sounded on the floor below, but it soon died away as the screen showed photographs of ruined buildings and wrecked cars, with alien shapes in the foreground. Bodies lay at the background of most of the pictures.
Jenny studied the photographs. They were quite good; the photographer who'd taken them said she'd sold to Sports Illustrated and other major magazines. That's the enemy.
"They do look like elephants," Admiral Carrel said.
"Yes, sir," Jenny said. "But they're not really elephants."
"No. They're invaders," General Toland said.
Even when Niven-Pournelle happen upon a happy turn-of-phrase, they botch it. When the alien mothership suffers significant damage, they write that sounds from its hull sounded like that of a "smashed banjo." That's a clever metaphor. And Niven-Pournelle must have themselves also thought so, because they then use the same metaphor three more times in the next few pages!
And if there were a word I could eliminate from their vocabulary, it would be "grin." Everybody's prompted to grin in this book for one reason or another. (Funny reaction, in the midst of an alien invasion.) If you excised all the times the word, "grin," is used in the book, there would be significant gaps in the text. Get Niven-Pounelle a thesaurus!
4.) Gratuitous ridiculousness. If the above quote isn't enough to illustrate this point (baby elephants riding parachuting under paper airplanes while wearing elevator shoes?), note that among the heroes are a swashbuckling Congressman and a bevy of science fiction writers. The SF writers are brought in to advise the President because they would seemingly know more about planning strategically against aliens than Pentagon types who have spent thousands of hours gaming all sorts of scenarios against possible invaders. Just because SF involves speculative thinking, who says that the SF writers speculations in this case are going to be better than anyone else's?
5.) An intriguing idea squandered. There is an idea at the center of the novel, but it remains seriously unexplored. The idea is that much of the carnage that is created between the aliens and the humans results basically because of fundamental cultural misunderstanding. Because the two civilizations carry different assumptions about interpersonal interactions, including conflict, they essentially kill what they don't understand. This is a important insight, having echoes in human history from ancient imperialism to US involvement in SE Asia and the Middle East. Maybe it was too uncomfortable for Niven-Pournelle to explore too deeply (as I understand they hold pretty right-wing beliefs), so they just let it go.
I could write pages about what made the book so bad. This is
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only an outline:1.) Characterizations. The characters were cartoons. They had no depth. That was perhaps inevitable, given the fact that the novel's dramatis personae, listed in the front of the book, consists of four pages! That's too many characters, even for a novel of over 500 pages. A reader can't get a sense of any of them. Do any of them have emotional lives? Hard to tell, given that the premise of the book is literally earth-shattering, and there's no indication that anybody's carries any trauma over it. A lot of people die, but is anyone devastated, even when losing friends, family, mates? All just seem to shake it off and life goes on.
Worst are the characterizations of women. One of the major characters is a major in Army Intelligence who becomes adviser to the President. Yet she's portrayed as a real nitwit who giggles all the time in the middle of meetings and flirts with the head of the President's Secret Service detail even the most important things are going on.
The portrayals of the alien females are no better. The aliens apparently have an even stronger patriarchal civilization than the Earthlings do. (Must be a universal law of nature in Niven-Pournelle's view?
2.) Dialogue. When the characters are cartoons, I suppose you can't expect them to talk like real people. But did the "sound" of it have be so painful? Which leads to . . .
3.) The writing in general. Who can take this kind of writing seriously:
[SCENE: The aliens have invaded Kansas by parachuting in. Reports are coming in to the President and his advisers, and they are curious to know what they look like.]
The Admiral lifted the phone. "Carrell . . . Yes, put the photographs up on the big screens. Let everyone see what we're up against."
There were five screens. One by one they filled with pictures of baby elephants. Some hung from paper airplanes and wore elevator shoes. Others were on foot. All carried weirdly shaped rifles.
Laughter sounded on the floor below, but it soon died away as the screen showed photographs of ruined buildings and wrecked cars, with alien shapes in the foreground. Bodies lay at the background of most of the pictures.
Jenny studied the photographs. They were quite good; the photographer who'd taken them said she'd sold to Sports Illustrated and other major magazines. That's the enemy.
