Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Lucifer's Hammer

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 17,842 ratings · 619 reviews

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new stru...more

Mass Market Paperback, #20813-3, 640 pages

Published July 12th 1983 by Fawcett Crest / Ballantine (first published 1977)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

98th out of 2,946 books — 12,393 voters

Best Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

20th out of 571 books — 1,390 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 29, 2012 Kat Hooper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

3.5 audio Originally published at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

When bored millionaire Tim Hamner discovers a new comet, he’s excited to finally accomplish something without the help of his family. Harvey Randall, who’s producing a TV documentary about the comet, expects his show to be wildly popular. And the American and Russian astronauts who are chosen to study the comet are proud to be chosen for such an important international mission.

All the experts said there was no way t...more 3.5 audio Originally published at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

When bored millionaire Tim Hamner discovers a new comet, he’s excited to finally accomplish something without the help of his family. Harvey Randall, who’s producing a TV documentary about the comet, expects his show to be wildly popular. And the American and Russian astronauts who are chosen to study the comet are proud to be chosen for such an important international mission.

All the experts said there was no way the Hamner comet would hit the Earth. But there are always plenty of people who are ready to panic — the type who start hoarding guns, ammo, and canned food. Then there are the types who are ready to prey on the panicky folks — doomsday cults declaring it’s the end of the world, or burglars waiting for the rich people to flee their expensive homes. When the comet does hit the earth, all those weirdos and the normal folks who are left must figure out how to survive on a destroyed planet. Faced with the stress of just trying to stay alive, will they become selfish and greedy, or will they work together to try to recreate their lost civilization?

Lucifer’s Hammer is an exciting post-apocalyptic story first published in 1977. It takes a while for the comet to hit as Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle introduce us to a large cast of characters — Tim Hamner and his girlfriend who doesn’t want to marry him because she has career ambitions; Harvey Randall and his dumb wife who prepared for the end of the world by stocking her freezer and packing nail polish; a senator and his beautiful daughter; a sociopath who’s stalking a young woman; a man who runs a nuclear power plant; two Russian astronauts and two American astronauts. And there are others. Though none of these characters are particularly interesting or likable, Niven and Pournelle do a good job showing us how the possibility that the world is ending affects each of them in different ways.

Once the comet finally hit, I was riveted. The action never let up. Natural disasters, the threat of world war, the fast decay of civilization — it all seemed so frighteningly possible. The catastrophe affected characters differently, seeming to strip off all the “civilization” they pad themselves with — the way they want to be perceived by others — and revealing the essence of who they really are. In Niven and Pournelle’s version of the end of the world as we know it, most humans immediately become selfish and cruel, unwilling to share food or shelter, and ready to kill those who may have something they want. Perhaps I have too much faith in humanity, but I had a hard time believing that we’d so quickly stop grieving and so quickly start turning on each other. Maybe I’m just naïve, but I’d like to think that, for most of us, such a huge tragedy would bring out empathetic cooperation rather than egocentric competition.

The authors do, however, make a good case for situational ethics, especially when dealing with such issues as biological warfare and slavery. As one character puts it, “A civilization has the ethics it can afford.” Even if I found it hard to believe, it did make me think about how our ethical standards might depend on the condition of our society, and it made me appreciate the society I live in.

Written by two middle-aged white men in the 1970’s Lucifer’s Hammer has some distasteful depictions of women and blacks. I suspect that the authors would say “but one of our astronauts is a woman and another is a black man!” and indeed they were probably the two most admirable characters in the book, but that wasn’t quite enough to make up for the ugly bits, especially the gang of black “brothers” who were the villains of the story.

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version which is almost 25 hours long and is read by Marc Vietor who was excellent, as he always is. Though I have some complaints, the basic truth is that I was caught up in the exciting story and would recommend this audio version of Lucifer’s Hammer to anyone who enjoys post-apocalyptic disaster stories.

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival–a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known….(less)

like 4 likes · see review

May 01, 2013 Donna Crupi rated it 5 of 5 stars

My God I loved this book! Back in high school I thought I wasn't a reader. Then I had an English teacher, Andy Page who would suggest I read certain books. This was the first one he recommended.

I found out it wasn't that I didn't like to read. It was that I didn't like to read crappy books.

