Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
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Book Reviews of Lucifer's Hammer
Book Review: They Should Make A Movie Out Of This One!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is one of my all-time favorites. I have read it so many times that I have destroyed 2 copies and am now purchasing my third! I have always thought it would make an excellent movie....much better than any other comet or asteroid-hitting-the-earth movie that anybody else has ever made! The way it is written could easily translate into a screenplay....but I would rather see it as a TV mini-series so that they would not have to leave out or change any of it. Movie-makers have a tendancy to do that with large novels. Like the way that they mutilated Battlefield Earth!!!!! Steven Kings "The Stand" came out rather well in the TV version, split into three episodes. So if any script writers or movie directors are reading this....take a hint! This would be FANTASTIC if it is done properly. And there is room in the cast of characters for a great list of stars to take part! If I was a screenwriter I would do it up just for fun and send it in to TBS or TNT.... I seriously recommend this novel! It is totally believable as an "end of world" type story...lots of action, intrique and adventure, horror, space, romance, hard choices and even a little humor ....The human spirit comes shining through in the aftermath in both good and bad ways. It is a struggle for survival....will it be all for one or one for all or every man for himself? Will some of civilization survive or will the remnants of mankind sink into the depths of the darkest of dark ages? The Comet impact is only the beginning of this thriller!
A MUST-READ!
Book Review: A whale of a tale!
Summary: 5 Stars
In Lucifer's Hammer, authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle team up once again to define humanity under pressure.
The Hamner-Brown comet is co-discovered by Tim Hamner, a millionaire amateur astronomer. When the comet seems like it may hit Earth, it is dubbed "The Hammer." But the chances are slim, so slim, that it will actually hit.
Then it strikes. And civilization as we recognize it changes.
This story follows Tim Hamner and others as they escape Los Angeles and find "safety" in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In such a catastrophe, which elements of civilization persist, and which elements disappear?
Each chapter begins, in italics, with either an overview of the comet and its path, or a physical description of Earth's oceans, lands, and climate trembling under the blow.
I must admit that I felt a bit uncomfortable with the authors' decision to make the majority of the "bad guys" black and the majority of the "good guys" white. I suspect, if it was written today, that Niven and Pournelle would have made some alterations to the racial mixtures of all groups. The relative absence of Hispanics in a book centered on Southern California is noticeable!
I've read this book maybe 4 times. The harrowing escape from LA following "Hammerfall", the "reaction" of Earth to the strike, the development of an alternative civilization, and the battle for the power plant are all thrilling and interesting components to this story.
Book Review: One of the best
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book when it first came out, and loved it so much I gave it to my father to read, who was a little puzzled about what was going on. Larry Niven's view of who will live and who will die after the Big One (whatever that Big One might be) presented several ideas that had never occured to me. For instance, the big strong men die soon - the small brainy guys make it (I wonder if Larry is big strong or small brainy). While everyone is trying to save canned goods, some clever folk fill "the blue van" with black pepper and liquours, cinnamon and stockings, and the main characters dream of finding the van from then on. I learned from this what to grab when the Big One comes for real. I am haunted by two very touching images from these pages. Two characters start throwing books into Zip-lock bags, to save for the future, and have to choose what books to save. And one of the brainiest survivors has diabetes, and can't save himself.
One of the most charming aspects of this long long book when I first read it was its use of pop culture, referents to what I felt only we, the hippest of the young, knew. These referents were very current and of the moment when the book was written. Thus they are tremendously dated now. So that's too bad. But otherwise, Niven gives us plenty of specific things to do to prepare, and lets the good guys win, thus helping us feel that certainly we'll be clever enough to make it. I always find that soothing in a post-apocalyptic novel.
Book Review: Realer than reality.
Summary: 5 Stars
Before there were all those 1990s disaster movies, there was Lucifer's Hammer. I don't know if this novel pioneered the subgenre of epic novels with massively large casts of characters and plots that were bigger than any one character, but Lucifer's Hammer does it better than any I've read or seen.
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are the ultimate sci-fi tag-team. Niven handles the science, Pournelle handles the realistic characters, and the result is greater than the sum of its parts. Lucifer's Hammer is positively brimming with realistic people and situations; if you showed me videos of Earth's actual reaction to a comet impact, I'd probably believe Lucifer's Hammer instead. Assisting in this sense of realism are two things - the uncompromising harshness of the plot, and the compromised personalities of each and every one of the characters. There are no pure good guys here, and no pure bad guys, and no one catches a break. The story is brutal, unforgiving, and terrifying - a tale of normal everyday men and women pushed to the absolute limit.
My one quibble with the book is its annoying late-70s Reaganite politics. The part where an engineer dismisses ozone depletion with a wave of his hand looks a bit ludicrous in light of more recent events. And it's a bit tiring to hear how much hippies are wimps and nuclear power is Teh Awesome. But this is a minor thing. All in all, if you read one disaster novel in your life, read Lucifer's Hammer.
Book Review: One of the Best of the Genre, If not The Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the book dealing with "THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT" These guys have hit upon the formula that give hope a say in the mix. Robert R. McCammon's " SWAN SONG " (an antecedent work) Draws upon "LUCIFERS HAMMER" and the King Work " THE STAND" heavily. But first there was this. I love McCammon's book, and King's; but the best , first groundwork was laid in the chapter and verse of " LUCIFERS HAMMER." The development of character is complete...brilliant.. The scenario is developed with an eye towards the ultimate conclusion. There is not a word wasted nor a picture left incomplete. As I read works of literature I often wonder who the writer knew or met and admired (or not) to draw his characters upon. More so here than most. The Science may not be flawless, there are gaps in rudimentary cosmology and physics- but fiction, science or otherwise - requires of the reader a "suspension of disbelief". This is a worthwhile read if only to see where the "Apocolypse Genre" began. I would much rather read "LUCIFER'S HAMMER" than watch "THE STAND" on television...shudder..... I had rather read "LUCIFER'S HAMMER" than read "THE STAND". And the hell of it is I like "THE STAND". I hope you will read this book and the other book(s) mentioned herein,. not because one leads to the other... but because they DON'T.