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Moties #1
The Mote in God's Eye
In 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson Drive. Intelligent beings are finally found from the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud. The bottled-up ancient civilization, at least one million years old, are welcoming, kind, yet evasive, with a dark problem they have not solved in over a million years.
596 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Larry Niven
605 books3,191 followersLaurence van Cott Niven's best known work is Ringworld (Ringworld, #1) (1970), which received the Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. The creation of thoroughly worked-out alien species, which are very different from humans both physically and mentally, is recognized as one of Niven's main strengths.
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
Niven also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes The Magic Goes Away series, which utilizes an exhaustible resource, called Mana, to make the magic a non-renewable resource.
Niven created an alien species, the Kzin, which were featured in a series of twelve collection books, the Man-Kzin Wars. He co-authored a number of novels with Jerry Pournelle. In fact, much of his writing since the 1970s has been in collaboration, particularly with Pournelle, Steven Barnes, Brenda Cooper, or Edward M. Lerner.
He briefly attended the California Institute of Technology and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics (with a minor in psychology) from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, in 1962. He did a year of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has since lived in Los Angeles suburbs, including Chatsworth and Tarzana, as a full-time writer. He married Marilyn Joyce "Fuzzy Pink" Wisowaty, herself a well-known science fiction and Regency literature fan, on September 6, 1969.
Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for Neutron Star in 1967. In 1972, for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. In 1976, he won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette for The Borderland of Sol.
Niven has written scripts for various science fiction television shows, including the original Land of the Lost series and Star Trek: The Animated Series, for which he adapted his early Kzin story The Soft Weapon. He adapted his story Inconstant Moon for an episode of the television series The Outer Limits in 1996.
He has also written for the DC Comics character Green Lantern including in his stories hard science fiction concepts such as universal entropy and the redshift effect, which are unusual in comic books.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/larryn...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,214 reviews
September 12, 2019
Very entertaining, interesting, intriguing, thought provoking, etc.
Good science fiction.
Robert A. Heinlein himself is quoted as saying something to the effect that this was the best science fiction novel he had ever read. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but this was very good.
David Allen Coe claimed to have sang the perfect country and western song, and in that same regard, Niven and Pournellle may have collaborated to create the perfect science fiction novel, it contains all of the important elements: future, space travel, time travel, aliens, space ships, laser blasters, planetary colonies, etc. etc.
Whoever created the 1980s film Gremlins may have read The Mote in God’s Eye and been inspired by the miniature Moties, or watchmakers.
Called a masterpiece by many, and it may well be, but it is not without its flaws. There are inconsistencies, the language of the New Scotts and New Ruskies is superficial and distracting, and it is too long, some good editing may have shaved a hundred pages and strengthened the narrative.
Still it is very good. The creation of the Motie alien race was masterful, full of brilliant and thoughtful attention to detail. Though the characterization is not an especially strong point, many characters are painfully one dimensional and static, the authors created a Nietzschean juggernaut in Admiral Kutusov, and he steals the show.
** 2017 reread - as good now as ever, a little dated, sexist yes, oddly aristocratic, but fun. MUST read for SF fans.
Good science fiction.
Robert A. Heinlein himself is quoted as saying something to the effect that this was the best science fiction novel he had ever read. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but this was very good.
David Allen Coe claimed to have sang the perfect country and western song, and in that same regard, Niven and Pournellle may have collaborated to create the perfect science fiction novel, it contains all of the important elements: future, space travel, time travel, aliens, space ships, laser blasters, planetary colonies, etc. etc.
Whoever created the 1980s film Gremlins may have read The Mote in God’s Eye and been inspired by the miniature Moties, or watchmakers.
Called a masterpiece by many, and it may well be, but it is not without its flaws. There are inconsistencies, the language of the New Scotts and New Ruskies is superficial and distracting, and it is too long, some good editing may have shaved a hundred pages and strengthened the narrative.
Still it is very good. The creation of the Motie alien race was masterful, full of brilliant and thoughtful attention to detail. Though the characterization is not an especially strong point, many characters are painfully one dimensional and static, the authors created a Nietzschean juggernaut in Admiral Kutusov, and he steals the show.
** 2017 reread - as good now as ever, a little dated, sexist yes, oddly aristocratic, but fun. MUST read for SF fans.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2012
This book gave me a really bad vibe from the outset. Maybe it was the captain's use of the word "rape" as an epithet. Maybe it's the token female aristocrat whose sole job is so predictable from the very outset: . Maybe it's the incessant stupidity and naivety of the big players in the story throughout the course of its run. We'll get into all of that during the course of this review.
I'll limit my spoilers to those in the opening couple of chapters and what you can read on the dust jacket, everything else will be tagged as a spoiler. There is nothing in this review that would surprise you if you've read the dust jacket and have a passing familiarity with tvtropes.org.
The story opens as tough-guy Commander Rod Blaine gets back from saving damsel Sally Fowler from evil rebels on New Chicago, where they all speak like Chicaehhhgans and of course their economy is of course heavy industrial (this pattern plays out in all planet-from-a-place instances in this book). Also rescued are evil greedy token Muslim trade dude Horace Bury and his Indian-sounding-name assassin servant Nabib. Rod gets promoted for being really stupid and is given command of a ship. Their main function through the remainder of the story will be to screw things up and make copious references to Allah's beard.
Rod's mission is to take Sally and Bury back to the capital, but circumstances interrupt as they encounter ALIENS in next solar system over. Instead of waiting for a few months to organize an appropriate envoy back to the aliens' home planet (they can't come to us for unknown reasons) they decide they've just gotta send Rod and Sally to do the job, and we're off.
As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot that bothers me about the book. The writing is mediocre. Even in what are supposed to be emotional moments, you're going to get the basic "the memory would come as if someone had pricked his soul with a needle" type of inane language. It's fine. It's serviceable. You aren't going to read any sentences that make you think, "Wow, that is well-constructed," but it communicates ideas. We could wish for more, but this alone would have the book at three stars, not one.
So what is the real problem? My friend told me to think of this book as if it had been written in the fifties, and he's not far from wrong. The book is from 1974 and it FEELS its age. Instead of damn it, Captain Rod's favorite epithet is "rape it." Sally Fowler is an obvious token character. She And of course she has to give the alien the prim and proper explanation of human reproduction. The author apparently couldn't bear to characterize a female scientist as being able to present a clinical view of the thing.
Another thing you might feel more strongly in this book than in others is the idea that religion will still be important to people when they're flying around in space. It's not impossible, but the amount of attention paid it in this book feels oppressive to someone living in the relatively secular 2010s. The idea that anyone would even think to consult a chaplain about anything important way off in 2500 is mind-boggling.
That's not the only issue. The characterization of most of the actors in this story is flat to the point of fault. We spend a fair amount of time with a few midshipmen throughout the story, and I swear that all I can remember about them is that one talked in an Irish accent, another in a Scottish, and the third in the "default" accent of normally written English. I think one of them was also meant to be the level-headed one. But damned if I remember a thing about their motivations, like whether they had anyone or anything they cared about outside the navy -- not even the navy, just their immediate tasks as determined by the plot.
A few other characters get screen time. There is the gruff-but-at-his-core-a-good-guy Russian admiral. There is the scheming evil greedy token Muslim guy. There's the naive to the point of fault scientist who cares for nothing but his curiosity. This one really infuriated me.
To some extent or another, all the characters in this story completely underestimate the aliens and completely overestimate their ability to understand or deal with them. This they do even after events have begun to suggest that the aliens might not be as simple as we suspect. But the treatment of the scientist . . . the author just jams this point home over and over again. Alarm klaxons are going off, the landing craft is exploding, a death laser is aimed at the core of the galaxy and five minutes from firing, and this scientist is gonna be saying, "Surely you understand captain, these aliens are no threat." (None of these events actually happen in the book, it's just for illustrative purposes.) Over and over again. This is lazy characterization, and for no end that I could deduce by the finale of the book.
And of course the man himself, Rod Blaine. Basically, this guy is a weird blend of a hardass Patton and a just-starting-off James T. Kirk a la the recent Star Trek movie. That and a little hint of fifties spousal abuse thrown in. I cannot see a thing to like about this character because he doesn't do anything a robot captain programmed with captain stereotypes wouldn't do. Throughout the book he handles his command and his people incomptently. There is no person, nothing human referred to by the symbol "Roderick Blaine." Even his name, for god's sakes. Ugh.
My last point of contention is the aliens themselves. I can't go into too much detail here because of my aspiration that this review be read by people before they pick up the book, so that they won't pick up the book. My biggest problem here is that the aliens are not nearly weird enough. As far as I can tell, there is little different between them and us, . To pick just one example of how this plays out in the books, is just the lazy writing of someone with an insufficient imagination.
I love science fiction. Even books I don't particularly like I normally blaze through. This book was a slog. It was a struggle. It took me weeks, and some of those weeks had ten-hour plane flights in them any two of which should have been sufficient to knock this out if there was anything lovely about it. This is a bad book. Do not read it. You have been warned.
I'll limit my spoilers to those in the opening couple of chapters and what you can read on the dust jacket, everything else will be tagged as a spoiler. There is nothing in this review that would surprise you if you've read the dust jacket and have a passing familiarity with tvtropes.org.
The story opens as tough-guy Commander Rod Blaine gets back from saving damsel Sally Fowler from evil rebels on New Chicago, where they all speak like Chicaehhhgans and of course their economy is of course heavy industrial (this pattern plays out in all planet-from-a-place instances in this book). Also rescued are evil greedy token Muslim trade dude Horace Bury and his Indian-sounding-name assassin servant Nabib. Rod gets promoted for being really stupid and is given command of a ship. Their main function through the remainder of the story will be to screw things up and make copious references to Allah's beard.
Rod's mission is to take Sally and Bury back to the capital, but circumstances interrupt as they encounter ALIENS in next solar system over. Instead of waiting for a few months to organize an appropriate envoy back to the aliens' home planet (they can't come to us for unknown reasons) they decide they've just gotta send Rod and Sally to do the job, and we're off.
As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot that bothers me about the book. The writing is mediocre. Even in what are supposed to be emotional moments, you're going to get the basic "the memory would come as if someone had pricked his soul with a needle" type of inane language. It's fine. It's serviceable. You aren't going to read any sentences that make you think, "Wow, that is well-constructed," but it communicates ideas. We could wish for more, but this alone would have the book at three stars, not one.
So what is the real problem? My friend told me to think of this book as if it had been written in the fifties, and he's not far from wrong. The book is from 1974 and it FEELS its age. Instead of damn it, Captain Rod's favorite epithet is "rape it." Sally Fowler is an obvious token character. She And of course she has to give the alien the prim and proper explanation of human reproduction. The author apparently couldn't bear to characterize a female scientist as being able to present a clinical view of the thing.
Another thing you might feel more strongly in this book than in others is the idea that religion will still be important to people when they're flying around in space. It's not impossible, but the amount of attention paid it in this book feels oppressive to someone living in the relatively secular 2010s. The idea that anyone would even think to consult a chaplain about anything important way off in 2500 is mind-boggling.
That's not the only issue. The characterization of most of the actors in this story is flat to the point of fault. We spend a fair amount of time with a few midshipmen throughout the story, and I swear that all I can remember about them is that one talked in an Irish accent, another in a Scottish, and the third in the "default" accent of normally written English. I think one of them was also meant to be the level-headed one. But damned if I remember a thing about their motivations, like whether they had anyone or anything they cared about outside the navy -- not even the navy, just their immediate tasks as determined by the plot.
A few other characters get screen time. There is the gruff-but-at-his-core-a-good-guy Russian admiral. There is the scheming evil greedy token Muslim guy. There's the naive to the point of fault scientist who cares for nothing but his curiosity. This one really infuriated me.