Lucifer's Hammer is the sci-fi book I use to measure all sci-fi books against. With a memorable band of characters, a doomsday clock ticks down along with the explanation of the odds of the comet hitting the...more

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 05, 2012 Bandit rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In my quest to read classic post apocalyptic classics, I couldn't very well ignore the famous Lucifer's Hammer, although having read it, I now wish I did. Any book opening with a list of characters (and not being Shakespeare) should warn the reader of how difficult it'll be to keep those characters straight, which was definitely the case here. It might have been easier, had the characters been more likeable, but they were just a bit like stereotypes and not very relatable. The introductions took...more

like 6 likes · see review

Jun 06, 2009 Kathi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 26, 2008 Kristin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-bkgrp-selection, science-fiction

Lucifer’s Hammer falls into the “End of the World/Catastrophic Event/How Will the Human Race Survive” category, and it can be further broken down into those niche genres in SF which wipe California off the face of the map then discuss how Earth will survive.

Destruction of California aside, this was a really good book. Tim Hamner discovers a comet, which upon further investigation will be moving through Earths solar system in the immediate near future. Chances of it hitting are a million to one…n...more Lucifer’s Hammer falls into the “End of the World/Catastrophic Event/How Will the Human Race Survive” category, and it can be further broken down into those niche genres in SF which wipe California off the face of the map then discuss how Earth will survive.

Destruction of California aside, this was a really good book. Tim Hamner discovers a comet, which upon further investigation will be moving through Earths solar system in the immediate near future. Chances of it hitting are a million to one…nope, better make that 100,000 to one. Oops! Slight miscalculation, 10,000 to one. Wrong again! 1000 to one. Oh, drat! It hit in 6 places!

The first third of the book establishes the characters and how people react to the news of impending doom. And there are a LOT of characters. Some don't believe it, some go all out in their preparations, some wait till the very last day.

The second third of the book deals with impact and the days immediately after impact: how huge tsunamis wipe out any coastal area, cities and islands; the force of impact drives sea floor mud and ocean water far into the atmosphere and rains down upon the land causing huge flood events; mega-hurricanes are spawned affecting weather patterns over tremendous areas; earthquakes shake the continents and Russia and China launch nuclear weapons at each other. It looks at how people respond both individually and as small groups. It gets a bit gruesome, but I like that look at reality.

The third part of the book speculates what people would do to survive, how would they react to this new state of survival and I have to say the authors did a pretty good job on touching on a bit of every part of humanity, the good, the bad and the very ugly.

But I do have a few complaints, mostly with the third part of the book. This was written in the 70's and the 70's attitude toward women was still prevalent. Women were to be protected, took subservient roles to the men (housewives who volunteered, secretaries, accountants, cooks). What really got my goat was for one small group trying to survive, when the current leader died (predicted to happen anytime in the next "year") the new leader of the valley would be determined by whomever his daughter married. Three guys were posturing for her "attentions" while she was sneaking off to sleep with a fourth. Gimme a break!

It was also brought to my attention that blacks are stereotyped in this story as the poor inner city types who continue to rob, pillage, and rape both before impact and after. The authors attempted to counter this by sending a black man into space and have him return a hero, but his part is rather minor compared to the gangs roaming the countryside.

Still, if one can put aside some of the quirks and if you like end of the world type stories, this one was pretty darn good.
(less)

like 11 likes · see review

May 18, 2013 JP rated it 4 of 5 stars

Surpisingly 90's like for something written in the late 70's -- protagonists Timony Hamner (discoverer of the comet) and Larry Randall join the remaining survivors in creating a new civilization -- US government falls and is claimed to be lead by a variety of people heard via shortwave radio -- atomic power plant in San Joaquin valley becomes remaining monument to modern age with consequence of it being a target by the enviro-religious bands and a defended stronghold by the engineers and soldier...more

like · see review

Jul 03, 2010 Bryan added it

Interesting plot that ultimately fails to impress: Having enjoyed books by Larry Niven in the past and after reading a number of positive reviews, I was fairly certain Lucifer's Hammer would be a page turner. Unfortunately I found it to be a tremendous disappointment. The book follows the stories of several characters before, during, and after a large comet causes major devastation to the Earth and its populace--roughly covering a two year time span.

There are several problems with the book, the...more Interesting plot that ultimately fails to impress: Having enjoyed books by Larry Niven in the past and after reading a number of positive reviews, I was fairly certain Lucifer's Hammer would be a page turner. Unfortunately I found it to be a tremendous disappointment. The book follows the stories of several characters before, during, and after a large comet causes major devastation to the Earth and its populace--roughly covering a two year time span.

