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Moties #2
The Gripping Hand
For the safety of mankind, the aliens called Moties have been quarantined for 25 years (see THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE) and are now poised to break out of their solar system and spread rapidly into humanity's space. Kevin Renner, Horace Bury, Rod Blaine and other characters introduced in THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE must now find new ways to cope with the inevitable Motie expansion while trying to protect humanity. Sequel to the novel Robert A. Heinlein called "Possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read."
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
430 people are currently reading
3178 people want to read
About the author
Larry Niven
689 books3,313 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 340 reviews
July 2, 2017
This sequel to The Mote in God's Eye is a two-time DNF for me. I like the first book so much and I kept thinking, even if the sequel's not as good, it has to be worth reading, and I really want to find out what happened with the Moties. And both times--several years apart--I got about half-way through, bogged down and quit. The storyline just got too slow and confusing and I completely lost interest.
I was reasonably engaged with the first half of the story, which involves a mystery with a Mormon group on a planet that may have some clandestine dealings with the Moties, which is of grave concern to the authorities, since Moties reproduce incredibly quickly and Motie warriors = Death, walking. But somehow when the setting and conflict moved out into space it totally lost me. I like space opera and I'm usually good with space wars, so I never have figured this out. It still irks me.
Maybe someday I'll give it a third shot.
I was reasonably engaged with the first half of the story, which involves a mystery with a Mormon group on a planet that may have some clandestine dealings with the Moties, which is of grave concern to the authorities, since Moties reproduce incredibly quickly and Motie warriors = Death, walking. But somehow when the setting and conflict moved out into space it totally lost me. I like space opera and I'm usually good with space wars, so I never have figured this out. It still irks me.
Maybe someday I'll give it a third shot.
December 1, 2011
This is the sequel to The Mote in God's Eye, and everything that made the original book remarkable is missing, while everything that bothered me about it is back with a force. What made the original so compelling was the central mystery around the true nature of the aliens with whom the protagonists make first contact -- I can't talk about that without spoiling the first book to readers unfamiliar with it. There's very little of that sort of driving enigma present in The Gripping Hand. The novel takes the conclusion from the first book and follows it logically, ploddingly, through several hundred pages of military, political, and economic maneuvering. I was not much entertained, and didn't learn much of anything new about the aliens or humanity. The plot also feels padded by a couple pretty unrelated vignettes that don't seem like they belong -- this might be some sort of discord between the two authors showing through.
If you read The Mote in God's Eye and liked it, maybe leave it at that.
If you read The Mote in God's Eye and liked it, maybe leave it at that.
July 10, 2017
4.5 stars rounded up. I first read this story many years ago when it was first published.
Now having gone through it again, this time as an audio book, I have to say the story has held up very well. In fact I think I enjoyed it more the second time. Niven and Pournelle gave us a gripping story with lots of space action and interesting aliens.
This book can be read alone but to get the most from it, it would be best to read The Mote in God's Eye first.
Now having gone through it again, this time as an audio book, I have to say the story has held up very well. In fact I think I enjoyed it more the second time. Niven and Pournelle gave us a gripping story with lots of space action and interesting aliens.
This book can be read alone but to get the most from it, it would be best to read The Mote in God's Eye first.
March 9, 2016
I first read this in 1994 and had low opinion of it. Re-reading it now I think there's more to it than I understood. It has two large problems. It's sequel to one of the most highly regarded science fiction novels ever so it would have to be of the stature of the Divine Comedy to not seem a let-down. I think it also suffers from too many ideas in too few pages (412). This causes the development to seem sketchy. It probably needed about a thousand to fully develop its burden. But then it would have been criticized for being overly-long.
I will praise it for two qualities and an odd bit of computer science history. It deals with the question of the Moties from a completely different point of view than the first novel which I think is a triumph of imagination, the Moties in the first book being so striking and permanently fixed in the minds of readers. I credit Niven for that. And it is a sympathetic portrayal of the problem of being Arab and Moslem in a world dominated by Christians and that is a subject that could use a lot more attention in AD 2016. The odd thing is that this book, published in 1993, makes reference to private/public key encryption, that's quite early to be talking about it. I credit Pournelle for that.
I will praise it for two qualities and an odd bit of computer science history. It deals with the question of the Moties from a completely different point of view than the first novel which I think is a triumph of imagination, the Moties in the first book being so striking and permanently fixed in the minds of readers. I credit Niven for that. And it is a sympathetic portrayal of the problem of being Arab and Moslem in a world dominated by Christians and that is a subject that could use a lot more attention in AD 2016. The odd thing is that this book, published in 1993, makes reference to private/public key encryption, that's quite early to be talking about it. I credit Pournelle for that.
March 6, 2016
This is one of those rare novels that I just can't finish. If I'm halfway through and I still have found not an iota to like, I'll pack it in. When I was younger, I toughed out everything. "I never put a book down, no matter how bad!" Whatever, Young & Stupid Me. Life is too short to slog through terrible shit.
Now, I loved "The Mote in God's Eye". That was a four-star sci-fi space opera epic. This...I don't even know what to say. A lot of people found fault with the shallow characterization of the first novel (c'mon: most of the characters then were military officers in a crisis situation--they're not gonna break out their banjos and tea-bagging), and this is far worse and inexcusable in this book. I guess that's what comes from waiting decades to write the sequel to something. The same characters flit wraith-like through interminable conversations and meetings and wondering-things and convenient-answers and deductions that leave the reader befuddled.
I got halfway through, like I said and the Moties were just showing up but even then, the immediate reintroduction of them became a gigantic "Falcon's Crest" clusterfuck that made me quietly slip my bookmark out and pass it over onto the "Going to the Used Book Store" stack.