To some extent or another, all the characters in this story completely underestimate the aliens and completely overestimate their ability to understand or deal with them. This they do even after events have begun to suggest that the aliens might not be as simple as we suspect. But the treatment of the scientist . . . the author just jams this point home over and over again. Alarm klaxons are going off, the landing craft is exploding, a death laser is aimed at the core of the galaxy and five minutes from firing, and this scientist is gonna be saying, "Surely you understand captain, these aliens are no threat." (None of these events actually happen in the book, it's just for illustrative purposes.) Over and over again. This is lazy characterization, and for no end that I could deduce by the finale of the book.
And of course the man himself, Rod Blaine. Basically, this guy is a weird blend of a hardass Patton and a just-starting-off James T. Kirk a la the recent Star Trek movie. That and a little hint of fifties spousal abuse thrown in. I cannot see a thing to like about this character because he doesn't do anything a robot captain programmed with captain stereotypes wouldn't do. Throughout the book he handles his command and his people incomptently. There is no person, nothing human referred to by the symbol "Roderick Blaine." Even his name, for god's sakes. Ugh.
My last point of contention is the aliens themselves. I can't go into too much detail here because of my aspiration that this review be read by people before they pick up the book, so that they won't pick up the book. My biggest problem here is that the aliens are not nearly weird enough. As far as I can tell, there is little different between them and us, . To pick just one example of how this plays out in the books, is just the lazy writing of someone with an insufficient imagination.
I love science fiction. Even books I don't particularly like I normally blaze through. This book was a slog. It was a struggle. It took me weeks, and some of those weeks had ten-hour plane flights in them any two of which should have been sufficient to knock this out if there was anything lovely about it. This is a bad book. Do not read it. You have been warned.
November 27, 2023
In the time of a possible world in a distant corner of the universe , inside our massive galaxy, there floats high above a new planet colonized by the ever expanding Second Empire of humans. The Coalsack Nebula is frightening but real, a dark cloudy patch which will form infinite numbers of new stars during the 3,000th calendar year . Out of this fog the long feared yet desired occurrence transpires, an alien is spotted just as the civilization of the people of Earth are recovering from the chaos of the fall of the previous one. Destruction ? or friendly relations for mutual benefits can be...trust is a fleeting concept ...
though customs are strange, looks even more and hate between the two is probable. With a society like the Roman with an Emperor on top and numerous lesser gentlemen serving their sovereign or else, a bit British. Troubles constantly breakout as freedom is squelched, however inside the vast realm of endless expanse nothing is astonishing. Creatures the Motie, with intelligence higher than homo sapiens and a great quantity of arms like the human kind. A problem in their world, an enormous population and limited land guess how they can solve it. The eye in the title is a strange star in front of the nebula. The aliens live in the orbiting planet around that sphere and interstellar voyages by Alderson Drive are now feasible. Young Captain Roderick Blaine an aristocrat, master of the imperial battlecruiser MacArthur is sent to investigate Mote Prime the alien planet, with fierce boss Admiral Kutuzov aboard the battleship Lenin keeping watch. Recently rescuing Lady Sandra (Sally) Bright Fowler by the captain from a rebel planet, the two are quite smitten with each other. And she is the niece of powerful Senator Benjamin Bright Fowler, the couple would be welcomed by all. Not so agreeable, corrupt Horace Bury, a wealthy merchant and suspected traitor to the Empire...Nevertheless Langaton Field protects the brave invaders. The most interesting section is the human interaction below on the Motie planet, a particularly unsettling situation for both natives and tourists. The greater they know the less they understand, the more differences appear, for friendship to be genuine or possible. War seems to be a certainty, an excellent space opera which for any faithful admirers of the genre will love and cherish. If I may be so bold...
though customs are strange, looks even more and hate between the two is probable. With a society like the Roman with an Emperor on top and numerous lesser gentlemen serving their sovereign or else, a bit British. Troubles constantly breakout as freedom is squelched, however inside the vast realm of endless expanse nothing is astonishing. Creatures the Motie, with intelligence higher than homo sapiens and a great quantity of arms like the human kind. A problem in their world, an enormous population and limited land guess how they can solve it. The eye in the title is a strange star in front of the nebula. The aliens live in the orbiting planet around that sphere and interstellar voyages by Alderson Drive are now feasible. Young Captain Roderick Blaine an aristocrat, master of the imperial battlecruiser MacArthur is sent to investigate Mote Prime the alien planet, with fierce boss Admiral Kutuzov aboard the battleship Lenin keeping watch. Recently rescuing Lady Sandra (Sally) Bright Fowler by the captain from a rebel planet, the two are quite smitten with each other. And she is the niece of powerful Senator Benjamin Bright Fowler, the couple would be welcomed by all. Not so agreeable, corrupt Horace Bury, a wealthy merchant and suspected traitor to the Empire...Nevertheless Langaton Field protects the brave invaders. The most interesting section is the human interaction below on the Motie planet, a particularly unsettling situation for both natives and tourists. The greater they know the less they understand, the more differences appear, for friendship to be genuine or possible. War seems to be a certainty, an excellent space opera which for any faithful admirers of the genre will love and cherish. If I may be so bold...
March 3, 2021
“We play your part in order to understand you, but you each seem to play a thousand parts. It makes things difficult for an honest, hard-working bug-eyed monster.”
In a way, Larry Niven's The Mote in God's Eye is two books. On the one hand, we have a serious story of first contact with an alien race very different than us (with their own misconceptions and motivations). I enjoyed all that went into the mutual attempts at understanding. On the other hand, we have two-dimensional and often annoying characters. 3.25 stars
In a way, Larry Niven's The Mote in God's Eye is two books. On the one hand, we have a serious story of first contact with an alien race very different than us (with their own misconceptions and motivations). I enjoyed all that went into the mutual attempts at understanding. On the other hand, we have two-dimensional and often annoying characters. 3.25 stars
October 2, 2016
For some reason I always find Larry Niven much better with Jerry Pournelle than without; Inferno, Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall are all winners (they have collaborated on quite a few other titles, but I have not read them yet). The Mote in God's Eyeis generally considered to be their partnership’s best book (have a look at Larry Niven’s Goodreads page).
I believe the blurb by Robert A. Heinlein that appears on many editions of the book’s cover* has been around since its first publication in 1974; and it has undoubtedly helped to shift thousands of copies (mine included). I guess it is a little like if you were a guitarist and Jimmi Hendrix tells people you can shred like a demented mofo. Who can resist that kind of recommendation? Is it just hyperbole, though? Is The Mote in God's Eye worthy of the accolade?
Yes, it is.
This is a first contact story rendered very believable and engrossing by the authors’ skills and attention to details. The “Moties” are one of the most well-conceived alien races I have ever come across. An earlier example of very alien aliens (aliens so alien they alienate me). Although they are very alien, very strange, they are imbued with enough human character traits to be understandable. Of course, completely inscrutable aliens are fun but the more understandable aliens can be more emotionally invested in. I love the concept of "specialized subspecies" of the Moties, there are several variations in their species evolved for specialized tasks, such as technicians, warriors, mediators etc.
A Motie "Warrior", art by yoggurt.
As the novel was written in the 70s its age inevitably shows in places. There are terms like “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” that we do not see in modern sci-fi. Today’s authors tend to invent new words for “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” sounds very quaint as they are now commonplace in the form of smartphones and tablets. These few terms notwithstanding I would argue that The Mote in God's Eye stands the test of time very well. The alien’s design and their extreme specialization are just as wonderfully “SF-nal” on this reread as it was when I first read about it decades ago.
I have no idea who write what in the Niven / Pournelle partnership but they clearly work very well together, there is a unified voice in their highly readable prose style. The characters are better than just flat plot devices, though the book is clearly more about the plot than the characters. Both authors are excel at writing hard science fiction and the science details make the story that much more vivid and believable without ever bogging the book down with excessive infodumping. The “dramatis personae” at the beginning of the book kindly provided by the authors to help the readers keep track of a fairly large cast of characters is an interesting feature. However, the book is written so well that I never found it necessary to refer to it at any time.
The central and very human theme of this book seems to be how difficult it is for different races to coexist peacefully when there is a conflict of interest and when negotiations are hampered by deceptions. The issue is not entirely resolved in this book but leaves a lot of room for the readers to speculate and draw their own conclusions. There is a less well-received sequel called The Gripping Hand which I am not sure I will read as I am more than satisfied with this book’s ending.
One of the all-time greats IMO.
__________________________________
* Heinlein’s blurb reads “possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read”.
I believe the blurb by Robert A. Heinlein that appears on many editions of the book’s cover* has been around since its first publication in 1974; and it has undoubtedly helped to shift thousands of copies (mine included). I guess it is a little like if you were a guitarist and Jimmi Hendrix tells people you can shred like a demented mofo. Who can resist that kind of recommendation? Is it just hyperbole, though? Is The Mote in God's Eye worthy of the accolade?
Yes, it is.
This is a first contact story rendered very believable and engrossing by the authors’ skills and attention to details. The “Moties” are one of the most well-conceived alien races I have ever come across. An earlier example of very alien aliens (aliens so alien they alienate me). Although they are very alien, very strange, they are imbued with enough human character traits to be understandable. Of course, completely inscrutable aliens are fun but the more understandable aliens can be more emotionally invested in. I love the concept of "specialized subspecies" of the Moties, there are several variations in their species evolved for specialized tasks, such as technicians, warriors, mediators etc.
A Motie "Warrior", art by yoggurt.
As the novel was written in the 70s its age inevitably shows in places. There are terms like “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” that we do not see in modern sci-fi. Today’s authors tend to invent new words for “hyperspace” and “pocket computer” sounds very quaint as they are now commonplace in the form of smartphones and tablets. These few terms notwithstanding I would argue that The Mote in God's Eye stands the test of time very well. The alien’s design and their extreme specialization are just as wonderfully “SF-nal” on this reread as it was when I first read about it decades ago.
I have no idea who write what in the Niven / Pournelle partnership but they clearly work very well together, there is a unified voice in their highly readable prose style. The characters are better than just flat plot devices, though the book is clearly more about the plot than the characters. Both authors are excel at writing hard science fiction and the science details make the story that much more vivid and believable without ever bogging the book down with excessive infodumping. The “dramatis personae” at the beginning of the book kindly provided by the authors to help the readers keep track of a fairly large cast of characters is an interesting feature. However, the book is written so well that I never found it necessary to refer to it at any time.
The central and very human theme of this book seems to be how difficult it is for different races to coexist peacefully when there is a conflict of interest and when negotiations are hampered by deceptions. The issue is not entirely resolved in this book but leaves a lot of room for the readers to speculate and draw their own conclusions. There is a less well-received sequel called The Gripping Hand which I am not sure I will read as I am more than satisfied with this book’s ending.
One of the all-time greats IMO.
__________________________________
* Heinlein’s blurb reads “possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read”.
June 2, 2008
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a number of science fiction novels which I fondly remember. The Legacy of Heorot tells the story of colonization and the perils of misunderstanding xenobiology. Footfall is an exciting update on the War of the Worlds. Lucifer's Hammer concerns the collapse of society in the face of a comet impact on Earth. My major issue with Lucifer's Hammer, bloat, is a much bigger issue in highly regarded Mote in God's Eye.
The bloat issue is gigantic here. The first 150 pages are boring exposition filled where we meet the stock characters (engineer with Scots accent, plucky female aristo along for the ride, young dashing military commander) and learn about the painfully uninteresting world of the future. Once we meet the aliens, known as Moties, it takes many more pages before we learn anything about the society. There are many portentous allusions to things the Moties don't want the humans to learn. It takes so long to get to the revelations, that I really didn't care once I read about them.