There are several problems with the book, the first being that it's incredibly dated. Published in the late 70s, the story contains far too many references to the politics, attitudes, and pop culture of the decade. Understandably some of this is unavoidable, but many references could and should have been avoided to keep the book at least somewhat fresh. Also, the language used to discuss science and technology as well as dialog between characters is so incredibly dumbed down that I doubt a third grader would find the story a challenging read.

One of the most frustrating and annoying problems with the book is the introduction of some potentially fascinating topics such as race relations, morality, and changes in marriage practices and mate selection in a post-apocalyptic world that either never quite get off the ground or go in very bizarre and unbelievable directions. While I don't know if this is actually the case, I can understand how many people think the authors are racist because the depiction of various ethnic groups is quite stereotypical from a 'white-conservative' perspective.

In my opinion, the protagonists are all weak characters and major concerns seem to revolve around sex, crushes, and who likes who. There are a couple of interesting characters that seem to have some depth and interesting motivations, but unfortunately they have minor roles. Also, in a book like this I would expect a certain amount of grieving for lost loved ones bordering on heart wrenching, but while there is a considerable amount of death, for the most part the characters seem ambivalent about it. I will admit that I like the direction the authors took with the comet itself in that they made it more of a character in the story rather than just an incident.

The last two chapters were downright insulting to the intelligence of the reader. It felt as if Niven and Pournelle grew bored with their own story and decided to downgrade one of the major plots to something of little importance for no apparent reason other than to reach a quick conclusion.

I am very surprised the book received so many good reviews. With respect to books with post-apocalyptic themes, I've found [[ASIN:0446350354 Warday]], [[ASIN:0451169530 The Stand]], and [[ASIN:0671741039 Swan Song]] to be far superior in both writing style and character development. However, if you decide to read Lucifer's Hammer, I recommend checking it out at your local library.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Mar 12, 2010 Angela Won added it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Lucifer’s Hammer was a very enjoyable book – it dealt with the apocalypse and its aftermath in very realistic ways. It showed what would happen if all that we relied on was taken away at a moment’s notice: anarchy, war, and eventual cannibalism.
I believe that Niven and Pournelle did a very good job of portraying life as it would be if the Hammer indeed fell (survival of the fittest in body and mind). However, I find that while the general progression of events had been believable, the book foun...more Lucifer’s Hammer was a very enjoyable book – it dealt with the apocalypse and its aftermath in very realistic ways. It showed what would happen if all that we relied on was taken away at a moment’s notice: anarchy, war, and eventual cannibalism.
I believe that Niven and Pournelle did a very good job of portraying life as it would be if the Hammer indeed fell (survival of the fittest in body and mind). However, I find that while the general progression of events had been believable, the book found itself lacking in several other areas. For example, I did not feel too much emotion for any of the characters until the very last chapter, and only then I felt it when the Senator said “give my children the lightning again (Niven, 626)” as his dying wish.
Also, some parts were unnecessary, especially the parts about Fred Lauren. He is merely shown stalking the girl, and there is no relationship between his story and the overall story of Hammerfall. Most of his narrative is about the girl that he stalks, and how he “reached out to touch her...but only in his mind, only in his hopeless yearning (Niven, 59)”, or descriptions about her clothing. He only played the part of introducing us to a place – a prison – which goes through Hammerfall and is also one of the narratives which show how different people at different places deal with the same event. I believe that this could have been done simply by introducing a prison instead of setting up an arrest which later leads to a prison.
Much in the same vein, I believe that it would have been more effective to have Hammerfall described by a wider range of people – such as children, hospital patients, businessmen, or seniors. They would have different opinions and different ways of dealing with the event, which would have been more interesting.
Overall, Lucifer’s Hammer was a good read in that it gave me food for thought; I did not sympathize with the characters, but the narrative made me think deeply. To me, that is what makes a great book.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 25, 2009 Mari rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: disaster fiction fans

Recommended to Mari by: Mom

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of the best pieces of apocalyptic fiction ever written.

There's a part early in the book where a couple of astronomers are trying to explain the sort of impact and resulting disaster that we should expect - but their explanation seems to only confuse the people present. So they search for an analogy to make it more clear:

"Hot fudge sundae," said Forrester?
"Hah?"
Forrester's grin was wide through his beard. "A cubic mile of hot fudge sundae. Cometary speeds."
Sharp's eyes lit up, "I like it...more

like · see review

May 07, 2013 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I love the idea, but I didn't like the story -- it stretched past my suspension of disbelief.