Now, I loved "The Mote in God's Eye". That was a four-star sci-fi space opera epic. This...I don't even know what to say. A lot of people found fault with the shallow characterization of the first novel (c'mon: most of the characters then were military officers in a crisis situation--they're not gonna break out their banjos and tea-bagging), and this is far worse and inexcusable in this book. I guess that's what comes from waiting decades to write the sequel to something. The same characters flit wraith-like through interminable conversations and meetings and wondering-things and convenient-answers and deductions that leave the reader befuddled.
I got halfway through, like I said and the Moties were just showing up but even then, the immediate reintroduction of them became a gigantic "Falcon's Crest" clusterfuck that made me quietly slip my bookmark out and pass it over onto the "Going to the Used Book Store" stack.
September 28, 2007
Long-awaited sequel to The Mote in God's Eye. It doesn't live up to its predecessor, but Mote is perhaps the best first contact s.f. novel ever, so it's understandable why Hand fails to hit the mark.
Roughly the first half of the novel, before Kevin Renner and company return to the Mote system, is slow-going, but I appreciated the opportunity to see a bit more of the Empire itself, especially the capital world of Sparta. The character of Horace Hussein Bury is also fleshed out much more here than in the first book. He quickly becomes the central and most interesting character in the book.
The second half, the return to the Mote system, gives us Niven and Pournelle at their imaginative best. We see a fully-realized asteroid-belt civilization of Motie factions duking it out in an arena of scarce resources and power politics that Machiavelli would have recognized. The space battles in part 2 are just as suspenseful as anything out of Star Wars (or Midway in WWII), but the laws of physics apply here: Niven and Pournelle never wander outside the confines of their hard s.f. setting.
Roughly the first half of the novel, before Kevin Renner and company return to the Mote system, is slow-going, but I appreciated the opportunity to see a bit more of the Empire itself, especially the capital world of Sparta. The character of Horace Hussein Bury is also fleshed out much more here than in the first book. He quickly becomes the central and most interesting character in the book.
The second half, the return to the Mote system, gives us Niven and Pournelle at their imaginative best. We see a fully-realized asteroid-belt civilization of Motie factions duking it out in an arena of scarce resources and power politics that Machiavelli would have recognized. The space battles in part 2 are just as suspenseful as anything out of Star Wars (or Midway in WWII), but the laws of physics apply here: Niven and Pournelle never wander outside the confines of their hard s.f. setting.
June 21, 2016
-Desarrollar, ordeñar y exprimir no son sinónimos.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Un cuarto de siglo después de los acontecimientos de “La paja en el ojo de Dios”, algunos de sus protagonistas siguen preocupados por la posible entrada de los pajeños en el espacio controlado por los humanos del Imperio y, en ocasiones, ven fantasmas al respecto por todas partes. Pero la verdad es que se están dando las circunstancias para que la peculiar raza pueda escapar de su confinamiento protegido por naves de guerra del CoDominio. Segundo libro de la saga Los paceños.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Un cuarto de siglo después de los acontecimientos de “La paja en el ojo de Dios”, algunos de sus protagonistas siguen preocupados por la posible entrada de los pajeños en el espacio controlado por los humanos del Imperio y, en ocasiones, ven fantasmas al respecto por todas partes. Pero la verdad es que se están dando las circunstancias para que la peculiar raza pueda escapar de su confinamiento protegido por naves de guerra del CoDominio. Segundo libro de la saga Los paceños.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
January 19, 2010
It's always hard to follow up a great book with an equally enjoyable sequel. While I have speculated that this is because the best ideas tend to get used up in the first book, it goes without saying that so many sequels fail to live up to their predecessor. With "The Gripping Hand," Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle present their attempt to follow up the success of "The Mote in God's Eye," and while it is an admirable effort, I believe that it falls short, if only just.
The first book in this two book series, "The Mote in God's Eye,"(and no, it has nothing to do with God, or with His eye) presented mankind's first encounter with alien sentient life. In Niven and Pournelle's universe, mankind has left earth and spread through the universe under the rule of an enlightened dictatorship. One day, an alien probe, of sorts, appears in one of mankind's remote systems. An expedition is quickly dispatched to the source of the probe, a distant solar system known as the Mote. When the danger to human-life in the alien civilization becomes apparent, mankind blockades the only access route out of the system, narrowly avoiding genocide, either for man or them.
"The Gripping Hand" opens up twenty-five years later. Suddenly, a new exit from the system is opening, and the Empire of Man is scrambling to prepare for what may be imminent war with the Motie civilization.
The book is enjoyable, and Niven and Pournelle do a wonderful job of presenting the Motie culture in contrast to human nature, creating space battles that span hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and developing characters that have changed over the decades between the books. They stick as close science as possible, or as much as one can without dipping into a fast and loose "Star Wars" type of universe (where the space ships make noise, fly like fighter jets under gravity and an atmosphere, and a mystical power called the Force allows just about anything...not that I'm knocking Star Wars...), which makes the books more credible and enjoyable and suspension of disbelief less difficult.
The weakness in their story telling is, for me, in the development of characters and culture. In "The Mote in God's Eye" we meet a culture that is closer in its morality to Edwardian or Victorian Great Britain than the looser morals of the twenty-first century. By the time the events of "The Gripping Hand" take place, however, just twenty-five years later (and mind that this is all over a thousand years in our future), sexual mores have digressed to the point where the marriage relationship means little. Whereas in the first book a couple would not even consider sexual contact outside of marriage, sexual pairing in the second appears at time to be almost recreational, bearing no connection to relationships.
