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Posted: 5/18/2017 7:19:09 PM EDT
Encountered a sale, but the selection is limited.
Narrowed it down to these two books. Any feedback on either one? |
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[#2]
In arfcom there can only be but one answer..........................get both
Both are excellent reads. |
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[#3]
I have both they are both good if I had to choose it would be Lucifer's Hammer
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[#5]
Mote all the way. LH is just an apocalypse story steeped in some hard-ish science; Mote is a tour de force classic space opera.
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[#6]
Lucifers Hammer ,I have an autographed copy I bought for $.75 on half.com
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[#7]
Quoted:
You need to meet the Moties. View Quote But the National Guard guys in Lucifer's Hammer are pretty good too, though the wind up is like the first half of the book-- either of them will have you grinning for a good while in any event |
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[#8]
Read lucifers hammer
Ice cream sundae Mustard gas. Then mote. Then the gripping hand. |
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[#9]
Both must reads for anyone who wants to pass the "I like Sci Fi" smell test.
I mean, you could hate both of them, but if you like sci-fi, should still read both of them. |
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[#10]
They're both excellent. I enjoyed The Mote more, Lucifer's Hammer is actually a little depressing but very good.
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[#12]
If you're into comet smashing sci-fi, Larry Niven and Jerry pournelle also wrote "Footfall".
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[#13]
Quoted:
If you're into comet smashing sci-fi, Larry Niven and Jerry pournelle also wrote "Footfall". View Quote |
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[#14]
So, I liked Footfall--would lucifers hammer or the mote be better, then? I'm not as keen on Niven as when I was a teenager it seems.
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[#15]
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I re-read LH recently and it's a product of its era, a 1970s period piece that sort of doesn't hold up as well as it could have. Same thing with Oath of Fealty. Today's tech makes parts of the book seem sort of quaint. I'd go with TMIGE is I was only going to read one of them. You might want to read the sequel, The Gripping Hand, soon afterwards.. |
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[#16]
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[#17]
Just started the Mote book today on the drive home.
Got through about 30 minutes. A bit slow, not sure I followed it all and mind wandered a bit as I was mentally planning my day at the range tomorrow. I assume its no big deal as it is still the intro, right or am I already lost? |
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[#18]
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Forgot about it until now... There is a prelude battle that isn't included in the book. It is referenced, but it can be a little confusing at first. IIRC the part with the battle was published some years later. TMIGE is a long book - the prelude was one of the parts cut to make the thing publishable in a single volume. Otherwise, it gets into Battlefield Earth length. |
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[#19]
Quoted:
A bit slow, not sure I followed it all and mind wandered a bit as I was mentally planning my day at the range tomorrow. I assume its no big deal as it is still the intro, right or am I already lost? View Quote |
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[#20]
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[#21]
Quoted:
. I re-read LH recently and it's a product of its era, a 1970s period piece that sort of doesn't hold up as well as it could have. Same thing with Oath of Fealty. Today's tech makes parts of the book seem sort of quaint. I'd go with TMIGE is I was only going to read one of them. You might want to read the sequel, The Gripping Hand, soon afterwards.. View Quote |
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[#22]
Quoted:
Lucifer's Hammer is fairly similar to Footfall View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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[#23]
Sorry fellas the book wasn't that great.
You hit a bulls eye with Ready Player One and Saturn Run but struck out with the Moties. |
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[#24]
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[#25]
About the time I read the Mote and Lucifer's hammer, I also read the Janissaries. Also a very good read.
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[#26]
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[#27]
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[#28]
Quoted:
Basically, when Niven and Pournelle plotted out Lucifer's Hammer, they originally wanted to write Footfall, but the publisher didn't want to put out an alien invasion novel, IIRC. View Quote One of the insider jokes in Footfall was the "specialist team" of science fiction writers brought in by the DoD and sequestered in Cheyenne mountain (I think) to brainstorm defenses, and then to study a captured alien. The idea was based on the involvement of Jerry Pournelle and other writers in the SDI program, and all the characters were based on actual writers. The most obvious was Heinlein by way of his absence due to frail health, but it was fun for a younger me to try to figure out who was who. |
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[#29]
Quoted:
Just started the Mote book today on the drive home. Got through about 30 minutes. A bit slow, not sure I followed it all and mind wandered a bit as I was mentally planning my day at the range tomorrow. I assume its no big deal as it is still the intro, right or am I already lost? View Quote |
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[#31]
Quoted:
I bought the audio book lately but kind of petered out, it's slow getting going by "modern" standards. I didn't know this before, but Lucifer's Hammer started out as an alien invasion story, but the publisher talked the into changing it to a straight disaster book with a meteor strike instead of an intentional attack with rocks. View Quote |
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[#32]
I read them both long ago. I imagine Mote would hold up better, LH would likely seem very dated.
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[#33]
Quoted:
They missed an edit and there's actually an alien in the LH story. (A dead one, but it's there.) View Quote If it's a Footfall alien shouldn't it look like an elephant? I can't remember enough Footfall (read it, wasn't impressed, never reread it) for any others. |
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[#34]
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[#35]
Quoted:
OK - I don't remember this... where is it mentioned? maybe the flooded grocery store? If it's a Footfall alien shouldn't it look like an elephant? I can't remember enough Footfall (read it, wasn't impressed, never reread it) for any others. View Quote I'd expect that bit was before they had the aliens revealing themselves in the original plot. |
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[#36]
I think I read TMiGE a long time ago, so I started to read it again a month or so ago. It just isn't grabbing me.
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[#37]
Quoted:
OK - I don't remember this... where is it mentioned? maybe the flooded grocery store? If it's a Footfall alien shouldn't it look like an elephant? I can't remember enough Footfall (read it, wasn't impressed, never reread it) for any others. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
They missed an edit and there's actually an alien in the LH story. (A dead one, but it's there.) If it's a Footfall alien shouldn't it look like an elephant? I can't remember enough Footfall (read it, wasn't impressed, never reread it) for any others. And the aliens in Footfall are bifurcated-trunk elephant types. |
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[#38]
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[#39]
Quoted:
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/000/681/what-you-did-there-i-see-it.thumbnail.jpg View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Mote has some slow parts when they're on New Cal, but once they get to the Mote and start interacting with them it picks up. Some gripping action to round out Act 2 of the story. |
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[#40]
The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Dragon's Egg, and the Foundation series are the best sci-fi I've read.
I usually regard Mote as my favorite. I read Lucifer's Hammer also, but wasn't as impressed, although it was interesting. |
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[#41]
Quoted:
The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Dragon's Egg, and the Foundation series are the best sic-fi I've read. I usually regard Mote as my favorite. I read Lucifer's Hammer also, but wasn't as impressed, although it was interesting. View Quote the human condition is constant, and keeps the stories relate-able but the tech in some old SF is rather lacking |
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