People's exhibit A: Astronauts are on a space station after an environmental catastrophe has just hit the Earth. The northern hemisphere is badly damaged, but they believe it might be safer somewhere south of the equator.

"Well, we can't land in South Africa, because there is too much violence there. And we can't risk landing in Australia, because if we land in the outback, we'll die."

"Okay. California, t...more

like · see review

May 03, 2013 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I suppose I was still in high school when I first read this book, and it stuck with me for all these years. Not because of the characters or the writing, but because it had the ring of truth about what would REALLY happen to human beings if there was an end of civilisation type of event. Apocalypse books and movies are, by far, my favourite genre, and I think that this book is what started the fascination.

Lucifer's Hammer was the first time I encountered the notion that salt, gasoline, bullets o...more

like · see review

Apr 10, 2013 carlos benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was written during and set in the late seventies. As such, there are aspects of it that are quite dated. Read it anyway. It doesn't matter.

You might think the book is about a comet hurtling toward earth, but it isn't. It's about people and how we respond to events. Will it hit? Some folks make preparations, certain that it will. Others, equally certain that it won't, make no preparations at all other than to do whatever they can to examine it closely as it passes by.

But you could have...more

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 14, 2013 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

I laughed and had to look up when this book was written when one of the characters referenced using a “Dictaphone” for her work. 1977 seems like a long time ago. This is a repeat book for me, having read it when it came out or shortly after. I’m reading it again because it showed up on someone’s list as the best end of the world type novel. But, this book reminds me not to read reviews before or during reading a book. I noticed the numerous characters in the book, maybe even more because of the...more

like · see review

Nov 28, 2012 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book having rescued it from my Dad's charity shop pile. Before I started it, I had little idea of what it was about (other than the end of the world).

That's not strictly true though, the world is pretty much fine, civilisation, however is not.

What struck me about this is how realistic the reactions of all the characters and people in general were. The authors really managed to capture human behaviour and I think they're probably not far wrong in the way mo...more

like · see review

Apr 18, 2012 Corwin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Generally I like post-apocalyptic novels but this book embodies everything I hate about 70s science fiction. Misogynistic towards women, racist towards blacks, bullsh*t macho theme where it's "every man for himself" and "save what women you can" after a comet strikes the earth. In addition to the post-apocalyptic world being written in an extremely trite way, the novel makes it worse by telling the story using 5 main characters so that we are constantly jumping back and forth between viewpoints...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

The eeriest part of the story of the dinosaurs is its sudden, abrupt, and once-mysterious ending. After nearly 200 million years of domination, the dinosaurs vanished in a startlingly moment. Although the source of this mass extinction was debated hotly for years, today a general consensus of scientists believes asteroid impact to have been the culprit. The force of the impact shockwave would have been disastrous by itself, vaporizing everything in a wide radius...but the widespread ecological d...more The eeriest part of the story of the dinosaurs is its sudden, abrupt, and once-mysterious ending. After nearly 200 million years of domination, the dinosaurs vanished in a startlingly moment. Although the source of this mass extinction was debated hotly for years, today a general consensus of scientists believes asteroid impact to have been the culprit. The force of the impact shockwave would have been disastrous by itself, vaporizing everything in a wide radius...but the widespread ecological disruption and climate change which followed doomed the survivors, especially those who were adapted for certain ecological niches. Imagine, then, the fate of hyperspecialized humans following a similar impact. What becomes of us, a species most of whose members are far removed from the production of food, who are utterly dependent on an evermore fragile castle of cards called civilization, when that structure collapses? Such is the setup of the terrifying disaster thriller Lucifer's Hammer, easily the best of its genre I have ever read...or can imagine.

The year is 1977, and the Cold War is about to end...for the participants are doomed. The discovery of a new comet delights the astronomical community and general public, especially seeing as it will pass near enough to the Earth to provide a fantastic light show but not too close as to pose a threat. But no one's data is perfect, and the comet -- dubbed The Hammer of Lucifer -- does fall. Multiple impact points vaporize land and ocean alike, and the force of the hit triggers massive earthquakes and global volcanic activity. Tsunamis and torrential rains follow, and the astronauts orbiting Earth can only watch in horror as chaos engulfs the globe, civilization goes dark, and the Earth itself becomes clouded over -- no longer a 'pale blue dot', the planet is swathed in stormclouds which will deliver a harvest-killing rain of destruction.