"They do look like elephants," Admiral Carrel said.
"Yes, sir," Jenny said. "But they're not really elephants."
"No. They're invaders," General Toland said.
Even when Niven-Pournelle happen upon a happy turn-of-phrase, they botch it. When the alien mothership suffers significant damage, they write that sounds from its hull sounded like that of a "smashed banjo." That's a clever metaphor. And Niven-Pournelle must have themselves also thought so, because they then use the same metaphor three more times in the next few pages!
And if there were a word I could eliminate from their vocabulary, it would be "grin." Everybody's prompted to grin in this book for one reason or another. (Funny reaction, in the midst of an alien invasion.) If you excised all the times the word, "grin," is used in the book, there would be significant gaps in the text. Get Niven-Pounelle a thesaurus!
4.) Gratuitous ridiculousness. If the above quote isn't enough to illustrate this point (baby elephants riding parachuting under paper airplanes while wearing elevator shoes?), note that among the heroes are a swashbuckling Congressman and a bevy of science fiction writers. The SF writers are brought in to advise the President because they would seemingly know more about planning strategically against aliens than Pentagon types who have spent thousands of hours gaming all sorts of scenarios against possible invaders. Just because SF involves speculative thinking, who says that the SF writers speculations in this case are going to be better than anyone else's?
5.) An intriguing idea squandered. There is an idea at the center of the novel, but it remains seriously unexplored. The idea is that much of the carnage that is created between the aliens and the humans results basically because of fundamental cultural misunderstanding. Because the two civilizations carry different assumptions about interpersonal interactions, including conflict, they essentially kill what they don't understand. This is a important insight, having echoes in human history from ancient imperialism to US involvement in SE Asia and the Middle East. Maybe it was too uncomfortable for Niven-Pournelle to explore too deeply (as I understand they hold pretty right-wing beliefs), so they just let it go.
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LibraryThing member NickHowes
A classic of alien invasion involving elephant-like, herd-oriented creatures who want Earth as their new home with humans as their slaves. The alien star-crossing technology is pitted against present-day human skills in a story that provides both strengths and weaknesses to each side. Niven and
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Pournelle together and separately have an admirable science fiction record...and this book was amongst those at the base of that reputation. War, bravery, courage, sacrifice, it's all here. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
My reactions to reading this novel in 1998. Spoilers follow.
I was too distracted by other things to possibly appreciate this novel, but I found it overly long for its subject but not long enough to get into any pleasing, interesting detail. Next to Fallen Angels, co-written with Michael Flynn, this
But we don’t learn anything more about the Predecessors, really get into the dissension of the Fithp ranks, or learn a lot that much about the Fithp given the time spent on them other than they are herd animals who are used to fighting until a foe unconditionally surrenders for their whole herd. Nor do we get, a lá Niven and Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer, neat description of meteor devastation. Most of it occurs off screen as does the combat in Kansas and its eventual nuking. We don’t get a really detailed look at the Orion-style spaceship Michael. We get more characters than is probably necessary – too many adulterous or sudden sexual liaisons almost as if, especially in the case of Jeri Wilson, the authors were trying to make a statement about human sexual bonding under stress and the need for women to bond to a strong man.
This book, according to an interview I read years ago with Niven and Pournelle, was supposed to have been written when Lucifer’s Hammer was, but the editor had them concentrate on Earth being bombarded. Some of the same type of characters show up here: politicians, survivalists (rather perfunctorily here), military men, reporters, playboys. (Another fault was the sudden mutiny against the president who made a reasonable decision regarding Fithp surrender. The groundwork for this plot development was not laid.) The threat team was good and plausible. I could identify several sf author surrogates: Nat Reynolds (Niven), Wade Curtis (Pournelle), and Robert Anson (Robert Anson Heinlein). I don’t know if the others were based on anyone specific. The name Joe Ransom sounds familiar. He could be Pournelle associate Dean Ing. (Niven and Pournelle have been putting disguised sf figures in their book since Inferno, their second collaboration.