Please do not mistake me--Niven and Pournelle keep their books PG or PG-13, and I do not recall any language, sexual descriptions, or even gratuitous violence. However, the characters act more like the Hollywood set than would be expected after a mere twenty-five years beyond the very careful and chaste Victorian modes of interaction. The reason behind this, I believe, is in large part because the first book was written nearly 20 years ago, and Niven and Pournelle are trying to make their book more palatable and readable to a far more sexually active culture (ours) than that in which they wrote. I think it does not serve the book, and in fact weakens the character development.
The second complaint I have is about the ending. While "The Gripping Hand" appropriately builds the tension and quickly ends after the resolution, the final resolution gives the impression that Niven and Pournelle just ran out of ideas and energy. And that was where they ended it.
Whatever the cause, these two complaints result in an almost five star book getting knocked down to three. It is worth reading if you want to know "the rest of the story" after "The Mote In God's Eye," but that's about it. It doesn't have the same energy, but is merely a sequel.
The first book in this two book series, "The Mote in God's Eye,"(and no, it has nothing to do with God, or with His eye) presented mankind's first encounter with alien sentient life. In Niven and Pournelle's universe, mankind has left earth and spread through the universe under the rule of an enlightened dictatorship. One day, an alien probe, of sorts, appears in one of mankind's remote systems. An expedition is quickly dispatched to the source of the probe, a distant solar system known as the Mote. When the danger to human-life in the alien civilization becomes apparent, mankind blockades the only access route out of the system, narrowly avoiding genocide, either for man or them.
"The Gripping Hand" opens up twenty-five years later. Suddenly, a new exit from the system is opening, and the Empire of Man is scrambling to prepare for what may be imminent war with the Motie civilization.
The book is enjoyable, and Niven and Pournelle do a wonderful job of presenting the Motie culture in contrast to human nature, creating space battles that span hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and developing characters that have changed over the decades between the books. They stick as close science as possible, or as much as one can without dipping into a fast and loose "Star Wars" type of universe (where the space ships make noise, fly like fighter jets under gravity and an atmosphere, and a mystical power called the Force allows just about anything...not that I'm knocking Star Wars...), which makes the books more credible and enjoyable and suspension of disbelief less difficult.
The weakness in their story telling is, for me, in the development of characters and culture. In "The Mote in God's Eye" we meet a culture that is closer in its morality to Edwardian or Victorian Great Britain than the looser morals of the twenty-first century. By the time the events of "The Gripping Hand" take place, however, just twenty-five years later (and mind that this is all over a thousand years in our future), sexual mores have digressed to the point where the marriage relationship means little. Whereas in the first book a couple would not even consider sexual contact outside of marriage, sexual pairing in the second appears at time to be almost recreational, bearing no connection to relationships.
Please do not mistake me--Niven and Pournelle keep their books PG or PG-13, and I do not recall any language, sexual descriptions, or even gratuitous violence. However, the characters act more like the Hollywood set than would be expected after a mere twenty-five years beyond the very careful and chaste Victorian modes of interaction. The reason behind this, I believe, is in large part because the first book was written nearly 20 years ago, and Niven and Pournelle are trying to make their book more palatable and readable to a far more sexually active culture (ours) than that in which they wrote. I think it does not serve the book, and in fact weakens the character development.
The second complaint I have is about the ending. While "The Gripping Hand" appropriately builds the tension and quickly ends after the resolution, the final resolution gives the impression that Niven and Pournelle just ran out of ideas and energy. And that was where they ended it.
Whatever the cause, these two complaints result in an almost five star book getting knocked down to three. It is worth reading if you want to know "the rest of the story" after "The Mote In God's Eye," but that's about it. It doesn't have the same energy, but is merely a sequel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2018
Sequel to The Mote in God's Eye.
After a quarter of a century, the Moties are poised to return, and humanity has to try to deal with it.
Just didn't hit me at all.
After a quarter of a century, the Moties are poised to return, and humanity has to try to deal with it.
Just didn't hit me at all.
July 16, 2023
This is a sequel to "The Mote in God's Eye". They did a good job of it too. The first novel ended in a blockade of the Mote system with the knowledge that it couldn't last forever. Decades later it is falling apart. Horace Bury has been paranoid about the Moties getting out and pushes to inspect the blockade fleet. Then the jump points change unexpectedly and the Empire Fleet must scramble to find the new ones before the Moties escape. There is a way to solve the problem that the Blaine Institute has developed, but there is no way to know if the Moties will accept it. Rod and Sally Blaine's daughter and son try to solve this problem along with Horace Bury and Kevin Renner by going to the Motie system. The galaxy teeters on a knifes edge.
Any problems with this story? There is a reporter who comes along, but doesn't act much like a reporter. Also there is a love interest introduced and then left behind as if the authors had big plans for her, but then realized it complicated the story too much. The Blaine (adult) children act strangely. This is explained at the end, but I didn't find it satisfying. Kevin Renner mostly acted like a smart ass which was his character, but then changed to something more serious toward the end which I found odd. It was needed, but odd. These are minor complaints but I noticed.
I really enjoyed this novel and I'd read it again.
Any problems with this story? There is a reporter who comes along, but doesn't act much like a reporter. Also there is a love interest introduced and then left behind as if the authors had big plans for her, but then realized it complicated the story too much. The Blaine (adult) children act strangely. This is explained at the end, but I didn't find it satisfying. Kevin Renner mostly acted like a smart ass which was his character, but then changed to something more serious toward the end which I found odd. It was needed, but odd. These are minor complaints but I noticed.
I really enjoyed this novel and I'd read it again.
