Customer Reviews

Lucifer's Hammer

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The Hamner-Brown comet, separately but concurrently discovered by a pair of very excited amateur astronomers, was still a very, very long way from the earth in a typical high eccentricity orbit having barely begun its descent toward the sun. As the world's telescopes are trained on the incoming comet and its orbit is calculated to higher and higher degrees of accuracy, the possibility of an impact with the earth escalates to an uncomfortably high probability. The minute changes in mass and momentum, outgassing and the resulting small changes in the comet's orbit caused by the sun's radiation make it impossible, even up to the moment of actual impact, to accurately predict whether the comet would graze the earth's atmosphere, pass it by entirely or devastate earth with a direct impact.

Panic begins to tighten its grip on the world as a zealous fundamentalist preacher whips the US into a religious frenzy suggesting that the comet is a punishment from God visited upon a wicked humanity. Hoarding begins and roads clog as the population begins a mass exodus from coastal cities in anticipation of the possible tsunami that would result if the comet landed in the ocean. Even a joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent into space to study the comet, now dubbed "The Hammer" by popular media, is unable to confirm or refute its potential collision with earth.

The final result is perhaps the worst of all possible outcomes. The Hammer does fall, having broken up into several smaller comets that land around the world with devastating results, striking parts of Europe, Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and both the Pacific and Atlantic. Volcanoes and earthquakes are endemic around the entire Pacific basin as fault lines shift in California and everywhere else along the fabled Ring of Fire.

Tsunamis ravage every conceivable inch of exposed ocean coastline and upstream for miles along major rivers such as the Mississippi. Weeks of non-stop rain liberally loaded with salt from the ocean impact drowns a devastated world for weeks after the initial impact and flooding destroys practically every dam and levee, leaving a search for food a top survival priority. Civilization simply falls apart as people are forced to defend themselves and whatever they were able to salvage from one another.

"Lucifer's Hammer" is Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's graphic but frighteningly realistic vision of humanity's descent into anarchy and chaos and its struggle to re-establish a semblance of normality after an apocalyptic event devastates the world with inconceivable damage and death but does not actually push humanity over the brink of extinction - hoarding; heroism; brutality; the potential change in attitudes towards sex, sexuality, racism, marriage, religion and love; the evolution (or devolution) of government from democracy into more effective alternatives under the circumstances; the re-establishment of innovation and technological expertise; the potentially changing roles of women in a more basic almost feudally structured society; and, of course much more.

Most readers would class "Lucifer's Hammer" as science fiction. However, I believe it is fundamentally an exciting thriller and a very impressive extended essay on the psychology and anthropology of humanity's behaviour in the face of global tragedy. The science of the comet, its formation in the distant Oort cloud, its orbit, its structure, its evolution as it accelerates towards the sun and the aftermath as the remnants race away from earth back into deep space, is touched upon but only in a cursory fashion.

Sci-fi fans will probably think the book relatively weak in this area and would have hoped for much more depth in the science. Thriller fans, on the other hand, will see "Lucifer's Hammer" as an exciting post-apocalyptic novel that just begs to be turned into a movie with an enormous budget for special effects.

From my perspective as a long-time fan of classic sci-fi, "Lucifer's Hammer" gets only three stars. Others, less concerned about the science will doubtless rate it higher. I recommend that you read it and judge for yourself. You'll enjoy the book no matter which genre your tastes favour.

Paul Weiss

This is without a doubt one of the best books that I've ever read and makes me very thankful that Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, who are very good authors in their own right, joined forces to become a force to be reckoned with anyone in terms of character creations, spinning a good yarn and making it very real. I read this book shortly after it was published, and more than 20 years later, it's still one of my favorites. The authors do a great job of capturing people, their hopes and their fears realized as the comet approaches and their reactions and deeds in the aftermath. For a great ``end-of-the-world'' book with wonderful imagery that can really evoke the amazing pictures in one's mind's-eye...this is NOT to be missed. Read it now.

Great to receive a new copy, at a great price, with overnight delivery.

I am looking forward to reading it for the first time.

This is a good book but he concentrates mainly on people who survived the impact, not going into too much detail about the actual event.

I first read this when I was in 5th or 6th grade...in the 70's. I still re-read it at least every few years and it is still my favorite end of the world book ever. While some of the plots and descriptions of the world have become outdated, they rang true at the time. When given the chance I tracked Mr. Pournelle and Mr. Niven down and got a signed copy. To this day Mr. Pournelle is my favorite all time SF author. If you haven't read his books you are missing one of the Icons of the artform.

This book tells the tale of how events might unfold after a catastrophic comet impact takes place. While saddled with some standard clichees of the genre (such as two-dimensional characters), it does contain a fascinating view of what life on Earth might be like after such an event. Originally published in 1977, much of the technological trappings are dated, but it's still a well-written page turner of a story.

Some of the discussion of race in this book is definitely pre-PC, and left me a bit taken aback, but overall it's a worthwhile read for fans of sci-fi genre fiction.

I've read this book at least 3 times in the last 10 years. I keep coming back because I am interested in the science of this type of disaster. Read *Uriel's Machine*, by Knight and Lomas if you want real accounts and historical proof of what happens when a comet impacts the earth. This story is very good, the plot is complete, but the limitations are in what your mind can fill in. It is a PLEASURE reading material and some would do much to remember that. Serious books get the type of review criticism that others here seem to forget. This is a huge seller, and the main reason is it is a page turner. All of the other reviews good and bad FINISHED the book, so it must be at least worth that. Take a shot and read this one.

The authors start out with multiple threads and by late in the book has woven them together into a single plotline. The best part of the book are the occaisional bits of humor. I did feel some empathy for the male and female leads and in any book I read, this is a good sign.

This book is by far one of my favorite books that I've ever read. I have read many reviews that complain about the "slow" start to the book. Personally I found that the pace in the first third of the book was perfect. To many books that I've read start out with a bang and never let up. This book refreshingly develops the characters and situations surronding them to an extent that few other books do. By the time that "Hot Fudge Tuesdae" (the impact of a massive comet) arives, the authors have developed the characters to such an extent that their reactions to the events caused by HammerFall illustrate the changes in the way people must now live much more effectively than if the characters hadn't been developed to such a degree.
I'm not going to give the ending away, but it is also one of the top endings of any book I've read. It's not a cookie cutter ending that leaves nothing left to ponder. Instead it leaves the reader with much to think about even after they have finished the book.
I would strongly recomend this book to anyone who enjoys doomsday or classic sci-fi novels, as well as those who haven't been much exposed to these genres. After you finish reading it, you'll want to start at the begining and read it again (as I did).

I love books and movies about the end of the world, I don't know why but I do. "Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle tell about a comet heading for earth. The authors give us characters from every different social group and how the diaster effect them. The books is dated in some parts the reader is easiler able to over look this. The only reason that it didn't get five stars from me is the ending could have been a little stronger. But overall still a great book.