I did like some things. (The breakdown of the Soviet Union was not explained.) I liked biker minstrel, Harry Reddington. I liked the eager reporter Roger Brooks being killed by environmentalist John Fox to protect Michael (ironically a atom bomb powered spaceship). I liked smuggling guns to Zulus to fight the Fithp. Pournelle does the usual propagandizing for space (though he doesn’t emphasize survivalism as much as I thought). I also liked the LA group of survivors.
A somewhat disappointing book either too long or too short.
I was too distracted by other things to possibly appreciate this novel, but I found it overly long for its subject but not long enough to get into any pleasing, interesting detail. Next to Fallen Angels, co-written with Michael Flynn, this
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is the worst Niven and Pournelle novel I’ve read. Niven and Pournelle provide an interesting rationale while the alien Fithp try to Earth: they're a young race who acquired space travel from the Predecessors, aliens who first evolved intelligence on the Fithp homeworld and then destroyed themselves. Thus the Fithp aren’t too bright or, at least, don’t think of any other option than to invade a planet instead of exploiting space. But we don’t learn anything more about the Predecessors, really get into the dissension of the Fithp ranks, or learn a lot that much about the Fithp given the time spent on them other than they are herd animals who are used to fighting until a foe unconditionally surrenders for their whole herd. Nor do we get, a lá Niven and Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer, neat description of meteor devastation. Most of it occurs off screen as does the combat in Kansas and its eventual nuking. We don’t get a really detailed look at the Orion-style spaceship Michael. We get more characters than is probably necessary – too many adulterous or sudden sexual liaisons almost as if, especially in the case of Jeri Wilson, the authors were trying to make a statement about human sexual bonding under stress and the need for women to bond to a strong man.
This book, according to an interview I read years ago with Niven and Pournelle, was supposed to have been written when Lucifer’s Hammer was, but the editor had them concentrate on Earth being bombarded. Some of the same type of characters show up here: politicians, survivalists (rather perfunctorily here), military men, reporters, playboys. (Another fault was the sudden mutiny against the president who made a reasonable decision regarding Fithp surrender. The groundwork for this plot development was not laid.) The threat team was good and plausible. I could identify several sf author surrogates: Nat Reynolds (Niven), Wade Curtis (Pournelle), and Robert Anson (Robert Anson Heinlein). I don’t know if the others were based on anyone specific. The name Joe Ransom sounds familiar. He could be Pournelle associate Dean Ing. (Niven and Pournelle have been putting disguised sf figures in their book since Inferno, their second collaboration.
I did like some things. (The breakdown of the Soviet Union was not explained.) I liked biker minstrel, Harry Reddington. I liked the eager reporter Roger Brooks being killed by environmentalist John Fox to protect Michael (ironically a atom bomb powered spaceship). I liked smuggling guns to Zulus to fight the Fithp. Pournelle does the usual propagandizing for space (though he doesn’t emphasize survivalism as much as I thought). I also liked the LA group of survivors.
A somewhat disappointing book either too long or too short.
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LibraryThing member ikeman100
I have mixed emotions about this book. I am a fan of Larry Niven because of his use of hard science with outlandish characters and situations. I have never read a book strictly by Pournelle so I don't know who provide which influences in this story.
First it is an ode to all the old hippies who
It's also a tribute to SF writers and their ability to imagine what is possible because they have tried it on paper for decades.
The story is good and worth getting to the end. The development of the alien culture is also good. It just takes to long to tell the story. It would have been better to break it into two good books.
I expected a better book and got average one. I will read more books by these two as I enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye" by these authors.
First it is an ode to all the old hippies who
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have seen better days. Lots of wasted pages that only lengthened an already long book. (editor anyone?)It's also a tribute to SF writers and their ability to imagine what is possible because they have tried it on paper for decades.
The story is good and worth getting to the end. The development of the alien culture is also good. It just takes to long to tell the story. It would have been better to break it into two good books.
I expected a better book and got average one. I will read more books by these two as I enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye" by these authors.
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Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1986)
Seiun Award (Nominee — 1989)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1985-05
Physical description
495 p.; 9.4 inches
ISBN
0345323475 / 9780345323477