November 26, 2011
25 years have passed since the Moties were locked into their solar system by the human blockade.In the plot of The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven Horace Bury, the man given thje job of keeping the alien moties under control, and his assistant Renner find out that a new jump point to the motie system may open up allowing the moties to escape. Mean while a worm is invented to allow moties to live without reproducing.If moties don't reproduce they die. Burry and Renner discover the jump point just in time because seven motie ships jump through. Luckily they want to negotiate and are from a specific sect of the motie civilization. Burry and Renner become embroiled in a civil war when their ships are attacked by other motie sects trying to silence the humans so they can invade the human systems. These moties catch Glenda Ruth and Freddy Townsend who have the motie worm. The plot thickens from there. I would suggest this book to mature science fiction readers of either gender. The book has a some action in it but at some parts can be a little boring. This book is a fun read and kept me up late with tails of intrigue.
December 30, 2008
Have you ever watched a sequel to a movie that you really liked, and partway into it realized that the whole purpose of the movie was for the stars to have a paid summer vacation? (Yes Ocean's Twelve, I'm looking at you.) The plot is thin, marginal characters from the original show up, there are a lot of exotic locales and gratuitous makeouts between characters (onscreen or off), and basically everyone in the production, if not the audience, is having fun.
The Gripping Hand is that concept applied to science fiction novels. Take one of the best science fiction novels ever, bring back characters important and marginal, visit several more fun-but-only-tangentially-related places in that universe, and have a lot more partying and sex. Oh, and have a feel-good but thin plot to tie it all together. Then, sell it to all your fans who loved the first book and watch the royalties flow in.
The Gripping Hand is that concept applied to science fiction novels. Take one of the best science fiction novels ever, bring back characters important and marginal, visit several more fun-but-only-tangentially-related places in that universe, and have a lot more partying and sex. Oh, and have a feel-good but thin plot to tie it all together. Then, sell it to all your fans who loved the first book and watch the royalties flow in.
February 19, 2016
The Gripping Hand (1993) is Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s sequel to their popular 1974 novel The Mote in God’s Eye, which you probably want to read first. This review will have a couple of spoilers for The Mote in God’s Eye.
Recall that by the year 3017 AD, humans had designed the Alderson Drive — an interstellar transporter which allowed them to jump out of our galaxy to colonize different star systems. Then they discovered the first alien species — the Moties — who were excellent engineers but did not know the science behind the Alderson Drive. The Moties must breed to survive and were quickly overpopulating their own star system. Because they represent a major threat to our species, the human space navy ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Recall that by the year 3017 AD, humans had designed the Alderson Drive — an interstellar transporter which allowed them to jump out of our galaxy to colonize different star systems. Then they discovered the first alien species — the Moties — who were excellent engineers but did not know the science behind the Alderson Drive. The Moties must breed to survive and were quickly overpopulating their own star system. Because they represent a major threat to our species, the human space navy ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
May 18, 2016
This is one of many books that I did not review immediately upon completing this spring (2016)
Oh, my lord, this book was so boring. There is no way, I mean NO WAY that Robert Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." (The review doesn't actually make clear whether he was talking about "The Mote in God's Eye" or about "The Gripping Hand," but either way!
This book was so boring that I could barely read the Wikipedia summary to remind myself what it had been about. This book was so boring that I slept more while reading it than I ever have before. This book was so boring that it put people AROUND me to sleep.
So. Boring.
Oh, my lord, this book was so boring. There is no way, I mean NO WAY that Robert Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." (The review doesn't actually make clear whether he was talking about "The Mote in God's Eye" or about "The Gripping Hand," but either way!
This book was so boring that I could barely read the Wikipedia summary to remind myself what it had been about. This book was so boring that I slept more while reading it than I ever have before. This book was so boring that it put people AROUND me to sleep.
So. Boring.
January 27, 2008
THis is the sequel to A Mote In God's Eye (Murchison's Eye in the UK I think). Pournelle and Niven have worked together brilliantly to bring this complex story to completion. It's a great examination of the need to understand the other person's motivation before committing to major action.
November 23, 2018
Considering the rating, I find the book to be utterly disappointing. It probably assumes the reader to be familiar with the previous book in the series, and for readers like me, it is confusing and after a while, I lost interest and a kind of forced myself to finish it.
February 11, 2016
Very slow first half book, it got better but off it goes to listia. =)
February 28, 2019
WARNING! Minor spoilers of the prequel to The Gripping Hand, The Mote in God's Eye, are contained in this review.
The Gripping Hand is the sequel to one of my favorite science fiction novels, The Mote in God's Eye. I had no idea there was a sequel until I stumbled upon a copy a while back. I was surprised to see that though I distinctly recall reading Mote it was not on my list of books read. (I have since corrected this electronically.) I started to keep a list of books I read circa June 1979. Conclusion: I read Mote before that. I was conning my Dad into letting me check out books from the "Older Person" part of the library for many moons before 79-children's books bored me. But I have arbitrarily decided I had to have read Mote when I was thirteen, because it is too appropriate not to be returning to the "motie-verse" four decades later. Which brings us, in a roundabout fashion, to The Gripping Hand.
In Hand the action is taking place around twenty five years after the events in Mote. New readers need to read Mote before Hand. Mote tells the story of the human race's first encounter with an alien species, and what a colossal disaster almost ensues. The aliens (called Moties, after the astronomical feature the Mote their system orbits around) are possibly the most dangerous creatures in the universe. They're basically super speciated and hyper intelligent Tribbles-they MUST get pregnant or die. And they breed like locusts-an ever increasing population fighting over limited resources in endless cycles of war, famine, poverty-civilizations rise and fall. At the end of Mote humanity manages to blockade the Moties into their own system (Humanity's arrival teaches the Moties about faster than light space travel and they are quick learners.) This is necessary or the Moties will overrun the entirety of the known universe (they breed fast.) In Hand the Moties are breaking out of this blockade. Several characters from the first book return in the second, some in the form of cameos and some as main characters. One thing i liked about Hand-Larry Niven and (the late) Jerry Pournelle could have written the same book twice, but they choose not to do that. Instead we end up dealing with an entirely new set of variables, which I will not reveal here. Niven and Pournelle have written some very exciting books, like Footfall and The Legacy of Heorot with Steven Barnes. Great space opera that is intelligently written is hard to find. The Dripping Hand is all of that and more.
