Customer Reviews

Footfall

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This book could never be made into a movie as the audience would break out laughing when they saw the aliens(little elephants). In the book it works as these 3 trunked aliens come off as being very sinister and threatening indeed. The science is facinating and is not only believable but most of it is within our grasp right now. Read this book at the beach or while relaxing in your favorite lawn chair. Next thing you know you will wonder how you got that sunburn and where all the people went and why is the sun going down, isn't it 10am in the morning!

I found this book at a local used book store, and the owner said that if I liked Scifi I had to read this one. I have to say that he was right.
This is a alien invasion classic. It is a little dated but that wont matter once your start reading. I couldnt put it down.

I think what the aliens looked like was one of my favorite aspects of the book. They look like Elephants. The ending was heart pounding and clever also.

I highley recommend this book to anyone thats into Science Fiction.

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I still think this is the best alien-invasion story I've ever
read. Granted, it's hard to write a sensible invasion story, given that
a) it's hard to think of a reason for rational aliens to invade, and
b) if they did, they should win overwhelmingly. See rifles vs. spears.

But it makes a great *story*, and N&P have given probably as
reasonable a backstory as anyone could. As an example of high-level
page-turner storytelling, Footfall still rings my chimes. I've read it
three times, plus the last time I picked it up a couple of years ago, to
jog my memory to reply to a post, I got sucked in again and spent the
afternoon rereading the good parts. "Orion will Rise" -- all right!

Footfall is dragged down a bit by dated political background: the
USSR is alive and well here, and is portrayed as considerably
stronger and healthier than it actually was in 1985. I'd skim over the
Russian scenes; in fact the book is pretty slow-moving until the
aliens arrive, so a quick skim of most of this early scene-setting
material is all you need.

And make no mistake, once the action starts, you'll have no futher
complaints. Good stuff, guys.

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman

This is an excellent read. The aliens are realistic and their culture well-thought out. A major plus is that we get an insight into the motivations of both human and alien.

I'm not sure I would argue that it suffers from the too many characters know each other syndrome. The story is plausible as to how the known characters keep popping into each other.

One thing to note - this book is not an alternate history of what would have happened if the Soviet Union hadn't collapsed. Originally, the book was published in the early/mid 1980s, I believe before Gorbachev came to power. I.e. back in the heyday of the evil empire years.

First, let's get it out of the way - I loved this book, and was absolutely riveted by the ending. I always enjoy an ambiguous ending - although a well-done one (like this) leaves me desparate for more. Perhaps these two will write sequels one day. They will inevitably prove disappointing, but dammit, it'll be satisfying.

Anyway, the point of my review is to refute those who dismiss the concept of the SF writer team in the book. What, exactly, do you suppose is the difference between this and the "think-tanks" that exist as unofficial (or official, in some cases)advisors to our government officials in real life? Nothing. In real life, there are groups of people who spend their time thinking and planning, and that's no different in the book. The fact that this think-tank dwells on an unusual subject shouldn't be considered outlandish, given the premise of the book.

The only difference between the Pentagon planning teams (I'd be absolutely astonished if there aren't existing plans for catastrophic meteor impact or even alien invasion) and this fictional sci-fi think-tank is that the Pentagon boys have shinier shoes and nice uniforms. But when you get down to it, both groups were doing nothing but guessing, so who's to say which is going to come up with better solutions? Remember, in the book, the SF writers provided the imagination and the military worked on making it practical. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

(Although if it happened today, it seems equally likely that the team would be made up of priests rather than SF writers, given the political climate. It would have been interesting to have a General Boykin type in this book.)

Yes-you might be thinking "Another alien invasion book?". However this is a good revisit to that classic idea. Niven and Pournelle create a solid work with some suprises and it is well worth the read. Too bad the movie industry didn't choose to film this book instead of doing the intelligence insulting ID4.

Two minor dings on the book...I thought there would be an explanation for the elephant-like appearance of the invaders, like maybe a plot element of them actually decending from the elephants of Earth, this was never done. The other thing was I thought it was about 100 pages too long.

A good book and recommended.

A good book overall, Footfall is one of the most realistic (if such a word applies) books about alien invasion that I've ever read. The aliens are well designed, and the human's responses to them credible.

The only flaw in the book is that it suffers from Tom Clancy complex, where there are so many concurrent plotlines going on it's easy to either lose track, or lose interest.

A great book if you're a fan of Niven/Pournelle, and an good book if you're a fan of the alien invasion story. Otherwise, get it from the library.

This book probably spawned the idea for Independence Day. Aliens resembling elephants and with interesting rules of fair play, invade the Earth. All countries on the Earth must work together if they are to stand a chance. Intriguing reading.

i thought this book did a good job of presenting non-friendly but also multi-dimensional aliens. the book struck me as similar to the "uplift" series by david brin. the basic plot is where humans encounter aliens that are further advanced, but have acquired their technology through means other than self discovery --- therefore, even though humans are less advanced they manage to triumph because of their ingenuity. it's a good line, and it works for me ... i think this line of reasoning pulls us out of being proud to be some ethnicity, beyond being proud of our country, to being proud to be homo sapiens for all that we've managed to accomplish, all on our own.

I read this a few months ago, and needless to say, it still is a wonderful sceince fiction novel. The alien culture is absolutely incredible. They're quite believeable, and very vividly created. I could almost picture them. I found it funny that the remnants of humanity chose to look to hard science fiction writers for help in dealing with the aliens. But it seems a very plausible situation if it should ever arise. The whole story behind the alien invasion though is the Cold War. It's very prevalent, and quite interesting to point out all the similarities between what the US and Russians view the aliens...as their rival superpowers. Very interesting to see how a nuclear war could've ravaged the planet. Though it's dated, it's still a good read.