On the ground, beneath those clouds, there are survivors. Those who live through Hammerfall race toward the high ground like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Once they were civilized, and their shoulders bore a thousand petty burdens -- what to wear, which car to purchase next? -- but now they were reduced to scrounging for food and shelter. Rich and poor, powerful and weak, black and white -- no one is spared from the basic struggle of survival. As the weeks pass and the immediate damages are over, the scattered survivors form groups and learn that their greatest enemy may be one another, for the disaster's fallout has allowed some of the most base and savage instincts of humanity to express themselves in full. Although readers get hints of what is happening around the world, most of the action is confined to the San Joaquin Valley of California. As in Stephen King's The Stand, the survivors coalesce into two groups, and their interests collide in the fate of a nuclear power plant which somehow survived the catastrophe and may represent humanity's best hope for recovery.

Virtually every natural disaster known to us is unleashed by the Hammer, but I was less interested in the race for immediate survival during the fall itself than by the aftermath. How do people survive the coming winter, let alone the coming ice age? Lucifer's Hammer abounds in characters, and watching them struggle to regain civilization -- and collapse into depravity -- is utterly gripping. People are forced to assume leadership, to find a place for themselves in this newly devastated world. Death is all around them, and their futures are utterly uncertain. It's an ideal foundation for a novel in which human beings struggle against the elements and the worst of themselves, seeking to overcome it all.

This is one SF thriller I highly recommend; this makes the Mayan doomsday hype look pale by comparison.
(less)

like 4 likes · see review

Mar 30, 2011 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: the_apocalypse, science-fiction

The authors begin with the question "what if the Earth were hit by a fairly large comet?" What would happen? It’s been done before right?

Forget the sucky movie versions, this has a lot more of a ‘real’ feel to it. The strike portrayed here is somewhere between the Tunguska, Siberia meteor strike of 1908, and the K-t boundary disaster that probably is responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. It is nearer in severity to the dinosaur-extinguishing event, but not as bad. Still, the disaster portra...more The authors begin with the question "what if the Earth were hit by a fairly large comet?" What would happen? It’s been done before right?

Forget the sucky movie versions, this has a lot more of a ‘real’ feel to it. The strike portrayed here is somewhere between the Tunguska, Siberia meteor strike of 1908, and the K-t boundary disaster that probably is responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs. It is nearer in severity to the dinosaur-extinguishing event, but not as bad. Still, the disaster portrayed here is awful enough to completely destroy Europe, the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., coastlines worldwide, and much of the rest of the world. My kind of disaster.

The authors clearly spent some serious time thinking about all the possible ramifications of this catastrophe. Niven and Pournelle painstakingly gamed out military, agricultural, social, psychological, and medical issues, among other problems. Beyond the shock implicit in the basic premise, no extraneous horrific elements are brought in.

A lot of commentators have suggested that there is some serious racism in here. They may be correct, but I'm not sure. I think it's important to be cautious about accusing someone of racism. There is a group of people who turn to ritualized cannibalism after the comet hits, when they are on the verge of famine, and many members of this group are African-american. Not all of them, however -- there was also a battalion of soldiers, of mixed race, who were part of that group. In fact, the guy that incites them to cannibalism is supposed to be white, I think. It seems to me that the authors just wanted to have a group of people who went crazy, and turned to cannibalism. There were two groups the authors used for this dramatic purpose, and one of the groups happened to be radical black urban guerillas -- don't forget, this was written in the mid-70s. It seemed to me that they could just have easily have used any other fringe group -- take your pick. Also, don't forget, there are several sympathetic black characters among the "good guys."

My favorite part is the section where Dan Forester, the astrophysicist, tries to decide what books he should try to save, books with which to rebuild civilization. Think about that! What a conundrum. I, of course would have pick copious amounts of porn. What better to build a new world order? Just terrific, tremendous end of civilization as we know it stuff.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Feb 10, 2010 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-books-read, post-apocalyptic

This is an interesting end-of-the-world book where the major disaster is a large comet that crashes into the ocean in the 1970s. The book kept me doing nothing else but turning pages all day on Sunday. Even though I knew the comet was going to hit, I wanted to see what happened in the chaos afterward.