The Gripping Hand is the sequel to one of my favorite science fiction novels, The Mote in God's Eye. I had no idea there was a sequel until I stumbled upon a copy a while back. I was surprised to see that though I distinctly recall reading Mote it was not on my list of books read. (I have since corrected this electronically.) I started to keep a list of books I read circa June 1979. Conclusion: I read Mote before that. I was conning my Dad into letting me check out books from the "Older Person" part of the library for many moons before 79-children's books bored me. But I have arbitrarily decided I had to have read Mote when I was thirteen, because it is too appropriate not to be returning to the "motie-verse" four decades later. Which brings us, in a roundabout fashion, to The Gripping Hand.
In Hand the action is taking place around twenty five years after the events in Mote. New readers need to read Mote before Hand. Mote tells the story of the human race's first encounter with an alien species, and what a colossal disaster almost ensues. The aliens (called Moties, after the astronomical feature the Mote their system orbits around) are possibly the most dangerous creatures in the universe. They're basically super speciated and hyper intelligent Tribbles-they MUST get pregnant or die. And they breed like locusts-an ever increasing population fighting over limited resources in endless cycles of war, famine, poverty-civilizations rise and fall. At the end of Mote humanity manages to blockade the Moties into their own system (Humanity's arrival teaches the Moties about faster than light space travel and they are quick learners.) This is necessary or the Moties will overrun the entirety of the known universe (they breed fast.) In Hand the Moties are breaking out of this blockade. Several characters from the first book return in the second, some in the form of cameos and some as main characters. One thing i liked about Hand-Larry Niven and (the late) Jerry Pournelle could have written the same book twice, but they choose not to do that. Instead we end up dealing with an entirely new set of variables, which I will not reveal here. Niven and Pournelle have written some very exciting books, like Footfall and The Legacy of Heorot with Steven Barnes. Great space opera that is intelligently written is hard to find. The Dripping Hand is all of that and more.
July 21, 2018
Storyline: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 3/5
I've looked forward to The Gripping Hand. In fact, I've thought better of the series' first, The Mote in God's Eye since I first read and enjoyed it. It captured politics really well, particularly the politics in limited information scenarios. Thus what resulted was a space opera full of diplomatic brinkmanship, thoughtfully written. Niven and Pournelle do something similar in The Gripping Hand except they don't devote nearly as much time to culture and difference. Discovery and diplomacy, then, play a smaller part in the story, and the focus instead is more on military strategy and tactics. This wasn't handled as smartly as the encounters were in the first book, but there's still some good moments of crisis decision-making. If the first was a sci fi tale of brinkmanship then this one was a military science fiction that played with game theory. The latter half was enjoyable, much more so than the first half. I thought the first fifty pages of this could have been chopped off without any real loss and still the next fifty were hardly necessary. The writing in the first half was pretty awful. It was if the authors had finished the book and then, on a dare, gone and deleted every seventh sentence to prove some point or win a bet. Conversations were disjointed, scenes opened and closed awkwardly, background information was missing key points, and explanations skipped over main ideas. As it settled into the hard science fiction military adventure tale, it did finally come together. Enjoyable but not the remarkable story that was the first.
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 3/5
I've looked forward to The Gripping Hand. In fact, I've thought better of the series' first, The Mote in God's Eye since I first read and enjoyed it. It captured politics really well, particularly the politics in limited information scenarios. Thus what resulted was a space opera full of diplomatic brinkmanship, thoughtfully written. Niven and Pournelle do something similar in The Gripping Hand except they don't devote nearly as much time to culture and difference. Discovery and diplomacy, then, play a smaller part in the story, and the focus instead is more on military strategy and tactics. This wasn't handled as smartly as the encounters were in the first book, but there's still some good moments of crisis decision-making. If the first was a sci fi tale of brinkmanship then this one was a military science fiction that played with game theory. The latter half was enjoyable, much more so than the first half. I thought the first fifty pages of this could have been chopped off without any real loss and still the next fifty were hardly necessary. The writing in the first half was pretty awful. It was if the authors had finished the book and then, on a dare, gone and deleted every seventh sentence to prove some point or win a bet. Conversations were disjointed, scenes opened and closed awkwardly, background information was missing key points, and explanations skipped over main ideas. As it settled into the hard science fiction military adventure tale, it did finally come together. Enjoyable but not the remarkable story that was the first.
May 30, 2011
Really quite a good SF book with one major fault, being that it is a sequel to The Mote in God's Eye one of the best SF books ever written. This sequel has much to like as far a military sf and in-depth social-political plotting in regards to both the humans and the aliens the Moties. The understanding of the Motie civilization via the lens of Arah history was also quit interesting. Some of the characters from the first novel are there with a concentration on the former Navy navigator and the Galactic businessman Kevin Renner and Horace Bury.
It doesn't leak the plot to say that obviously the Moties are a threat again and will break the blockade the first novel ended with. This time Horace Bury is a bit more likable and understandable as compared to the first book and his terror of the Moties breaking out is a major plot point.
The main problem with the sequel is that the unfolding mystery of the first novel is part of what made it so great and then how we learned about the Motie civilization and their very different biology. There isn't much added to the understanding of the Moties here other than to show the extent of how their civilization is pretty much biologically fixed with leaders unwilling to cooperate with other leaders in most circumstances and when alliances are made they are not very strong.
