The united ‘Second Empire of Man’ spans vast distances, due to the Alderson Drive which has enabled humans to travel easily between the stars. After an alien probe is discovered, the Navy dispatches two ships to determine whether the aliens pose a threat… Called by Robert A. Heinlein: “Possibly the greatest science fiction novel ever written,” this magnificent exploration of first contact and a … a truly alien society is a “must read” for science fiction fans.
“As science fiction, one of the most important novels ever published.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read.”
– Robert A. Heinlein
“A superlatively fine novel…no writer has ever come up with a more appealing, intriguing, and workable concept of aliens.”
– Columbus Dispatch
“A spellbinder, a swashbuckler…And, best of all, it has a brilliant new approach to that fascinating problem — first contact with aliens.”
– Frank Herbert
“One of the most engrossing tales I’ve read in year…fascinating.”
– Theodore Sturgeon
“Intriguing and suspenseful…the scenes in which the humans and aliens examine one another are unforgettable.”
– Minneapolis Tribune
“Nobody does it better than Niven and Pournelle”
– Tom Clancy
“The team of Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven is one of the best in science fiction.”
– The Washington Times
“Few writers have a better pedigree”
– Los Angeles Times
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Now this is a great science fiction novel, and simultaneously an illustration of the limits of genre fiction. The Mote in God’s Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, succeeds at every level as an SF story. The primary character in a very large cast is Captain Blaine of the Imperial Space Navy, who leads an expedition to the Mote, a remote corner of the galaxy where humans, whose empire spans hundreds of worlds, have detected the first intelligence alien species they’ve ever encountered.
Upon arrival in the system, the humans encounter the Moties, as they come to be known. The Moties are shorter than humans and furry, but essentially human-like, with some notable biological differences–a large, strong left arm and two slender but dextrous right arms, for example. The Moties have tens of thousands of years of history and incredibly advanced technology, but have never expanded beyond their home planet and moons due to a weird circumstance. In this book, faster-than-light space travel is only possible through wormholes that have a single destination–and the only wormhole in the Motie’s system leads straight to the heart of a supernova. Every attempt they’ve made to explore deep space has ended in disaster.
The Moties are friendly enough, eager to learn about humans, and seemingly open about themselves. Theirs is a peaceful society, although rather caste-bound. Different types of Moties have different jobs–engineers, doctors, farmers–not just by avocation or ability, but because they’re actually genetically-engineered for the role. Farmers have thick fingers for dealing with soil but aren’t too bright, porters are huge and muscle-bound but positively stupid, doctors have long, delicate fingers for surgery, messengers have well-developed legs for running and an ability to memorize long messages. The ones of most concern to humans are the mediators, who are intelligent and good with languages (they pick up English in a matter of days) but utterly unable to make decisions on their own. It is the mediators, whose job is to settle disputes between conflicting parties, who are responsible for the centuries of peace that have passed on their planet, and also who befriend the human visitors.
Yet the mediators have a reticence to discuss certain topics, and although their world has avoided war for centuries, there are strange holes when they discuss their history. Not that they’re covering anything up–but that they don’t know. Carefully recorded histories going back millenia, but with gaps they can’t explain. It turns out the Moties have a secret–one that will affect their relationship with the human race in an unforeseen way.
Like I said, this is a great science fiction novel, a realistic account of what an encounter between humanity and an intelligent alien species might be like. It’s a long book (nearly 600 pages) but fascinating on almost every page, with tons of great details about the Moties, the human ships, space travel, and the nature of the human empire hundreds of years in the future. I heartily recommend it for SF lovers.
But not for anybody else. Because as great as it is as science fiction, it’s highly mediocre by the standards of mainstream literature. The writing is professional and effective, but rarely more than functional. Dialogue too is functional, and though a couple characters have stereotypical accents (Scottish, Russian), everybody pretty much speaks the same way. No characters are fully-rounded people, and beyond Captain Blaine and one or two others, most are strictly two-dimensional. A romance between Captain Blaine and a female anthropologist on his ship, Sandra Fowler, is almost comically bad.
So this is no Ray Bradbury or Robert Heinlein, transcending the genre of SF with gorgeous writing and brilliant characters. It’s rare to encounter a book that so fully exemplifies the merits of its genre, but without fulfilling any literary aspirations beyond the genre conventions, or even trying to.
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Niven’s scientific fancies crossed with Pournelle’s grasp of politics. The best of their collaborations. Memorable aliens.
I haven’t read this book since high school (which was a LONG time ago), but I loved it then and love the memory of it now. Niven is such a master of combining out of this world fictional stories with provable scientific fact that he ought to get an award (actually, he has-a whole bunch of them). A true classic.
Great read. Imaginative!
is this our future?
Most older sci-fi suffers from the recent massive evolution of technology. Tape recorders, room sized yet still slow computers, and paper printouts stand out awkwardly in this book and the blue-tooth, nano-technology gadgetry we have now is startlingly absent from a humanity so advanced. Once you get past that, and the seventies era stereotypes, this book has some fascinating points. There are elements which have now been used so many times they might seem like old hat, but I’ll bet they were new and fresh when this came out. I enjoyed the Dune-est “galactic empire” bit, and a militarization of space that only sunk a little into the Star Trek mode of pigeonholing characters. The Moties (the alien race in question) started out intriguing, but seemed to manifest human characteristics a little too quickly. They were very different and alien to begin with, but their home world reverted into too much of what I would expect of a human planet (cars, skyscrapers, and the like). That said, there were some really interesting new angles and ideas here, and when the writing wasn’t weighed down with slow moving non-essential events and seventies clutter, it was actually quite a bit of a page turner.
Love this series! One of my all-time favorites.
Unique Science Fiction Novel.
Possibly my favorite sci-fi novel. Original aliens.
What might aliens actually be like? A very good, well-thought answer.