However, I couldn't give the book 5 stars because there were so many characters with so little personality that kept popping back up on page 600 after last seeing them on page 6. And the author som...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 21, 2010 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars

Before there was Deep Impact, Armageddon, or the series on The Change by S. M. Stirling, there was Lucifer’s Hammer – Niven and Pournelle’s apocalyptic sci-fi novel about the Comet Hamner, and the disastrous results for humanity that ensue.

Although the racial and sexual politics Niven and Pournelle interweave into their narrative are a bit dated in 70s cultural norms, the detailed description of the flooding of the San Joaquin Valley – renamed a Sea – and the destruction of much of densely inhab...more

like 2 likes · see review

Jun 24, 2009 Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I first read this book when I was in high school because my dad, who reads only slightly less voraciously and just as eclectically as me, recommended it. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven, is brilliant for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that it satisfies the part of me that craves a solid disaster-epic.

Lucifer’s Hammer is, in my disaster-epic reading experience, the best end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book ever. It has action! Drama! Cannibalism! A large cast of expendable characters!...more I first read this book when I was in high school because my dad, who reads only slightly less voraciously and just as eclectically as me, recommended it. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven, is brilliant for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that it satisfies the part of me that craves a solid disaster-epic.

Lucifer’s Hammer is, in my disaster-epic reading experience, the best end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book ever. It has action! Drama! Cannibalism! A large cast of expendable characters! In a word: AWESOME.

So the book is split into three parts: pre-comet, during-comet, and post-comet. The pre-comet part, is, as you might expect, where Niven and Pournelle introduce all the important characters: Tim Hamner, the rich amateur astronomer who first discovers the comet; Harvey Randall, a television documentary producer; Senator Jellison, a… senator, and his daughter, Maureen; Johnny Baker and Rick Delanty, two American astronauts; and many, many, many others.

When Tim first discovers the comet, no one really thinks anything of it beyond, “Hey, cool. You got a comet named after you.” But as its path brings closer to Earth, scientists start narrowing down the margin of miles by which it will miss – and even they can’t tell if it will hit or just come super-close.

The during-comet section is by far my favorite, as it fulfills my (very odd) need for tidal waves and other humanity-destroying natural disasters. When the comet does hit, very few people in the world are actually prepared for it, and Niven and Pournelle spend a good part of the book writing about the various comet-head impacts from different characters’ perspectives.

(I hope I’m not giving too much away by saying that most of the characters die horribly. One character dies by surfing the California coast tidal wave into an apartment building. Seriously. AWESOME!)

The post-comet section follows the survivors as they either (1) make their way to the Stronghold, Senator Jellison’s ranch, where a group of survivors is attempting to hold on to the last vestiges of civilization, or (2) join the New Brotherhood, an army of survivors who are determined to crush the last vestiges of civilization and begin anew, this time with more cannibalism. The conflict between the two comes to a head when both groups realize that the San Joaquin nuclear power plant survived the impact and that it is the key to saving (or destroying) civilization.

I really liked this book when I first read it years ago, and I’ve re-read it a few times since, but this time around, it really struck me as very realistic in its depiction of how people might react in a crisis of this magnitude. This is especially true in the post-comet section, in which the leaders of the Stronghold have to make some tough decisions about the needs of a few versus the needs of the many – and they don’t take the sappy-happy “we can save everyone, can’t we?” path.
(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Aug 18, 2009 Roger Ladd rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've always enjoyed this book, which is a classic disaster novel. Some aspects of it have grown very dated over the years, though; the politics is very 1970s, with the take on survivalism very pre-militia movement, and some of the gender politics is problematic. Still, while the authors do allow viewpoint characters to express their glee at the idea that a comet impact would suddenly end feminism along with the rest of civilization, there are some very strong (if under-written) female characters...more

like · see review

Feb 22, 2013 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars

About a quarter of the way into this story and I'm wondering if Niven is EVER going to GET to the STORY. So far it's an endless roll-out of characters and their mini-bios... why oh why should the reader care about the history of a secretary whose only speaks about one sentence?