Still I enjoyed the novel, it just pails against the first novel.
It doesn't leak the plot to say that obviously the Moties are a threat again and will break the blockade the first novel ended with. This time Horace Bury is a bit more likable and understandable as compared to the first book and his terror of the Moties breaking out is a major plot point.
The main problem with the sequel is that the unfolding mystery of the first novel is part of what made it so great and then how we learned about the Motie civilization and their very different biology. There isn't much added to the understanding of the Moties here other than to show the extent of how their civilization is pretty much biologically fixed with leaders unwilling to cooperate with other leaders in most circumstances and when alliances are made they are not very strong.
Still I enjoyed the novel, it just pails against the first novel.
June 18, 2008
Eighteen years after publishing The Mote in Gods Eye, Niven and Pournelle have written a sequel that, while not as novel, is more thrilling than the first tale of alien savants.
I think that the opening mystery tale involving “New Utah,” and the possibility that the Moties have at last escaped into the Empire of Man is an unnecessary set up. Even so, it is more interesting than much of the slow build up that follows. But the patient reader is finally rewarded with another amazing look a Motie civilization. Because the planetary inhabitants have bombed themselves back to the stone age, this tale revolves around the complex and volatile tribal politics of the Motie asteroid civilizations. Niven is at his best while letting hard science shape both the economics, and the logistics of this low-G civilization. For those who have the patience to get through the build up, the last third of the book contains an increasingly frenetic series of space battles which can easily leave your mind a little breathless and confused. Even upon a third reading I thought it was an intriguing and thrilling story.
I think that the opening mystery tale involving “New Utah,” and the possibility that the Moties have at last escaped into the Empire of Man is an unnecessary set up. Even so, it is more interesting than much of the slow build up that follows. But the patient reader is finally rewarded with another amazing look a Motie civilization. Because the planetary inhabitants have bombed themselves back to the stone age, this tale revolves around the complex and volatile tribal politics of the Motie asteroid civilizations. Niven is at his best while letting hard science shape both the economics, and the logistics of this low-G civilization. For those who have the patience to get through the build up, the last third of the book contains an increasingly frenetic series of space battles which can easily leave your mind a little breathless and confused. Even upon a third reading I thought it was an intriguing and thrilling story.
April 30, 2011
I enjoyed this probably more than my 3 star rating would indicate. Non-planetary Moties, some returning characters from The Mote in God's Eye and some new, space battles and political strategy--all pluses. But the big minus for me was that most of the book seemed to be build-up and all the action was really crammed into the second half of the book.
May 26, 2015
love a good sequel :)
August 9, 2019
It's no easy task to write a sequel to a masterwork, let alone with a couple decades in between, but "The Gripping Hand" manages to the task. The Empire's blockade is collapsing, whilst the Empire is more powerful and consolidated than ever before thanks to the work of Kevin Renner and Horace Bury working as Imperial Spy with enough license to do the deal as they see it. Lord and Lady Blaine are relegated to Sparta at their institute with a break-through technology in dealing with the Moties. Their children are a center-piece in the action, but ultimately ancillary characters to Bury and Renner. In fact Renner's legend is upped ten fold in this tale. The most interesting new character introduced is Joyce, an investigative journalist who revealed the lax that had become endemic within the blockade. Her role in the tale is to show of a more Republican empire, as her journalism isn't attacked but has to be given due-diligence and she is given liberties to report a tale that would have been in the previous book the highest security for the Empire. Running in tow with this is Horace gives a powerful section on how his people of Levant aren't just tolerated, they're accepted.
"The Gripping Hand" does an excellent job at giving the layman a look into what a space battle may look like, slow, constant, dull until terrifying and happening over a long period of time. This book features a colossal space battle for all the marbles involving a multitude of participants. There are more complex issues that call back to the greatness of the "The Mote in God's Eye", as a relationship with the Moties is reexamined with the benefit of both civilizations now knowing and having some understanding of one another's workings and motives. Complex but believable diplomacy with an alien civilization is one of the best reasons to read this series. I enjoyed the scene structure of the latter-half of the book, the blurred reality of "jump shock" is described so well as to confuse the reader (in a good way) as to what the action is or the situation - all taking place during the most precarious moments of this book's climax. The reader comes to care and empathize with Horace Bury as an Anwar Sadat style character who is willing to change and be flexible, adapting their world view for the current climate. A powerful person able to make decisions free of pathos or obstinate will. I also enjoy the balance of strengths and weaknesses to Human civilization and Motie. Moties are super-efficient, caste-based, bred into colonies sharing a common gene pool and familiarity head "Master", they can out-engineer humans, out-think humans, out-wit humans. However, they are physically weaker, live shorter lives, have a less agile physiology, live in a system strapped for resources, and of course must breed or die. So they are stuck in constant "collapse" epochs. Whereas Humans for all their weaknesses in organization and engineering to the Moties, by benefit of slower and voluntary breeding, the passing on of information, and loyalty beyond kin, have allowed them a slow and steady spiral up -- with some luck to boot in the discovery of Langston fields and Alderson Drives. This was the original genius of the book's premise is how well devised the two forces are, their strengths and weaknesses allowing for complexities which disallow simple or binary solutions. For all these reasons this book, despite flaws "The Gripping Hand" has, is well worth the read.