All this padding would be fine if Niven and Pournelle had provided a rich world to explore. No such luck. While the initial concept is interesting ( US and USSR unite, colonize space, have a civil war, new empire tries to pick up the pieces) it quickly devolves into cutting and pasting from 19th century Britain. The navy is straight from Horatio Hornblower, with officers named sailing master and teenage midshipman running crew sections.
The Church (which is Catholic, a bit odd given the leading space powers were largely Protestant and Orthodox) is clearly more powerful, without serving any narrative purpose. Has the Church followed its social justice wing or become a rival power center to create challenges for the elite? Has the theology created cultural restraints on the development of technology or society? No and No. All the more galling the Church apparently hasn't changed much at all in a millennium.
There is a decent story about alien contact amongst all its problems, but it is such a short part of the book, it is probably not worth working your way through to find it. As the humans encounter the Moties, they learn that the society could threaten human society. The debate concerns the means by which they must deal with it. The viewpoints expressed nicely describe the classical realist view of politics. Alien first contact follows similar rules and problems as seen in foreign relations. What makes a country a threat? How do you manage threats? What is the purpose of interacting with other societies at all? The book has some interesting, if one-sided, things to say about this, but you have to wade through hundreds of pages of crap to get there. If you are looking for a classic to discover, beware this one.
The bloat issue is gigantic here. The first 150 pages are boring exposition filled where we meet the stock characters (engineer with Scots accent, plucky female aristo along for the ride, young dashing military commander) and learn about the painfully uninteresting world of the future. Once we meet the aliens, known as Moties, it takes many more pages before we learn anything about the society. There are many portentous allusions to things the Moties don't want the humans to learn. It takes so long to get to the revelations, that I really didn't care once I read about them.
All this padding would be fine if Niven and Pournelle had provided a rich world to explore. No such luck. While the initial concept is interesting ( US and USSR unite, colonize space, have a civil war, new empire tries to pick up the pieces) it quickly devolves into cutting and pasting from 19th century Britain. The navy is straight from Horatio Hornblower, with officers named sailing master and teenage midshipman running crew sections.
The Church (which is Catholic, a bit odd given the leading space powers were largely Protestant and Orthodox) is clearly more powerful, without serving any narrative purpose. Has the Church followed its social justice wing or become a rival power center to create challenges for the elite? Has the theology created cultural restraints on the development of technology or society? No and No. All the more galling the Church apparently hasn't changed much at all in a millennium.
There is a decent story about alien contact amongst all its problems, but it is such a short part of the book, it is probably not worth working your way through to find it. As the humans encounter the Moties, they learn that the society could threaten human society. The debate concerns the means by which they must deal with it. The viewpoints expressed nicely describe the classical realist view of politics. Alien first contact follows similar rules and problems as seen in foreign relations. What makes a country a threat? How do you manage threats? What is the purpose of interacting with other societies at all? The book has some interesting, if one-sided, things to say about this, but you have to wade through hundreds of pages of crap to get there. If you are looking for a classic to discover, beware this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2018
[9/10]
Because of the Alderson Drive we need never consider the space between the stars. Because we can shunt between stellar systems in zero time, our ships and ships' drives need cover only interplanetary distances.
Any self-respecting space opera must start by postulating first a method for overcoming the vast emptiness of the space between stars. You can call it 'unobtainium' or 'equipotential thermonuclear flux' , but you need to overhaul known physics principles in order to move instantly from point A to point B, several light-years away.
The second thing the writers need to come up with is conflict: something to put meat on the bare bones of the plot. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle gives as right from the prologue a couple of millenia of our space faring future, complete with technological breakthroughs, explosive colonisation followed by economic collapse, imperialism and rebellion, space fleets modelled after the British colonialism Navy, complete with its highly exclusivist social structure.
The detailed setup, and the lively introduction of the Hero, in the incarnation of a young and daring scion of a noble family who distinguishes himself as temporary ship captain in putting down an armed insurrection on a colony world, is merely the background for the most important event humanity has faced so far: first contact with an alien civilization.
They could be the greatest potential danger we have ever faced, or the greatest potential opportunity we've ever found.
Out of a tiny speck of light hardly visible in the corona of a red supergiant (the 'mote' and the 'God's eye'), an exploration ship using a hydrogen scoop light-sail is coming into the human known space at crawling Newtonian speeds. First contact is actually botched, so the Imperial court is sending the Hero on a half scientific, half millitary mission to the 'mote' to find out what kind of aliens we have stumbled upon.
—«»—«»—«»—
This a re-re-read for me, and the story flies just as fast off the pages as the first time I went to the outer limits of the galaxy to meet the 'moties' and their so different culture. The novel may look like a doorstopper but it reads like a blockbuster, at least for those readers who are more interested in speculative ideas and hard science than in well-fleshed out characters or stylistic flourishes. There's enough action and humor to satisfy also the more impatient popcorn style of reader, but for me Niven comes closer to the golden age of SF here, in the Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov mould.
I would say "The More in God's Eye" is a classic of a genre and should not be missed by SF afficionados.
Because of the Alderson Drive we need never consider the space between the stars. Because we can shunt between stellar systems in zero time, our ships and ships' drives need cover only interplanetary distances.
Any self-respecting space opera must start by postulating first a method for overcoming the vast emptiness of the space between stars. You can call it 'unobtainium' or 'equipotential thermonuclear flux' , but you need to overhaul known physics principles in order to move instantly from point A to point B, several light-years away.
The second thing the writers need to come up with is conflict: something to put meat on the bare bones of the plot. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle gives as right from the prologue a couple of millenia of our space faring future, complete with technological breakthroughs, explosive colonisation followed by economic collapse, imperialism and rebellion, space fleets modelled after the British colonialism Navy, complete with its highly exclusivist social structure.
The detailed setup, and the lively introduction of the Hero, in the incarnation of a young and daring scion of a noble family who distinguishes himself as temporary ship captain in putting down an armed insurrection on a colony world, is merely the background for the most important event humanity has faced so far: first contact with an alien civilization.
They could be the greatest potential danger we have ever faced, or the greatest potential opportunity we've ever found.
Out of a tiny speck of light hardly visible in the corona of a red supergiant (the 'mote' and the 'God's eye'), an exploration ship using a hydrogen scoop light-sail is coming into the human known space at crawling Newtonian speeds. First contact is actually botched, so the Imperial court is sending the Hero on a half scientific, half millitary mission to the 'mote' to find out what kind of aliens we have stumbled upon.
—«»—«»—«»—
This a re-re-read for me, and the story flies just as fast off the pages as the first time I went to the outer limits of the galaxy to meet the 'moties' and their so different culture. The novel may look like a doorstopper but it reads like a blockbuster, at least for those readers who are more interested in speculative ideas and hard science than in well-fleshed out characters or stylistic flourishes. There's enough action and humor to satisfy also the more impatient popcorn style of reader, but for me Niven comes closer to the golden age of SF here, in the Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov mould.
I would say "The More in God's Eye" is a classic of a genre and should not be missed by SF afficionados.
November 19, 2010
Well, this was a fascinating book. I can't imagine the thoroughness of invention in creating the Moties, and making sure the science of this book was as believable as could be with known science, especially at the time. It's truly astonishing.
I WILL say that I wasn't caught up in the book in a way that I couldn't stop turning pages: I found it a bit hard to get through, the characters were not particularly engrossing PERSONALLY, but the plot and particularly world-building were so deep and fascinating that it kept me picking the book up again and again.
Definitely one of the more important sci-fi books out there, highly recommended!
I WILL say that I wasn't caught up in the book in a way that I couldn't stop turning pages: I found it a bit hard to get through, the characters were not particularly engrossing PERSONALLY, but the plot and particularly world-building were so deep and fascinating that it kept me picking the book up again and again.
Definitely one of the more important sci-fi books out there, highly recommended!
May 22, 2021
A classic SF novel, but another one that hasn't aged well. I'm kinda sorry I reread it (2021), as much of the rosy glow that I recalled from past reads was gone this time. Sigh. Happens.
It's a book of its time (1974), and new readers (who may not have even been born then) will have to cut the book some slack for the dated, clumsy backstory. And female readers will note the vanishingly small representation for their half of the human species. Females are better-represented among the alien moties, with a (cruel) sfnal twist. But, once the book gets rolling, it still got me in its spell. Still a remarkably creation of an alien species, with a very long, sad history. Some of the human realpolitik is well-done. The ramshackle human Galactic Empire.... Well. The less said of that, the better. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up.
Ol' Bob Heinlein, who knew something about the field, called it "possibly the best contact-with-aliens story ever written" (up to c. 1973). Plus, the source for the "On the gripping hand" silliness that gripped SF fandom back in the day.
The book's Wikipedia page is interesting, but the whole page is FULL OF SPOILERS! But do check it out, once you've finished it.
It's a book of its time (1974), and new readers (who may not have even been born then) will have to cut the book some slack for the dated, clumsy backstory. And female readers will note the vanishingly small representation for their half of the human species. Females are better-represented among the alien moties, with a (cruel) sfnal twist. But, once the book gets rolling, it still got me in its spell. Still a remarkably creation of an alien species, with a very long, sad history. Some of the human realpolitik is well-done. The ramshackle human Galactic Empire.... Well. The less said of that, the better. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up.
Ol' Bob Heinlein, who knew something about the field, called it "possibly the best contact-with-aliens story ever written" (up to c. 1973). Plus, the source for the "On the gripping hand" silliness that gripped SF fandom back in the day.
The book's Wikipedia page is interesting, but the whole page is FULL OF SPOILERS! But do check it out, once you've finished it.
December 24, 2013
What could have been a decent fist-contact story is completely undercut by poor character writing, lazy sexism, lack of actual critical thinking about human society, and a science fiction plot twist that itself undercuts the book's lazy sexism.
The book has the pieces for what should be a decent science fiction story. First contact with a reasonably interesting alien civilization. Misunderstandings and realizations of the aliens along the way at a satisfying pace. Some decent humor. Some decent action. Unfortunately, the book's problems undermine its accomplishments and, in my opinion, prevent it from coming together very well.
Firstly, the character writing is pretty dismal. To call the characters cardboard cut-outs is an insult to cardboard cut-outs. The characters are tired tropes, and kind of racist and sexist tired tropes at that. Apparently, all the nations of earth colonize different star systems, and subsequently citizens of these star systems embody all of the lazy stereotypes of these nations. Let's go down the list: A dashing, bold, white western male captain. A slightly stuck-up, smart but somewhat naive noblewoman. A hard-to-understand, rough-around-the-edges Scottish engineer (har har, ok, humorous tribute to the genre, we get it), a ruthless, efficient, by-the-book Russian admiral (uh...), and a greedy, deceitful, cowardly Muslim trader (OK yea, this is just racist now), who is secretly cynically atheist (yeah... thanks). Even leaving aside the problematic aspect of the stereotypes, this is just lazy character design. One might hope that the characters start out as stereotypes in a tongue-in-cheek fashion and then transcend these stereotypes, become their own characters, and call into question the assumptions the authors relied on at the outset, but they never do anything of the sort. No, they remain pretty much as uninteresting, underdeveloped, and undistinguished as they started.
Next: the sexism. Look, I'm a feminist, so this might bother me more than some people, but really, the book is sexist in the laziest way possible. Basically: There is only one female character in the story, who is there mostly by mistake, and all the important military personnel and scientists and people of note are all men. This doesn't appear to be a fluke of this particular grouping of military personnel and scientists, but rather the expected norm for this civilization. The only significant female character in the book is told she "talks too much," and also at one point tells an alien that women who use birth control are Not Proper Ladies.