It takes nearly half the book before the story actually starts. Niven created way too many sub-plots and characters. It's like a movie made up of nothing but minor supporting characters and no real central protagonist to...more

like · see review

Feb 22, 2011 Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I try to make it a point to finish any book I start (a corollary of that being that I usually read one book at a time so I can't trick myself into not finishing a book while telling myself I've not given up on it, I'm just reading the other book more). The only two exceptions to this rule in the modern era of my reading that I can recall are Greg Bear's Eternity, which I thought read like unmitigated dross compared to its predecessor, and Niven and Pournelle's Footfall, which I started reading h...more I try to make it a point to finish any book I start (a corollary of that being that I usually read one book at a time so I can't trick myself into not finishing a book while telling myself I've not given up on it, I'm just reading the other book more). The only two exceptions to this rule in the modern era of my reading that I can recall are Greg Bear's Eternity, which I thought read like unmitigated dross compared to its predecessor, and Niven and Pournelle's Footfall, which I started reading having confused it for Bear's The Forge of God. Hmm, this is starting to look like some soap-opera ménage à trois, but anyway. A couple of weeks ago I spotted Lucifer's Hammer in my local charity book shop's bargain bucket. I recalled that Footfall's blurb said nice things about this book, and I'm always willing to give authors a second chance when that chance is part of a three-for-a-pound deal, so I grabbed this book and gave it a try.

I'm happy to say I found the book much better than Footfall — I finished it for one. The gist of the story is that a comet gives the Earth a glancing blow. The story is split roughly into three acts that deal with how people react to the comet's approach, then with the immediate aftermath of the strike, and finally with how they strive for long-term survival. The first act is basically a few hundred pages of introducing characters. Almost no one believes the comet will strike, because the scientists assure everybody it won't. The book was written in the mid 1970s and it seems awfully quaint that NASA doesn't think the comet will hit Earth, right up to the moment it does. As those familiar with 99942 Apophis know, these days we can figure out where these space-rocks will be in twenty years time, whereas in the book they seem to struggle with twenty minutes. This uncertainty is, I suppose, a plot device to ensure that people are caught mostly unawares when the comet strikes. This makes the last two thirds of the book much more interesting because the frantic efforts to survive do feel much more touch-and-go, however it does mean the first third of the book can drag a little.

The middle third is perhaps where the book excels. Civilisation goes to shreds within minutes of the comet striking. Some of the barbarianism committed literally moments after the first, distant strikes seem a little over the top. Would people really resort to murder within a couple of minutes of a comet strike some distance away, before it was even clear how bad things were? The authors think so. A lot of characters who were carefully introduced in the first third die off-page, and many more suddenly reappear much later in the book. As the story progresses all the surviving main characters end up together in the same sheltered valley, four of them literally dropping out of the sky and usefully landing in the fields alongside this valley. The struggle to survive the coming harsh winter begins. A lot of effort is put into convincing the reader how difficult surviving the coming cold weather will be. There's not enough food, not enough medicine, no more refugees can possibly be taken in, they're almost out of toilet paper, things are getting bad.

And then the book decides to turn into The Stand. Because surviving a comet strike and scraping through an impact winter aren't difficult enough, the authors throw a bunch of cannibals at our heroes. Oh, and the cannibals are a mixture of black street criminals, right wing Christian nut jobs, and the US army. The imminent Battle Between Good And Evil dominates the end of the book. After the good guy's not-very-convincing victory there's a rather rushed dénouement, with an off-page much-more-convincing victory, and a return to civilisation with electric cars and communist prison camps and the usual perks of Californian life. Oh, and a cringeworthy horror-movie-esque closing where the comet reaches the Oort cloud then starts to swing back towards the solar system. (Lucifer's Hammer 2 coming to your bookshops next summer. If you're reading other science fiction then Stop! It's Hammertime!)

The book, then, is a mixed bag. Niven and Pournelle are one of the exceptions to my finish-every-book rule. But, like the saying goes, the exceptions are in the pudding. This book is like a pudding, a hot fudge sundae if you will. Throw several million cubic metres of hot fudge sundae at a large rocky planet and some of it will stick, and some of it won't.

It's nice to read a book that dispels the Hollywood notion that every asteroid must either wipe us out or be blown up by some gruff deep-sea oil drillers. However, if you really want to read about post-apocalyptic battles betwixt Good and Evil then you really shouldn't be looking any further than The Stand. As far as science-fiction goes, I dare say there are better comet strike books out there, but while I'm looking for them, you could certainly do worse than this book.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Jan 18, 2013 Nick rated it 1 of 5 stars