However, it is not the masterwork that "The Mote in God's Eye" is because the first half of the book is a rather slow build up to the action-filled second half. Whereas the first book kept a steady, pages flow by, pace by sprinkling events between plot points "The Gripping Hand" spends around 100 pages just working out the details of getting approval for the mission. There's a point being made I'm sure, about bureaucracy and what is later called the "ossification" of the blockade and therefore the Empire, but it's out of sync with the first book. The Moties series accomplishes that excellent trick in fiction to have world-building that's seen but not heard. Aspects of a First Empire of Man, who ostensibly still have greater technology than the Second, as they could terraform worlds, isn't explained beyond that and adds to the surge to read forward wanting to unravel the mystery. This went doubly so for the Moties and their civilization. Less questions are being asked in the first half of the book, lots of dinners, reunions, set-up, but thankfully the second half the book makes this section worth the time spent in getting reacquainted with our characters. I also thought "The Gripping Hand" was able to weave back-story or world-building information into the narrative in a way as to not distract. There's a section on the tool the institute has developed for the Moties that reads like an Encyclopedia-Britannica article but because of its place in the story comes across as useful and fine.
*Spoilers below here
What bothered me about this tale, even while the overall movement of the story is great, is that it left subplots unanswered. During the Hook when Renner is on Maxroy's Purchase the saying "in my gripping hand," is explained away as colloquial. I found this unlikely and too convenient. Further the Governor of Maxroy's Purchase is suggested to be corrupt and able to move, in fact in communication and trade with an Outie world, but it's never answered. This one happens so early in the tale, but the nature of it makes things feel less resolved in the end. Later Rod and Sally Blaine are suggested as leaving to New Cal to form the institute headquarters there again. Perhaps it can be left at that, but they are revisited - along with the Motie Mediator from the 1st book Jock - as they're put back in charge of the Imperial Commission on the Motie Civilization. Jock suggests Blaine with be given a fleet, with Jock understanding these developments would hold everything at stake for Motie Civilization. They are never revisited again. This is doubly disappointing, as again it makes the book feel less resolved - especially as no epilogue section follows the main plot - and leaves out two of the most likable characters, along with ultimately the hero of the first tale. I wanted to see Rod Blaine's star rise a little higher, instead what occurs is that he is relegated to a paper-pusher. Lady Blaine is a bitter woman. Their children, while always in the middle of the action, have nothing to do with much that is occurring beyond being bargaining pieces and towards the final peak of the book's plot Chris is milquetoast compared to Freddy and Renner, he's just around. Ruth Blaine, a sensitive half-seer half-Machiavelli, is described in the final analysis as being sort of half-human. This seemed an odd way to treat the epic heroes of the first book, seemingly the analogy for what will be - with this victory - the final stagnation of the Empire. Lastly, there's a Motie Civilization that beams a messages to Sinbad and Atropos which has ostensibly existed through all the "collapses" and has exhaustive information and knowledge. This Motie Clan, named Alexandria, is ordered to be part of all negotiating and included in any treaties that occur. They are never mentioned again. These subplots and changed nature of the Blaine's - from under-dog Aristocrats proving themselves through action to tokens - is why "The Gripping Hand" has the drama and complexity of the first novel but lacks its accomplished ending and polish.
"The Gripping Hand" does an excellent job at giving the layman a look into what a space battle may look like, slow, constant, dull until terrifying and happening over a long period of time. This book features a colossal space battle for all the marbles involving a multitude of participants. There are more complex issues that call back to the greatness of the "The Mote in God's Eye", as a relationship with the Moties is reexamined with the benefit of both civilizations now knowing and having some understanding of one another's workings and motives. Complex but believable diplomacy with an alien civilization is one of the best reasons to read this series. I enjoyed the scene structure of the latter-half of the book, the blurred reality of "jump shock" is described so well as to confuse the reader (in a good way) as to what the action is or the situation - all taking place during the most precarious moments of this book's climax. The reader comes to care and empathize with Horace Bury as an Anwar Sadat style character who is willing to change and be flexible, adapting their world view for the current climate. A powerful person able to make decisions free of pathos or obstinate will. I also enjoy the balance of strengths and weaknesses to Human civilization and Motie. Moties are super-efficient, caste-based, bred into colonies sharing a common gene pool and familiarity head "Master", they can out-engineer humans, out-think humans, out-wit humans. However, they are physically weaker, live shorter lives, have a less agile physiology, live in a system strapped for resources, and of course must breed or die. So they are stuck in constant "collapse" epochs. Whereas Humans for all their weaknesses in organization and engineering to the Moties, by benefit of slower and voluntary breeding, the passing on of information, and loyalty beyond kin, have allowed them a slow and steady spiral up -- with some luck to boot in the discovery of Langston fields and Alderson Drives. This was the original genius of the book's premise is how well devised the two forces are, their strengths and weaknesses allowing for complexities which disallow simple or binary solutions. For all these reasons this book, despite flaws "The Gripping Hand" has, is well worth the read.
However, it is not the masterwork that "The Mote in God's Eye" is because the first half of the book is a rather slow build up to the action-filled second half. Whereas the first book kept a steady, pages flow by, pace by sprinkling events between plot points "The Gripping Hand" spends around 100 pages just working out the details of getting approval for the mission. There's a point being made I'm sure, about bureaucracy and what is later called the "ossification" of the blockade and therefore the Empire, but it's out of sync with the first book. The Moties series accomplishes that excellent trick in fiction to have world-building that's seen but not heard. Aspects of a First Empire of Man, who ostensibly still have greater technology than the Second, as they could terraform worlds, isn't explained beyond that and adds to the surge to read forward wanting to unravel the mystery. This went doubly so for the Moties and their civilization. Less questions are being asked in the first half of the book, lots of dinners, reunions, set-up, but thankfully the second half the book makes this section worth the time spent in getting reacquainted with our characters. I also thought "The Gripping Hand" was able to weave back-story or world-building information into the narrative in a way as to not distract. There's a section on the tool the institute has developed for the Moties that reads like an Encyclopedia-Britannica article but because of its place in the story comes across as useful and fine.