OK, so the civilization is sexist- this isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, cause hey, a lot of civilizations have been sexist, so a futuristic one can be sexist as easily as a historical one. And heck, women are people shaped by their society too and often buy into the sexist assumptions of their society, so the sexist views of one of the female characters in a book isn't a deal-breaker either. The problem is that she is the ONLY female character in the book, and the sexist assumptions of the society are apparently never questioned by anyone, or at least, certainly none of the characters in the book. There is, however, a justification for the sexism in the book: There is a Horrible War in the recent past of humanity, during which so many people died and everyone decided that women needed to stay home and breed rather than doing dangerous things like space travel or academia. Yeah. Look, human extinction due to insufficient reproduction has been a problem for humanity exactly zero times since the invention of agriculture, but somehow it is not a problem in this futuristic society with 31st century medicine.
I won't go into this too much, though if you are interested, I wrote a longer piece about the issue on my blog here. The sexism is a bigger problem for this story in particular, however, because First Contact science fiction stories are supposed to make the characters and reader question the assumptions and beliefs of their own society, but introspection about the assumptions of one's own society seem to be entirely absent on the part of both the authors and the characters. The sexism latent in the society of the story is entirely unquestioned, as is the racist of the character stereotypes. I'd like to be able to chalk it up to the book just not aging well, but the book was written in 1974 and has a 1950s style of sexism. It's like the authors never even heard of the feminist movement, or at least are convinced that people in the 31st century won't have.
The society in the book is also unquestioningly classist: It is all noble, capable nobility and loyal, grateful commoners. No lie, one commoner in the book actually thanks a nobleman for the nobility's existence and defends the system as a way to help the commoner in question avoid the "hard decisions." None of these assumptions are questioned in the wake of contact with another alien civilization. You never see any dissidents or are exposed to challenging views. The book tries to get you to understand an alien culture while showing little interest in questioning its own culture or thinking too deeply about the human condition.
Also: The Alien Plot Twist is also really painfully bad, and bad in ways that are at crosscurrents with the sexism of the book (The rest is in spoilers to avoid spoiling).
The book has the pieces for what should be a decent science fiction story. First contact with a reasonably interesting alien civilization. Misunderstandings and realizations of the aliens along the way at a satisfying pace. Some decent humor. Some decent action. Unfortunately, the book's problems undermine its accomplishments and, in my opinion, prevent it from coming together very well.
Firstly, the character writing is pretty dismal. To call the characters cardboard cut-outs is an insult to cardboard cut-outs. The characters are tired tropes, and kind of racist and sexist tired tropes at that. Apparently, all the nations of earth colonize different star systems, and subsequently citizens of these star systems embody all of the lazy stereotypes of these nations. Let's go down the list: A dashing, bold, white western male captain. A slightly stuck-up, smart but somewhat naive noblewoman. A hard-to-understand, rough-around-the-edges Scottish engineer (har har, ok, humorous tribute to the genre, we get it), a ruthless, efficient, by-the-book Russian admiral (uh...), and a greedy, deceitful, cowardly Muslim trader (OK yea, this is just racist now), who is secretly cynically atheist (yeah... thanks). Even leaving aside the problematic aspect of the stereotypes, this is just lazy character design. One might hope that the characters start out as stereotypes in a tongue-in-cheek fashion and then transcend these stereotypes, become their own characters, and call into question the assumptions the authors relied on at the outset, but they never do anything of the sort. No, they remain pretty much as uninteresting, underdeveloped, and undistinguished as they started.
Next: the sexism. Look, I'm a feminist, so this might bother me more than some people, but really, the book is sexist in the laziest way possible. Basically: There is only one female character in the story, who is there mostly by mistake, and all the important military personnel and scientists and people of note are all men. This doesn't appear to be a fluke of this particular grouping of military personnel and scientists, but rather the expected norm for this civilization. The only significant female character in the book is told she "talks too much," and also at one point tells an alien that women who use birth control are Not Proper Ladies.
OK, so the civilization is sexist- this isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me, cause hey, a lot of civilizations have been sexist, so a futuristic one can be sexist as easily as a historical one. And heck, women are people shaped by their society too and often buy into the sexist assumptions of their society, so the sexist views of one of the female characters in a book isn't a deal-breaker either. The problem is that she is the ONLY female character in the book, and the sexist assumptions of the society are apparently never questioned by anyone, or at least, certainly none of the characters in the book. There is, however, a justification for the sexism in the book: There is a Horrible War in the recent past of humanity, during which so many people died and everyone decided that women needed to stay home and breed rather than doing dangerous things like space travel or academia. Yeah. Look, human extinction due to insufficient reproduction has been a problem for humanity exactly zero times since the invention of agriculture, but somehow it is not a problem in this futuristic society with 31st century medicine.
I won't go into this too much, though if you are interested, I wrote a longer piece about the issue on my blog here. The sexism is a bigger problem for this story in particular, however, because First Contact science fiction stories are supposed to make the characters and reader question the assumptions and beliefs of their own society, but introspection about the assumptions of one's own society seem to be entirely absent on the part of both the authors and the characters. The sexism latent in the society of the story is entirely unquestioned, as is the racist of the character stereotypes. I'd like to be able to chalk it up to the book just not aging well, but the book was written in 1974 and has a 1950s style of sexism. It's like the authors never even heard of the feminist movement, or at least are convinced that people in the 31st century won't have.
The society in the book is also unquestioningly classist: It is all noble, capable nobility and loyal, grateful commoners. No lie, one commoner in the book actually thanks a nobleman for the nobility's existence and defends the system as a way to help the commoner in question avoid the "hard decisions." None of these assumptions are questioned in the wake of contact with another alien civilization. You never see any dissidents or are exposed to challenging views. The book tries to get you to understand an alien culture while showing little interest in questioning its own culture or thinking too deeply about the human condition.
Also: The Alien Plot Twist is also really painfully bad, and bad in ways that are at crosscurrents with the sexism of the book (The rest is in spoilers to avoid spoiling).
June 7, 2019
"Nitwit ideas are for emergencies. You use them when you've got nothing else to try. If they work, they go in the Book. Otherwise, you follow the Book, which is largely a collection of nitwit ideas that worked."
—Larry Niven
—Larry Niven
May 10, 2014
This is a fantastic first contact novel! I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Moties were fascinating and much like their fellow human cast, I found my opinion of each of them changing as the story progressed. There were many whom I loved at first and came to dislike, and vice versa. All in all a wonderful set of characters to journey through the difficulties of first contact with.
There are a lot of considerations when two intelligent species meet in space for the first time. How much do you keep back? How much information can you learn about the other without giving away too much of your own nature? How do you appear both friendly and strong? How do you hide the worst of your species? It makes things very difficult for both parties I think. Both go in with assumptions learned from their own experiences which can't accommodate for the fact that the others are alien. It makes for interesting communications.
To those who think this book contains sexist aspects, I disagree. It's military. There is one main female human character. She says some things about contraceptive pills that implied to me that you don't need them unless you're sleeping with lots of men and proper ladies don't do that. That was the kind of world they lived in. It was the same kind of world that had aristocracy and titles. She also had the choice to not just get married but to rather study and have a career, which she did. I didn't get the hit of sexism, and when forced to confront the question I actually see a fair amount in the opposite direction. And I was pleased to have a female character in an action / military scenario who didn't have to kick ass just to be there.
I'd been meaning to read this for ages and I'm glad I did. Thumbs up.
There are a lot of considerations when two intelligent species meet in space for the first time. How much do you keep back? How much information can you learn about the other without giving away too much of your own nature? How do you appear both friendly and strong? How do you hide the worst of your species? It makes things very difficult for both parties I think. Both go in with assumptions learned from their own experiences which can't accommodate for the fact that the others are alien. It makes for interesting communications.
To those who think this book contains sexist aspects, I disagree. It's military. There is one main female human character. She says some things about contraceptive pills that implied to me that you don't need them unless you're sleeping with lots of men and proper ladies don't do that. That was the kind of world they lived in. It was the same kind of world that had aristocracy and titles. She also had the choice to not just get married but to rather study and have a career, which she did. I didn't get the hit of sexism, and when forced to confront the question I actually see a fair amount in the opposite direction. And I was pleased to have a female character in an action / military scenario who didn't have to kick ass just to be there.
I'd been meaning to read this for ages and I'm glad I did. Thumbs up.
May 22, 2008
The Mote in God's Eye is probably the finest contemplation of a human-alien first contact that I have ever read. The story deals out a sizable cast of characters without seeming overwhelming. Mote explores every issue from multiple perspectives, leaving no room for good vs. evil simplifications despite that fact that some characters are not likable. The core theme of the book - that a superior alien intelligence is limited by its inability to tolerate ideas based in hope and imagination - evolves slowly enough to maintain interest and tension throughout the "slower" (i.e. non-action-packed) sections of the book. However, Mote does not suffer from its lack of astounding plot twists; rather, its intricate storyline builds a believable, sympathetic and ultimately engrossing fictional universe.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2008
Written in 1972, The Mote in God’s Eye is the premier work by award winning authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, who also collaborated on the science fiction classics Footfall and Lucifer’s Hammer. Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." It easily makes my Top 10 Sci/Fi Book List.
The story is set in the year 3017 A.D. The Second Interstellar Empire of man is in the process of forcefully reuniting many colonies long lost since the collapse of the 1st Empire, when an alien slower-than-light space craft enters the New Caledonia system coming from the direction of the Coalsack Nebula. From the nearby colonies, this black nebula looks like a hooded man with a large red giant star positioned as a single eye with a small yellow star embedded. The image is so powerful that a cultic religion claimed that the Coalsack visage was in reality the image of God. Our story is about mankind’s first contact with an intelligent alien species, and a subsequent expedition to the barely visible yellow star system or “mote” in the middle of “God’s Eye.”
This book is probably the finest contemplation of a human-alien first contact that I have ever read. And it
does one of the best jobs of creating a truly alien life form, a richly textured alien culture and an array of carefully drawn characters placed in complex situations with no easy solutions. The difficult task of the fantasy writer is always whether to make aliens that are really alien and thus difficult to understand, or to make them more human-like, so the reader can easily relate to them. In this case, the Moties are not only biologically and culturally peculiar, they also have well thought out alien motivations that drive them in ways that mark them as distinctly un-human.
The many human characters are generally stereotypical and predictable as individuals, though together they form a diverse group, each character with a different perspective which the novel explores thoroughly. This careful diversity serves to advance the action and explore the many complexities of the plot. The result is a gripping mystery as well as an adventure story, which left me with a strong sense of empathy for the individuals of both civilizations and how they were affected by these most unusual circumstances.
The Mote in God’s Eye presents the classic problem of first contact: Are the aliens a terrible danger or a unique opportunity? Should they be welcomed into the Empire, or should they be obliterated? The military is charged with the responsibility of determining whether the Moties are a threat to humanity, and with preventing their discovery of human technologies which might increase such a threat. On the other hand, the expedition’s scientists become champions of open communication, scientific and commercial exchange.
In most tales of first contact with an alien species, they come to us, and they aren’t here to make friends. Niven and Pournelle encourage us to reverse the tables, and ask: “What if we traveled to an alien home-world, and our intentions were not entirely benevolent?” This tale makes clear that an alien species' concerns about contacting us for the first time would probably be the same as our concerns about contacting them. One of the things that make this such a great book is that the parallels just keep coming. After a while we have a hard time knowing who has the mote and who has the beam in his eye.
Upon arriving in the Mote system the human expedition discovers a technologically advanced race of beings genetically engineered for high efficiency and speciated into various casts such as engineers, mediators, and rulers each with it’s own extraordinary innate genius. The culture resulting from these biological distinctives is an utterly alien type of industrial feudalism. This vast dissimilarity is accentuated by glimpsing first contact from the Motie point of view. They are as absolutely amazed and bewildered as are the humans. This provides another wonderful parallel hearkening back to the theme of seeing others differently than we see ourselves.