So I really wanted to like this book. It had all of the criteria that I look for in a good sci-fi read. Plus it had a giant comet hurtling toward earth on a collision course. What's not to like about that? And then I started to read it and began to become distracted with what I perceived to be not-so-subtle tinges of racial prejudice. For instance, one of the black characters is hosting a barbecue and of course the old fried chicken joke gets rolled out by one of his white buddies. Then, in desc...more

like · see review

Apr 14, 2012 Hollowman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Generally well written and an IMPORTANT topic that needs to be written about ... but ...
--TOO long. Could have easily been edited to 200-250 pages.
--WEIRD racial / cultural descriptions. The non-contextual "racism" is just plain strange ... intelligent/educated authors -- which I assume this duo are -- usually don't engage in racially-derogatory "style" w/o some sort of larger social-commentary framework (e.g., strawman: present it weakly or "dumbed-down" in order to criticize it). Dunno why EXA...more

like 1 like · see review

Aug 29, 2011 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of classics of its genre, and very deservingly so. It's written in 1978 and some of the story arcs will show this book's age, but overall it is suprisingly realistic and still relevant vision of an civilization-ending event. The authors don't pull the punches, once the 'hammer falls', it's adios to save the women and children first and survival of the fittest takes over. Very un-PC, but that's how I'd imagine it would be. And yet, this is no 'Mad Max'-book. The characters are well developed...more

like 1 like · see review

Jun 13, 2010 Jason_W. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 8th-grade-ir-book-rick

Lucifers Hammer is about a commet that crushes the Earths. As most of the Western Hemisphere is wiped out the surviors try hard to group together. Without food they mught not live long but these indivduals are not without talents. They are of all professions. Then a group is trying to take over this half of the world and a breakout war in the United States, except there is no governement. Now the Brotherhood Army caniabals take on the newly formed Governors group.

I can conncet to world how many...more

like · see review

Mar 14, 2012 Rob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was quite the interesting read. At first the situation seemed a bit unlikely: a comet hits the earth, causing a disaster large enough to wipe out civilization as we know it, but not large enough to erase the human race. As I worked my way through the book, the scenario didn't seem quite so far-fetched.

At the beginning of the book we're introduced to a hodge-podge of characters, who mostly don't know each other. That is tiresome at first, but of course at the end of the book all the story line...more

like · see review

Feb 26, 2010 Pat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great Book. Fully recommended to Sci-fi fans.

I literally just put it down, so my thoughts are fresh. A gripping tale, not to be read before bed every night (which I tended to do). Though sometimes predictable, the nature of the topic matter (asteroid strikes Earth, chaos ensues, and then the story of the characters finding their way through the chaos) made any predictability unimportant.

I haven't read a book that characterized the aftermath of such an event with such horrific detail. I plan on r...more

like · see review

Oct 16, 2009 No Remorse rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to No Remorse by: http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/

Great book, very good story of what types of things can happen if a comet hit the earth. The things people have to deal with and overcome is a wake up call and really
makes you think. Makes you also think about the everyday basic necessities we have and take for granted. How far we have come in 100 years is really mind blowing.
This book is a real slow starter though, but i guess that's better than just jumping right into the action with no build up. I think this book had to many characters,
the...more

like 2 likes · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's The Name o...: A Book about a comet hitting the Earth [s]	10	80	Mar 25, 2013 07:21pm
Sci-fi and Heroic...: Books to read as the Asteroid passes by	2	17	Feb 15, 2013 09:06am
The Sword and Laser: Newly discovered comet may outshine moon in 2013...	2	69	Sep 27, 2012 08:19pm

combine
Other Editions (21)

More editions...

Genres

Science Fiction

503 users

Apocalyptic > Post Apocalyptic

145 users

Science Fiction > Apocalyptic

63 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

34 users

Speculative Fiction

16 users

Science Fiction > Dystopia

14 users

Classics

14 users

Novels

11 users

Adventure > Survival

10 users

Adventure

9 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Larry Niven

Laurence 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...more Laurence 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.

In addition to his awards for Ringworld, Niven won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Neutron Star" in 1967. He won the same award 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 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...

(less)

More about Larry Niven...

Books by Larry Niven

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Lucifer's Hammer

3 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Lucifer's Hammer

“The value of a thing is what that thing will bring. -Legal Maxim” — 3 people liked it

“Spray a book with insect spray, drop it in a bag, add some mothballs and seal it. Put it in another bag and seal it. Another. The packages piled up on the floor, each a book sealed in four plastic envelopes.” — 1 person liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Lucifer's Hammer
avg rating	preview: Lucifer's Hammer Goodreads rating: 3.94 (17842 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218467.Lucifer_s_Hammer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348797310l/218467.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218467.Lucifer_s_Hammer?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven[/url]

Lucifer's Hammer

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website