As the humans surmised from the slower than light vessel encountered in New Caledonia, despite their amazing technological advancement, the Moties have not fully mastered the art of hyperspace jumps between stars, as humans have, and consequently have been bottled up in their own system for countless years. It is determined to prevent the Moties from learning that technology at all costs, at least until they prove not to be a threat.
The humans and Moties play the game of diplomacy, each trying to learn what they need to know while trying to keep the other side from learning dangerous secrets. There is also tension between the scientific and military sides of the expedition, and their conflicting goals. The scientists become convinced the Moties are benign, while the military sinks into paranoia. The truth is believably complex, and lies somewhere in between.
This book is far from allegory, though it was written in 1972, and raises several cold war issues, such as the
rational reasons both races have to distrust the other and energetically act for self-preservation regardless of the cost to others. Niven and Pournelle explore every issue from multiple perspectives, leaving no room for “good vs. evil” simplifications. And in the end we learn that despite their great secrets, the Moties are neither evil, nor are they completely virtuous: they are in this way at least - just like mankind.
The intricacies of inter-species politics is one of the reasons this work is so intriguing. It forces us to ask whether our histories are so very different, and to examine the potential for humanity to fall into a Motie-like dystopia. We are forced to ask whether a species is justified in causing the extinction of another sentient species in order to preserve itself. We also are brought to reflect upon whether the Motie’s unique history has compelled them toward cynicism, and disdain for hopeful ideas and attitudes, and if we are so very different in our views of the future. This book is loaded with intriguing “mote/beam” questions!
In Sum, I would describe The Mote in God’s Eye as a classic space opera, with plenty of action, lots of hard science, and an intricate storyline set in a believable, sympathetic and ultimately engrossing fictional universe. It is extremely thought provoking, and stands up well to re-reading. Decades after my first reading I still enjoy this book immensely.
The story is set in the year 3017 A.D. The Second Interstellar Empire of man is in the process of forcefully reuniting many colonies long lost since the collapse of the 1st Empire, when an alien slower-than-light space craft enters the New Caledonia system coming from the direction of the Coalsack Nebula. From the nearby colonies, this black nebula looks like a hooded man with a large red giant star positioned as a single eye with a small yellow star embedded. The image is so powerful that a cultic religion claimed that the Coalsack visage was in reality the image of God. Our story is about mankind’s first contact with an intelligent alien species, and a subsequent expedition to the barely visible yellow star system or “mote” in the middle of “God’s Eye.”
This book is probably the finest contemplation of a human-alien first contact that I have ever read. And it
does one of the best jobs of creating a truly alien life form, a richly textured alien culture and an array of carefully drawn characters placed in complex situations with no easy solutions. The difficult task of the fantasy writer is always whether to make aliens that are really alien and thus difficult to understand, or to make them more human-like, so the reader can easily relate to them. In this case, the Moties are not only biologically and culturally peculiar, they also have well thought out alien motivations that drive them in ways that mark them as distinctly un-human.
The many human characters are generally stereotypical and predictable as individuals, though together they form a diverse group, each character with a different perspective which the novel explores thoroughly. This careful diversity serves to advance the action and explore the many complexities of the plot. The result is a gripping mystery as well as an adventure story, which left me with a strong sense of empathy for the individuals of both civilizations and how they were affected by these most unusual circumstances.
The Mote in God’s Eye presents the classic problem of first contact: Are the aliens a terrible danger or a unique opportunity? Should they be welcomed into the Empire, or should they be obliterated? The military is charged with the responsibility of determining whether the Moties are a threat to humanity, and with preventing their discovery of human technologies which might increase such a threat. On the other hand, the expedition’s scientists become champions of open communication, scientific and commercial exchange.
In most tales of first contact with an alien species, they come to us, and they aren’t here to make friends. Niven and Pournelle encourage us to reverse the tables, and ask: “What if we traveled to an alien home-world, and our intentions were not entirely benevolent?” This tale makes clear that an alien species' concerns about contacting us for the first time would probably be the same as our concerns about contacting them. One of the things that make this such a great book is that the parallels just keep coming. After a while we have a hard time knowing who has the mote and who has the beam in his eye.
Upon arriving in the Mote system the human expedition discovers a technologically advanced race of beings genetically engineered for high efficiency and speciated into various casts such as engineers, mediators, and rulers each with it’s own extraordinary innate genius. The culture resulting from these biological distinctives is an utterly alien type of industrial feudalism. This vast dissimilarity is accentuated by glimpsing first contact from the Motie point of view. They are as absolutely amazed and bewildered as are the humans. This provides another wonderful parallel hearkening back to the theme of seeing others differently than we see ourselves.
As the humans surmised from the slower than light vessel encountered in New Caledonia, despite their amazing technological advancement, the Moties have not fully mastered the art of hyperspace jumps between stars, as humans have, and consequently have been bottled up in their own system for countless years. It is determined to prevent the Moties from learning that technology at all costs, at least until they prove not to be a threat.
The humans and Moties play the game of diplomacy, each trying to learn what they need to know while trying to keep the other side from learning dangerous secrets. There is also tension between the scientific and military sides of the expedition, and their conflicting goals. The scientists become convinced the Moties are benign, while the military sinks into paranoia. The truth is believably complex, and lies somewhere in between.
This book is far from allegory, though it was written in 1972, and raises several cold war issues, such as the
rational reasons both races have to distrust the other and energetically act for self-preservation regardless of the cost to others. Niven and Pournelle explore every issue from multiple perspectives, leaving no room for “good vs. evil” simplifications. And in the end we learn that despite their great secrets, the Moties are neither evil, nor are they completely virtuous: they are in this way at least - just like mankind.
The intricacies of inter-species politics is one of the reasons this work is so intriguing. It forces us to ask whether our histories are so very different, and to examine the potential for humanity to fall into a Motie-like dystopia. We are forced to ask whether a species is justified in causing the extinction of another sentient species in order to preserve itself. We also are brought to reflect upon whether the Motie’s unique history has compelled them toward cynicism, and disdain for hopeful ideas and attitudes, and if we are so very different in our views of the future. This book is loaded with intriguing “mote/beam” questions!
In Sum, I would describe The Mote in God’s Eye as a classic space opera, with plenty of action, lots of hard science, and an intricate storyline set in a believable, sympathetic and ultimately engrossing fictional universe. It is extremely thought provoking, and stands up well to re-reading. Decades after my first reading I still enjoy this book immensely.
December 14, 2021
This story tells the world created by the duet of writers Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle known as the condominium, where humanity has followed an evolution that today has not been completed. Neither Pournelle nor Niven were unable to imagine the collapse of the Soviet Union (although communism has not yet disappeared, but has taken on more dramatic overtones, as we are seeing in the case of China, where you can see the worst of both worlds, and where we see how every day the Chinese Communist Party commits a grisly crime that is overcome in evil the next day, and the Chinese are nothing more than human shields in the hands of this ideology that was initially Gnostic, and since Karl Marx https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... is clearly satanic, and that unlike other demonic totalitarian ideologies of the last century has not received sufficient condemnation from the point of view of history. Today you can be proud to be a communist, but nobody boasts of being a National Socialist, or a fascist, because these regimes are already where they should be in the sinkhole of history in all fairness. However this has not happened with communism that has escaped its just condemnation and that still has enslaved several countries North Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, and is spreading like a cancer and a gangrene in the always punished South America, as is happening in the case of Peru, and spreads through the developed countries of the West through a series of ideological movements, as the great G.K. Chesterton would say are"old Christian virtues that have gone crazy" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . This is not to say that I am a fan of capitalism which I also consider another calamity, as G.K. Chesterton's comrade-in-arms wrote the"old thunder" Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show.... However, as writers such as Orestes Brownson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Juan Donoso Cortés https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... and my admired Juan Manuel de Prada https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Communism is more dangerous than capitalism, because it is a theology, or a religious creed. In fact every ideology ends up becoming a religion, or something that takes us to God, or takes us away from him and our goal which is salvation. The only way to combat this evil is not through another ideology, but as writers such as Louis de Wohl understood, and Mika Waltari https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... christianity is, which is what these dictatorships fear most, because evil has the same origin 8the Devil), and can only be fought through good (God) and truth. So don't be fooled by the siren songs thrown at you, because hell is paved with good intentions. However, they have not only come here to adoctrine, bore them, and manipulate them as lately all artistic disciplines do, and leisure and entertainment, but to give them my opinion of this book. This digression came to mind, because the Niven/Pournelle condominium contemplates a fusion of capitalism and communism and a humanity that thanks to scientific inventions. The generator Alderson among other things has abandoned the system and has launched into exploration, and the conquest of space the last frontier, as it would be said in Star Trek https://www.goodreads.com/genres/star... In fact humanity is no longer a democracy, nor is it ruled by a totalitarianism, but it returns to be an absolute monarchy, like that of the tsars. As my admired teacher Don Ricardo Martín de la Guardia https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...# "The all-encompassing power of the Tsar"would say. In fact, humanity goes through several phases, and crises in some cases actually become on the verge of extinction due to collapses, and civil wars. The last one is due to the separatists, who counting on the soldiers of Sauron (yes, a nice nod to J.R.R. Tolkien https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ). In fact, these separatists (so that the ones we have in Spain are not offended) are very reminiscent of those peripheral nationalisms that are still in force in Europe, and that bled the Balkans in the last decade of the last century. It is true that Pournelle/Niven do not have as fascinating a vision as Orson Scott Card https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... could have, but their vision of history is fascinating. Since Pournelle was a great friend of the American politician Newt Gingrich https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..., who apart from having wanted to aspire to the White House, and for his conversion to Catholicism, is also known for his books of military, political, and alternative history. He is a man that I like, because as a good historian he is not content with what has happened, but contemplates what is called History-Fiction, or ucronía in which the writer Harry Turtledove https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... is an expert. Contemplate what could have happened, or alternate universes. Hilaire Belloc outlined this in his wonderful book, how prophetic, and how little attention we have paid to"Europe and faith" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... Already his comrade-in-arms G.K. Chesterton devised an alternative history of what could have happened if Don Juan de Austria had rescued Mary Stuart and married her. It does not matter that the genre of ucronía was invented by an anti-Catholic Frenchman of socialist ideology Charles Renouvier https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9... if we want to go further a Portuguese Jesuit wrote a future history, and it was Livy himself who speculated https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... about a confrontation between the Macedonian phalanges of Alexander the Great against the Roman legions, considering that the Roman legions would win this hypothetical battle (this idea was rescued by the Spanish writer Javier Negrete https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...). That is why the universe that Niven/Pournelle has created is not negligible at all. The latest incidents are the famous social riots of New Chicago, which already at the beginning of this novel have already been quelled. However, humanity at the moment seems to be alone in the universe until this novel, which describes how not, as so many others have done before as it could be the first contact between humans and aliens. The protagonist is a very brave captain, who is being judged by his superiors Plekhanov (note the merger that has taken place between the West and Slavic Russia. In fact, there is a strong influence of Sparta in the future humanity of Niven/Pournelle) and Bruno Cziller where the protagonist of this work is judged the heterodox, but brilliant officer Rod Blaines, who despite his ancestry is Marquis of Crocis and has distinguished himself in the war of the separatists. In fact, he is tried, for having managed to get the separatists surrender without a fight, and offering amnesty to their leaders in exchange for helping them conquer the separatists' last rebel pockets. The action was very risky, and he faces a court martial, but the interesting thing is that Rod Blaines is given the ship and given a mission to take a businessman who has been one of the investors of the separatists Horace Bury (who is Muslim) and the daughter of a senator , which has suffered the effects of the New Chicago revolt, and still has sequels to Sally Bright Fowler. It will also have its staff Renner, Whitbread, Horst Steman, Sinclair (who is all day grumbling about his coffee maker and coffee), Gavin Potter etc ... It's funny but the story I've been told Pournelle/Niven reminded me a lot of the parody written by catholic writer Karina Fabian https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... "Space Traipse hold my beer hold my beer season 2" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... It reminded me more of the Condominium saga than of Star Trek. Here you have a wonderful review written by one of the best readers and reviewers that goodreads has my friend Steven R. McEvoy (but have followed him do it read very interesting books and comments them very well) https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . In fact, the captain protagonist of the space parodic saga of the always interesting Karina Fabian reminds me a lot of the Captain of this novel. In fact, the structure is similar with conversations, dialogues, the characters raise hypotheses. Sometimes "The Mote in the Eye of God" that by the way the title comes from the biblical passage in question of "before seeing the straw in the eye of others remove the beam of yours". That's why a servant of yours was so interested in reading Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novels, because he's a writer who uses his religious beliefs a lot, and Catholic theology for his science fiction novels. I did not find it an easy read. Sometimes the novel is slow, discursive, lacks action and in my case (I at least) demanded it. But I've certainly found it much more accessible than other writers like Gene Wolfe https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , it also doesn't reel the coconut like some of Lois Mcmaster Bujold's novels https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , where sometimes everything happens in the heads of the characters and not in the novel. Although a server did like his novel "The Curse of Chalion" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... (for a woman who the history of Spain has served her for her work of fiction and who has not fallen into the black legend I will not make any disgust) or the saga of Miles Vorkosigan https://www.goodreads.com/series/9825... . I admit that I would have liked more something more martial in the style of the novels of Gordon R. Dickson https://www.goodreads.com/series/4995... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... or Poul Anderson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... On the first contact are the novels of my friend Professor Manuel Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (pity that I did not write that third novel where he was going to go to Jupiter, and that other short story where they reach Alpha Centauri :-() https://www.goodreads.com/series/2495... . In fact the contact is very well described the ship has to stop I do not know in New Ireland, and by chance they find a ship adrift, which attacks them, and as Blaines detects that it is a threat allows to open fire, and then discovers that by accident he has been the first man who has made a contact with an alien civilization. He submits to another trial of war, and surprisingly instead of being punished it is decided that it is he who will come into contact with the new extraterrestrial civilization, and will be watched from afar by the military expert Laurentiu Kutuzov (I suppose it is a tribute to the general who defeated Napoleon in his Russian campaign whom Tolstoy elevated in "War and Peace" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... ) This is where the characters are going to be profiled Horvath is the scientist Saganian https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... , who thinks that aliens are the best thing in the world, and that thanks to his technology they will solve all the problems of humanity. There is a very intelligent chaplain in the line of priests of Maria Doria Russell https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , James Blish https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ,Walter M. Miller Jr. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... or Philp Jose Farmer https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Thank God Pournelle-Niven we are presented with a normal priest who does not condemn extraterrestrial civilization to hell, and who apart from a cultured man is a priest as God commands, and not the crude caricature that secularist atheists have devised carl sagan style for example is called Hardy, and little by little it will acquire a great weight in the novel. During the voyage of exploration thousands of adventures will occur, which arrive, that there are different types of pajenses (the alien civilization that they have discovered). Some arm, and disarm things, others will adhere to them, and accompany them. There is a topic that will interest aliens a lot, but beware. My friend Professor Manuel Alfonseca commented that the great evil of science fiction from the 60s is that it became amoral and that I let sex among other topics eugenics and population control monopolize it. Here comes this topic, and the aliens for something that readers will appreciate are interested in this topic., but the beliefs of the author are noticed and this is going to be a determining feature in the story. At first the relationship between pajenses and humans is going to be friendly, but you will see moments when Blaines have a hard time. By a sort of luck your alien docking or Fuynch Click fails. There is a time when you must abandon ship, appease Kutuzov (the military is not the crude caricature presented to us by the current Hollywood cinema of far-right militaristic hawks. Thank God). Three of the crew are going to get lost, and they're going to discover the secret that the aliens keep, that they keep an ace up their sleeves, and they have a plan. The love story between Blaines and Sally is very compelling. I don't believe Bury's position of hostility towards aliens, and that he opts for hostility, and not for making a good economic profit as a good trader would. That's what I believe least about history. In addition to Renner who will grow a lot during the story, Chaplain Hardy is the most interesting character in history, and who ends up understanding aliens better. He falls neither into the worship whose representatives are Horvath, and Sally nor into the hostility in which Horace. In fact Blaines will have to maintain a balance between these two positions. The novel, despite its slowness, and lack of action has some extraordinary script twists, and the ending overcomes all ethical and moral impediments and leaves everyone happy. To those hostile to aliens and related people, and although it sounds paradoxical to the aliens themselves who are spared the worst, and leave the saga open, for future continuations. Of the whole novel I think it was the ending that I liked the most, and it shows that Pournelle is a man with a conscience, and that he takes moral dilemmas very seriously and that both he and Niven have worked a lot on this novel. I'm personally about to re-read them again, and I hope goodreads users do too.
October 12, 2023
This is the best first contact book I’ve read.
This is epic and complex, the aliens and their world is so well imagined and believable it just draws you in. A lot of first contact books and movies seem to cast the aliens as either an invading army, mindless monsters or benevolent, godlike beings. The Moties, like us are much more ambiguous, not good or evil but flawed and from a society with many competing views.
This is a must read book for sci-fi fans.
This is epic and complex, the aliens and their world is so well imagined and believable it just draws you in. A lot of first contact books and movies seem to cast the aliens as either an invading army, mindless monsters or benevolent, godlike beings. The Moties, like us are much more ambiguous, not good or evil but flawed and from a society with many competing views.
This is a must read book for sci-fi fans.
April 26, 2012
Larry and Paul... doesn't that sound like a sitcom couple? I've read a lot of Niven and Pournelle's collaborations over the years, and at the height of my Very White Space Opera phase (i.e., when I was a teenager with no taste and liked anything with spaceships and aliens in it) Niven was one of my favorite authors.
The Mote in God's Eye was their first collaboration, and never having read it before, I was expecting something like Footfall. It kind of is, but of course it was written over twenty years earlier. This shows mostly in the fact that like most 70s science fiction, computers are still big clunky shipboard installations, and interstellar communications are formatted like telegrams and decrypted on tape machines. Other than that, though, the SF holds up pretty well; Niven and Pournelle have always written relatively hard sci-fi (yes, I use "SF" and "sci-fi" interchangeably - get over it!), and their close attention to astrophysical, engineering, and biological detail makes this a book that, aforementioned computer/communications issues notwithstanding, reads like a fairly contemporary work.
Sci-fi-wise, that is. Character-wise... oh boy, that's another matter.
So, let's start with the setting. It's the Empire of Man, some millennia after humans left Earth and began colonizing the stars. There have been collapses and previous empires before now, and the current Empire actually has technology inferior to what bygone space empires had. But in all these centuries, no sentient alien race has ever been discovered. Then an Imperial warship encounters a probe launched from a star system that is a "mote" in a stellar nebula; the probe contains a dead alien pilot, and results in a ship being sent to investigate the system it came from. The crew discovers a race which the humans call "Moties," who appear to be friendly and peaceful and highly civilized. They are actually superior to humans, mentally and technologically, their only disadvantage being that they haven't yet figured out how to build working faster-than-light starships, so they are still trapped in their home star system.
The rest of the book is mostly told from the human point of view, but sometimes switches to the Motie one. We learn that the Moties, well, aren't so peaceful (surprise!) and they have a few secrets they are trying to keep secret from the humans.
As a First Contact novel, this is a very good one. The aliens are alien, and don't fall into any easy roles. They're not malevolent, per se, and individual Moties can be friendly (and refreshingly, they are individuals — Moties, like humans, don't all think alike or subscribe to the same philosophies and racial strategies), but they are definitely a threat. When the humans finally figure out the truth, they face a real moral dilemma.
Where The Mote in God's Eye fails, though, is characterization of the non-aliens. The humans are all straight, and I mean straight, out of 70s Central Casting. You have heroic square-jawed aristocratic naval officer Roderick Blaine, ruthless planet-killing Admiral Kutuzov, the sleazy bad guy Horace Bury who of course is a Muslim Arab, and Lady Sally Fowler, a noblewoman, anthropologist, designated love interest, and the only woman in the book, who at one point informs the Moties that humans have birth control technology but "decent women don't use it." We're supposed to admire the generally lawful and benevolent Empire of Man, even though it's about as socially progressive as Victorian England, and like Victorian England is in the middle of colonizing other human worlds by force. The stereotypes would have been less grating if the characters weren't also so flat; they did little but play their roles.
So, this is good science fiction, but hardly great literature. If you want interesting aliens and an examination of civilizational ethics, with a decent amount of spaceship action thrown in, enjoy, but there isn't a lot of depth, nor characters you're really going to care about.
The Mote in God's Eye was their first collaboration, and never having read it before, I was expecting something like Footfall. It kind of is, but of course it was written over twenty years earlier. This shows mostly in the fact that like most 70s science fiction, computers are still big clunky shipboard installations, and interstellar communications are formatted like telegrams and decrypted on tape machines. Other than that, though, the SF holds up pretty well; Niven and Pournelle have always written relatively hard sci-fi (yes, I use "SF" and "sci-fi" interchangeably - get over it!), and their close attention to astrophysical, engineering, and biological detail makes this a book that, aforementioned computer/communications issues notwithstanding, reads like a fairly contemporary work.
Sci-fi-wise, that is. Character-wise... oh boy, that's another matter.
So, let's start with the setting. It's the Empire of Man, some millennia after humans left Earth and began colonizing the stars. There have been collapses and previous empires before now, and the current Empire actually has technology inferior to what bygone space empires had. But in all these centuries, no sentient alien race has ever been discovered. Then an Imperial warship encounters a probe launched from a star system that is a "mote" in a stellar nebula; the probe contains a dead alien pilot, and results in a ship being sent to investigate the system it came from. The crew discovers a race which the humans call "Moties," who appear to be friendly and peaceful and highly civilized. They are actually superior to humans, mentally and technologically, their only disadvantage being that they haven't yet figured out how to build working faster-than-light starships, so they are still trapped in their home star system.
The rest of the book is mostly told from the human point of view, but sometimes switches to the Motie one. We learn that the Moties, well, aren't so peaceful (surprise!) and they have a few secrets they are trying to keep secret from the humans.
As a First Contact novel, this is a very good one. The aliens are alien, and don't fall into any easy roles. They're not malevolent, per se, and individual Moties can be friendly (and refreshingly, they are individuals — Moties, like humans, don't all think alike or subscribe to the same philosophies and racial strategies), but they are definitely a threat. When the humans finally figure out the truth, they face a real moral dilemma.
Where The Mote in God's Eye fails, though, is characterization of the non-aliens. The humans are all straight, and I mean straight, out of 70s Central Casting. You have heroic square-jawed aristocratic naval officer Roderick Blaine, ruthless planet-killing Admiral Kutuzov, the sleazy bad guy Horace Bury who of course is a Muslim Arab, and Lady Sally Fowler, a noblewoman, anthropologist, designated love interest, and the only woman in the book, who at one point informs the Moties that humans have birth control technology but "decent women don't use it." We're supposed to admire the generally lawful and benevolent Empire of Man, even though it's about as socially progressive as Victorian England, and like Victorian England is in the middle of colonizing other human worlds by force. The stereotypes would have been less grating if the characters weren't also so flat; they did little but play their roles.
So, this is good science fiction, but hardly great literature. If you want interesting aliens and an examination of civilizational ethics, with a decent amount of spaceship action thrown in, enjoy, but there isn't a lot of depth, nor characters you're really going to care about.
November 22, 2014
Fairly interesting contact novel. A yellow star in front of a red giant star in the Coal Sack Nebula resembles a hooded man with one eye, the giant red star being the eye and a yellow star in front of it is what gives the suggestion of the mote in the eye of said hooded head suggests a "mote in god's eye" , thus the name.
The race of beings from this system, the "Moties" represent a kind of threat humans haven't faced before.
I read this some time (read some years) ago and still remember the idea striking me as a mixture of original bits that turn an idea which has been touched on before into something almost totally new. I liked it, I like the idea and the story. To quote a line "pretty good yarn".
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
The race of beings from this system, the "Moties" represent a kind of threat humans haven't faced before.
I read this some time (read some years) ago and still remember the idea striking me as a mixture of original bits that turn an idea which has been touched on before into something almost totally new. I liked it, I like the idea and the story. To quote a line "pretty good yarn".
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
April 6, 2023
The whole species, a parasite. It breeds, it grows, it spreads, and it consumes wherever it goes. It wages war. Its mind alien to all observers, no one knows how it works. When it's here, you're never safe.
But enough about humans. Here's some aliens, first contact scenario.
An overall rather chill first contact. Not much going on at the surface, no great tension or war (well, a little bit war), with all of the stakes in the background. Too big to see. All of cosmos could be decided here, but we mostly don't notice because we get too involved with the little people, the scientists and the warriors and of course the aliens. And in the end it doesn't even go much anywhere: even if it was important, it wasn't all of it. Just a tiny slice of extraterrestial diplomacy.
I think I could've used some more excitement, though, a more proper resolution. And the alien biology didn't always make a whole lot of sense. But it worked okay for what it was trying to do. Not great, but okay.
But enough about humans. Here's some aliens, first contact scenario.
An overall rather chill first contact. Not much going on at the surface, no great tension or war (well, a little bit war), with all of the stakes in the background. Too big to see. All of cosmos could be decided here, but we mostly don't notice because we get too involved with the little people, the scientists and the warriors and of course the aliens. And in the end it doesn't even go much anywhere: even if it was important, it wasn't all of it. Just a tiny slice of extraterrestial diplomacy.
I think I could've used some more excitement, though, a more proper resolution. And the alien biology didn't always make a whole lot of sense. But it worked okay for what it was trying to do. Not great, but okay.
August 24, 2014
Solid science fiction about first contact, set in a universe where humanity reached the stars, fractured, and has slowly knit itself back together under imperial/aristocratic power. This doesn't actually come through that much for much of the book, other than mentioning that one of the main characters will have a title one day. And then at the end, we're thrust into imperial politics with little preparation - it's interesting, but a bit jarring.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
January 29, 2010
4.0 to 4.5 stars. One of the best first contact SF novels ever and certainly among the best from the duo of Niven and Pournelle. Epic in scope and including one of the best descriptions of an alien society ever put to paper. A true classic. Highly recommended!!
Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
Nominee: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
Nominee: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
Nominee: Nebula Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1975)
October 23, 2014
An excellent read & raises a lot of interesting thoughts for me. It's about contact with an alien civilization in a more interesting setting than most. Makes me think a lot about some of our civilizations. Well worth reading & a classic of science fiction.
June 27, 2021
You know those books that aren't really that bad but you notice something that bugs you early on. Then you have a bad day at work and start taking it out on the book by noticing more and more things that bug you. Like someone smoking a pipe and drinking scotch because they want to be posh or british or some sort of sailing captain. Or setting up a story where there is one human woman in the entire fleet while the aliens they meet switch between male and female at will and they have to be pregnant regularly or they die because both of those make a ton of sense. Toss in some bullshit 1950's morals, dumbass sexism, spacefaring humans totally unprepared to meet aliens and we now have a runaway meltdown going on in my brain while I read.
It really isn't a bad book, I think, for 1950, even though it was written in 1972, or maybe it is. I don't know, it pissed me off early and I couldn't recover. I don't really know what the extra star is for.
It really isn't a bad book, I think, for 1950, even though it was written in 1972, or maybe it is. I don't know, it pissed me off early and I couldn't recover. I don't really know what the extra star is for.
June 8, 2017
A political novel about first contact with extra-terrestrials
27 November 2014
To me there seems to be something about these pre-1980's science fiction novels that I am drawn towards reading. Maybe it has something to do with being influenced by my Dad to read the Isaac Asimov novels, or more likely it has something to do with my life long passion for science-fiction. However, the books written in my father's generation seem to have a lot more character, and a lot more insight, than much of the rubbish that seems to be churned out today (though maybe that has a lot to do with the consumerist nature of our society and that books are really only written on the basis of whether it will sell or not).
The Mote in God's Eye is a story, set a thousand years from now when humanity has colonised space, about the first contact with aliens (at is sentient extra-terrestrial life). The one thing that seemed to strike me as I was reading this book is that one could use the same concept when dealing with historical incidences of first contact, such as with the Native Americans or the Australian Aboriginals (or even the Chinese, though we have been in contact with the Chinese since Roman times, allegedly).
Before I go too deep into this novel, I will give you my thoughts on the story itself before I spoil the actual story for you (but don't worry, I will warn you beforehand). I can't say that it was the best book that I have read, and it did seem to drag on a bit, however at first I though that it was simply going to be a dissertation on a speculative alien culture that was definitely not human. However, just when it began to slow down, the action suddenly picked up again, and some rather nasty facts were revealed about these aliens. Mind you, we are revealed the truth about these aliens halfway through the book, and the rest of the novel you are left hoping that humanity realises the truth before they get themselves into no end of trouble. At this point though, I better warn you:
The novel begins with a probe entering human space from a star called the Mote. The reason that it receives this name is because it can be seen in conjunction with a larger star called Murchenson's Eye (discovered by some guy named, surprise, surprise, Murchenson) which has a nebula that looks like a hood as its backdrop. On board this probe is a dead alien, so the humans decide to travel to this star to make contact with the first alien civilisation that they have discovered.
The scenario does not follow the same story as many of the first contact scenarios on our world have played out (namely a technologically superior culture encounters a culture that is still living a hunter gatherer lifestyle, and the technologically superior culture then proceeds to conquer and oppress the hunter-gatherer culture) but rather we have two cultures that are both technologically advanced which results in a story of political manoeuvring where both cultures attempt to develop a relationship without revealing their dark secrets.
One of the things that I found interesting about the aliens, called the 'Moties', is their origin. As I was reading this book I was really interested in finding out what they looked like, so of course I entered 'Motie' into Google Images, and came up with a number of pictures. This is one of them:
The reason that I found them interesting was because one of the themes of the book was evolution. One of the characters suggested (before first contact was made) that the reason that humans have not evolved beyond their current form is because when they evolved to this form they turned the evolutionary process around to change nature to make themselves comfortable. This is my attitude towards evolution in that creatures evolve, or more precisely adapt, to their surroundings, and when one can adapt their surroundings to suit themselves, evolution is no longer necessarily.
However, as it comes out, the Moties had continued to evolve, not so much because they needed to adapt to their surroundings, but because their surroundings became so toxic that they began to mutate. The the reason that they are asymmetrical is because they became involved in a nuclear war which began to mutate them. However, as is also suggested, there are elements of genetic engineering as the race is divided into castes that perform certain tasks for the whole.
The other thing about the Moties is that they reproduce quite rapidly. This I found to not be as speculative as some may consider as it is something that confronts us today. If you travel to some parts of the world you will discover huge overcrowding. Not only that, but the population explosion means that resources get used up much quicker. Back when this book was written, much of the majority world was living in poverty, and it was only us in the west that were living like kings. However with the rise of India and China we are suddenly finding that the resources (and space) are becoming ever more scarce. This is a reality in our world, namely that as populations increase, the demand for resources, and living space, also increases. Where there is not enough living space countries suddenly go to war to get more of it. We even see this here in Australia as the price of freestanding houses go through the roof. Then there is also the question of asylum seekers. The reason that Australians do not want asylum seekers to come to our shores is because we like our space, and our free standing houses. The more people that come to our shores, the less space we have for our back gardens.
27 November 2014
To me there seems to be something about these pre-1980's science fiction novels that I am drawn towards reading. Maybe it has something to do with being influenced by my Dad to read the Isaac Asimov novels, or more likely it has something to do with my life long passion for science-fiction. However, the books written in my father's generation seem to have a lot more character, and a lot more insight, than much of the rubbish that seems to be churned out today (though maybe that has a lot to do with the consumerist nature of our society and that books are really only written on the basis of whether it will sell or not).
The Mote in God's Eye is a story, set a thousand years from now when humanity has colonised space, about the first contact with aliens (at is sentient extra-terrestrial life). The one thing that seemed to strike me as I was reading this book is that one could use the same concept when dealing with historical incidences of first contact, such as with the Native Americans or the Australian Aboriginals (or even the Chinese, though we have been in contact with the Chinese since Roman times, allegedly).
Before I go too deep into this novel, I will give you my thoughts on the story itself before I spoil the actual story for you (but don't worry, I will warn you beforehand). I can't say that it was the best book that I have read, and it did seem to drag on a bit, however at first I though that it was simply going to be a dissertation on a speculative alien culture that was definitely not human. However, just when it began to slow down, the action suddenly picked up again, and some rather nasty facts were revealed about these aliens. Mind you, we are revealed the truth about these aliens halfway through the book, and the rest of the novel you are left hoping that humanity realises the truth before they get themselves into no end of trouble. At this point though, I better warn you:
The novel begins with a probe entering human space from a star called the Mote. The reason that it receives this name is because it can be seen in conjunction with a larger star called Murchenson's Eye (discovered by some guy named, surprise, surprise, Murchenson) which has a nebula that looks like a hood as its backdrop. On board this probe is a dead alien, so the humans decide to travel to this star to make contact with the first alien civilisation that they have discovered.
The scenario does not follow the same story as many of the first contact scenarios on our world have played out (namely a technologically superior culture encounters a culture that is still living a hunter gatherer lifestyle, and the technologically superior culture then proceeds to conquer and oppress the hunter-gatherer culture) but rather we have two cultures that are both technologically advanced which results in a story of political manoeuvring where both cultures attempt to develop a relationship without revealing their dark secrets.
One of the things that I found interesting about the aliens, called the 'Moties', is their origin. As I was reading this book I was really interested in finding out what they looked like, so of course I entered 'Motie' into Google Images, and came up with a number of pictures. This is one of them:
The reason that I found them interesting was because one of the themes of the book was evolution. One of the characters suggested (before first contact was made) that the reason that humans have not evolved beyond their current form is because when they evolved to this form they turned the evolutionary process around to change nature to make themselves comfortable. This is my attitude towards evolution in that creatures evolve, or more precisely adapt, to their surroundings, and when one can adapt their surroundings to suit themselves, evolution is no longer necessarily.
However, as it comes out, the Moties had continued to evolve, not so much because they needed to adapt to their surroundings, but because their surroundings became so toxic that they began to mutate. The the reason that they are asymmetrical is because they became involved in a nuclear war which began to mutate them. However, as is also suggested, there are elements of genetic engineering as the race is divided into castes that perform certain tasks for the whole.
The other thing about the Moties is that they reproduce quite rapidly. This I found to not be as speculative as some may consider as it is something that confronts us today. If you travel to some parts of the world you will discover huge overcrowding. Not only that, but the population explosion means that resources get used up much quicker. Back when this book was written, much of the majority world was living in poverty, and it was only us in the west that were living like kings. However with the rise of India and China we are suddenly finding that the resources (and space) are becoming ever more scarce. This is a reality in our world, namely that as populations increase, the demand for resources, and living space, also increases. Where there is not enough living space countries suddenly go to war to get more of it. We even see this here in Australia as the price of freestanding houses go through the roof. Then there is also the question of asylum seekers. The reason that Australians do not want asylum seekers to come to our shores is because we like our space, and our free standing houses. The more people that come to our shores, the less space we have for our back gardens.
November 1, 2024
4.7 stars. Even as a reread this one really held my attention. I skipped chores to read the last couple chapters.
This is a great first-contact novel. It is in three parts: an unsuccessful contact attempt by the Moties, the successful one by the humans, and what happens afterwards. Each of these is well done and leads into the next. The miscommunications (accidental and deliberate) make sense from each side's point of view. The linkage into prior works by the authors gives a great depth to the universe. Especially liked the point of view chapters from the midshipmen, good way to introduce elements that are new to both the characters and the reader.
Are there some outdated views of gender roles? Maybe, but the protection of women in the aftermath of the Succession Wars explains at least part of it. Does it show the military as paragons of virtue? Yeah, it goes a bit overboard there. But those are what keep it from getting five stars from me.
All in all, a book that every sci-fi fan should read at some point.
This is a great first-contact novel. It is in three parts: an unsuccessful contact attempt by the Moties, the successful one by the humans, and what happens afterwards. Each of these is well done and leads into the next. The miscommunications (accidental and deliberate) make sense from each side's point of view. The linkage into prior works by the authors gives a great depth to the universe. Especially liked the point of view chapters from the midshipmen, good way to introduce elements that are new to both the characters and the reader.
Are there some outdated views of gender roles? Maybe, but the protection of women in the aftermath of the Succession Wars explains at least part of it. Does it show the military as paragons of virtue? Yeah, it goes a bit overboard there. But those are what keep it from getting five stars from me.
All in all, a book that every sci-fi fan should read at some point.
July 9, 2008
Like so many books I’ve read, The Mote in G-d’s Eye was recommended to me by father, many years ago. And, like many books I’ve read, it’s actually taken me years to read it. I don’t really know why; I know I tried to read it once when I was younger, and it somehow didn’t grab me. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it, or maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood. In any case, I’ve been on more of a sci-fi kick lately, and Starladustess had equally good things to say about this one, so I finally knuckled under and read it.
The Mote in G-d’s eye is a story about first contact, set in the year 3016. Mankind has seeded the stars, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive, and has also reverted to living under an Imperial Monarchy, thanks to the clichés of science fiction (to be fair, this book probably helped establish those clichés, so I can’t take it to task too much). In the aftermath of an uprising on some outer rim worlds, Commander Roderick Blaine discovers an alien probe approaching the system that his ship is in. While the pilot of the ship is deceased, it still proves the basic point: humanity is not alone in the universe.
Blaine and his ship are quickly drafted as part of the mission that sets out to find the alien home world and make first contact between the human empire and the Moties (nicknamed such because their home planet is located in a star system referred to as the Mote in G-d’s Eye). As one would expect, the first contact is fraught with a variety of questions and problems, which quickly result in everything from complicated political intrigue to outright violence.
First contact stories are always tricky, for one simple reason. Creating a believably alien race is tough enough (witness Star Trek for a number of failures, among others), but anticipating the assorted problems that might occur from that first contact is even harder. Niven and Pournelle do a bang-up job, however. The Moties seem very plausible, yet totally alien; indeed, in a clever twist, the Moties bodies are not symmetrical (they have a single large arm on one side, and two smaller arms on the other), which helps to remind the reader just how inhuman these creatures are.
Unlike some science fiction novels, however, this book contains more than an interesting idea. The story itself is well-executed and interesting to follow, as various factions on both sides try to make sense out of their new situation, and figure out how to exploit it to their own advantage. The pace is just slow enough to maintain a feeling of mystery, without being so slow as to be completely boring. And, in a wonderful twist, most of the mysteries are answered by the end of the book. There’s certainly further that the story COULD go, but there’s no reason that it needs to go any further. It’s fine the way it is.
Robert Heinlein apparently said that this was “possibly the finest science fiction novel [he had] ever read.” There might be points I’d argue with Heinlein on, but this isn’t one of them. This is a damn fine book.
The Mote in G-d’s eye is a story about first contact, set in the year 3016. Mankind has seeded the stars, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive, and has also reverted to living under an Imperial Monarchy, thanks to the clichés of science fiction (to be fair, this book probably helped establish those clichés, so I can’t take it to task too much). In the aftermath of an uprising on some outer rim worlds, Commander Roderick Blaine discovers an alien probe approaching the system that his ship is in. While the pilot of the ship is deceased, it still proves the basic point: humanity is not alone in the universe.
Blaine and his ship are quickly drafted as part of the mission that sets out to find the alien home world and make first contact between the human empire and the Moties (nicknamed such because their home planet is located in a star system referred to as the Mote in G-d’s Eye). As one would expect, the first contact is fraught with a variety of questions and problems, which quickly result in everything from complicated political intrigue to outright violence.
First contact stories are always tricky, for one simple reason. Creating a believably alien race is tough enough (witness Star Trek for a number of failures, among others), but anticipating the assorted problems that might occur from that first contact is even harder. Niven and Pournelle do a bang-up job, however. The Moties seem very plausible, yet totally alien; indeed, in a clever twist, the Moties bodies are not symmetrical (they have a single large arm on one side, and two smaller arms on the other), which helps to remind the reader just how inhuman these creatures are.
Unlike some science fiction novels, however, this book contains more than an interesting idea. The story itself is well-executed and interesting to follow, as various factions on both sides try to make sense out of their new situation, and figure out how to exploit it to their own advantage. The pace is just slow enough to maintain a feeling of mystery, without being so slow as to be completely boring. And, in a wonderful twist, most of the mysteries are answered by the end of the book. There’s certainly further that the story COULD go, but there’s no reason that it needs to go any further. It’s fine the way it is.
Robert Heinlein apparently said that this was “possibly the finest science fiction novel [he had] ever read.” There might be points I’d argue with Heinlein on, but this isn’t one of them. This is a damn fine book.
January 30, 2022
It seems that, unlike how other people usually analyze books, science fiction fans often deem a work in the genre a success because of an idea it presents, regardless of how well that idea is presented. I consider The Mote in God's Eye to be a poster child for this phenomena. It has an interesting central idea and so it's been given a place in the pantheon of great science fiction, having been nominated for the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. All this despite the fact that it has subpar writing, flat characters, and takes far too long to focus in on that central idea. With its myriad flaws, I don't think anyone should consider The Mote in God's Eye better than mediocre, and science fiction fans putting it on a pedestal speaks to why many people don't take the genre seriously. It's a 2/5. It has a strong central premise, I just wish a better writer (or writers) had explored it.
March 30, 2021
He leído 4 libros de resultas de la colaboración de estos dos autores y todo han sido efectivos. Por poco, pero este fue el que más me gustó.
August 28, 2014
'La Paja en el Ojo de Dios', escrito a dúo por Larry Niven y Jerry Pournelle, es todo un clásico de la temática del Primer Contacto. Publicada en 1974, la verdad es que no se ha quedado casi nada obsoleta, como suele pasar en estos casos, en que el mundo ha cambiado tanto de un tiempo a esta parte, que la especulación sobre ciertos temas, sobre todo en política y tecnología, son abordados de manera equivocada.
Año 3017 d.C. La Humanidad ha colonizado cientos de mundos, pero todavía no se ha localizado vida inteligente. La MacCarthur es requerida por el Alto Mando para que investigue el hallazgo de una nave espacial, posiblemene de origen extraterrestre. Era lo que todo el mundo estaba esperando, por fin. El encuentro con esta nave marcará un antes y un después en la Historia. Pero lo que parece una simple misión de reconocimiento, se convierte en la decisión más difícil que ha de tomar el capitán Rod Blaine... Por supuesto, no voy a desvelar mucho más de la trama, ya que este tipo de ciencia ficción radica en el descubrimiento de la historia por uno mismo.
Confieso que la novela no me ha gustado mucho. La historia no está mal, pero lo peor es la caracterización de personajes. Niven/Pournelle intentan abarcar demasiado y no se centran en unos pocos personajes. Hay veces que la voz de uno de ellos cambia de párrafo a párrafo. Esto provoca que no se profundice en ningún personaje, se pasa superficialmente por sus motivaciones, pensamientos, etcétera.
La primera parte de la novela se lee bien, es el preludio a lo que el lector está esperando ansiosamente: El Encuentro. Éste, que es la parte central del libro, es lo mejor, con muchos detalles y creando una atmósfera adecuada al momento, de inquietud y extrañeza. Sin embargo, el último tercio de la novela se hace demasiado farragoso y repetitivo. Estás todo el tiempo pensando "al grano, al grano, y menos rollo". Y sigues leyendo, porque hay cierta información que necesita ser desvelada, tanto para el lector como para los personajes.
Esta es la típica novela que en mi adolescencia me hubiese encantado y que hubiese puesto en un altar, ya que ésta es una época de descubrimiento, en que todo te parece nuevo y brillante, y te fijas sobre todo en lo que sucede en el escenario, y no te preocupas de lo que pase entre bastidores, es decir, estás más pendiente de lo que te cuentan, que de cómo te lo cuentan. Después, el tiempo y las múltiples lecturas cambian tu perspectiva, y que una historia te sorprenda resulta más difícil. Hay veces que sucede, afortunadamente, pero éste no ha sido el caso.
Año 3017 d.C. La Humanidad ha colonizado cientos de mundos, pero todavía no se ha localizado vida inteligente. La MacCarthur es requerida por el Alto Mando para que investigue el hallazgo de una nave espacial, posiblemene de origen extraterrestre. Era lo que todo el mundo estaba esperando, por fin. El encuentro con esta nave marcará un antes y un después en la Historia. Pero lo que parece una simple misión de reconocimiento, se convierte en la decisión más difícil que ha de tomar el capitán Rod Blaine... Por supuesto, no voy a desvelar mucho más de la trama, ya que este tipo de ciencia ficción radica en el descubrimiento de la historia por uno mismo.
Confieso que la novela no me ha gustado mucho. La historia no está mal, pero lo peor es la caracterización de personajes. Niven/Pournelle intentan abarcar demasiado y no se centran en unos pocos personajes. Hay veces que la voz de uno de ellos cambia de párrafo a párrafo. Esto provoca que no se profundice en ningún personaje, se pasa superficialmente por sus motivaciones, pensamientos, etcétera.
La primera parte de la novela se lee bien, es el preludio a lo que el lector está esperando ansiosamente: El Encuentro. Éste, que es la parte central del libro, es lo mejor, con muchos detalles y creando una atmósfera adecuada al momento, de inquietud y extrañeza. Sin embargo, el último tercio de la novela se hace demasiado farragoso y repetitivo. Estás todo el tiempo pensando "al grano, al grano, y menos rollo". Y sigues leyendo, porque hay cierta información que necesita ser desvelada, tanto para el lector como para los personajes.
Esta es la típica novela que en mi adolescencia me hubiese encantado y que hubiese puesto en un altar, ya que ésta es una época de descubrimiento, en que todo te parece nuevo y brillante, y te fijas sobre todo en lo que sucede en el escenario, y no te preocupas de lo que pase entre bastidores, es decir, estás más pendiente de lo que te cuentan, que de cómo te lo cuentan. Después, el tiempo y las múltiples lecturas cambian tu perspectiva, y que una historia te sorprenda resulta más difícil. Hay veces que sucede, afortunadamente, pero éste no ha sido el caso.
August 13, 2007
I caught my friend Ryan reading some cheesy looking sci-fi and thought maybe I should give the genre a try. Outside of HG Wells, I haven't had much exposure since I was a teenager. This story is well written, but ungodly slow. Hell, I have the patience to read, but this one is mostly discussion and very little action. The story hits a climax two-thirds of the way through and then runs out of steam. I give it three stars for being thought provoking.
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