*Spoilers below here
What bothered me about this tale, even while the overall movement of the story is great, is that it left subplots unanswered. During the Hook when Renner is on Maxroy's Purchase the saying "in my gripping hand," is explained away as colloquial. I found this unlikely and too convenient. Further the Governor of Maxroy's Purchase is suggested to be corrupt and able to move, in fact in communication and trade with an Outie world, but it's never answered. This one happens so early in the tale, but the nature of it makes things feel less resolved in the end. Later Rod and Sally Blaine are suggested as leaving to New Cal to form the institute headquarters there again. Perhaps it can be left at that, but they are revisited - along with the Motie Mediator from the 1st book Jock - as they're put back in charge of the Imperial Commission on the Motie Civilization. Jock suggests Blaine with be given a fleet, with Jock understanding these developments would hold everything at stake for Motie Civilization. They are never revisited again. This is doubly disappointing, as again it makes the book feel less resolved - especially as no epilogue section follows the main plot - and leaves out two of the most likable characters, along with ultimately the hero of the first tale. I wanted to see Rod Blaine's star rise a little higher, instead what occurs is that he is relegated to a paper-pusher. Lady Blaine is a bitter woman. Their children, while always in the middle of the action, have nothing to do with much that is occurring beyond being bargaining pieces and towards the final peak of the book's plot Chris is milquetoast compared to Freddy and Renner, he's just around. Ruth Blaine, a sensitive half-seer half-Machiavelli, is described in the final analysis as being sort of half-human. This seemed an odd way to treat the epic heroes of the first book, seemingly the analogy for what will be - with this victory - the final stagnation of the Empire. Lastly, there's a Motie Civilization that beams a messages to Sinbad and Atropos which has ostensibly existed through all the "collapses" and has exhaustive information and knowledge. This Motie Clan, named Alexandria, is ordered to be part of all negotiating and included in any treaties that occur. They are never mentioned again. These subplots and changed nature of the Blaine's - from under-dog Aristocrats proving themselves through action to tokens - is why "The Gripping Hand" has the drama and complexity of the first novel but lacks its accomplished ending and polish.
January 15, 2019
This book was just OK. It was nice to revisit the Moties universe, but the story was simply not sufficiently coherent. Despite the fact that there was a very clear overarching plot, the story still somehow gave the impression that it was cobbled together out of a few mostly meandering novellas.
In the first section, Renner and Bury are visiting a somewhat fringe world to try to investigate some anomalies, and they fear the Moties may have secretly escaped the Mote system. This was a decent standalone novella, but it seems like it was included just to establish Renner and Bury's character 25 years on. I would probably have cut it as a separate novella and limited the character establishment in this book to a single chapter.
Most of the stuff leading up to the second trip to the Mote similarly has pacing problems - they have interminable discussions of Sparta and New Caledonia and all kinds of other random stuff. Once the action gets started (), there's suddenly a huge time pressure for everyone involved, and the book starts getting good, but then they sorta spend too little time exploring these new facets of Motie society. Things get jumbled up too quickly and it's hard to keep track of what's going on.
Despite the pacing problems, this book is probably still worth reading if you have time to spare and want to dip back in to the Moties universe, but if you aren't particularly fond of the series, you probably won't like it.
2.5 of 5 stars
In the first section, Renner and Bury are visiting a somewhat fringe world to try to investigate some anomalies, and they fear the Moties may have secretly escaped the Mote system. This was a decent standalone novella, but it seems like it was included just to establish Renner and Bury's character 25 years on. I would probably have cut it as a separate novella and limited the character establishment in this book to a single chapter.
Most of the stuff leading up to the second trip to the Mote similarly has pacing problems - they have interminable discussions of Sparta and New Caledonia and all kinds of other random stuff. Once the action gets started (), there's suddenly a huge time pressure for everyone involved, and the book starts getting good, but then they sorta spend too little time exploring these new facets of Motie society. Things get jumbled up too quickly and it's hard to keep track of what's going on.
Despite the pacing problems, this book is probably still worth reading if you have time to spare and want to dip back in to the Moties universe, but if you aren't particularly fond of the series, you probably won't like it.
2.5 of 5 stars
August 16, 2025
Quasi trenta anys desprès dels succesos ocorreguts en el llibre anterior d'aquesta bilogia, "La paja en el ojo de Dios», la flota de bloqueig, que impedeix als pallers eixir del seu sistema solar, continua en la seua posició: l'espècie alienigena es considera un perill per a la humanitat. En aquest context, la parella d'espies formada per Kevin Renner i Horace Bury troben inquietants indicis de la possible presència de pallers en un planeta de l'Imperi de l'Home; ha fracasat el bloqueig? Han trobat els alienígenes una manera de burlar-lo?
En una primera part del llibre trobarem sobre tot una història d'espies i intrigues polítiques. En una segona part, continuaran les intrigues, però en el marc d'una persecució desesperada per l'espai entre diferents flotes de guerra. En un joc diplomàtic i bèlic definitiu, tant humans com pallers es juguen l'existència de la pròpia espècie.
Encara que no trobem tanta informació sobre la cultura i espècie palleres com en el primer volum, trobem la mateixa intriga política i acció trepidants. Per una altra banda, el tracte als personatges femenins, podria deixar-se passar en la primera part, escrita en 1974, però la segona part està escrita 19 anys més tard i no mostra cap millora.
Editat en la col·lecció «Esenciales» de Minotauro, s'haguera agraït una revisió de la traducció.
Una gran lectura per als aficionats a la ciència ficció.
En una primera part del llibre trobarem sobre tot una història d'espies i intrigues polítiques. En una segona part, continuaran les intrigues, però en el marc d'una persecució desesperada per l'espai entre diferents flotes de guerra. En un joc diplomàtic i bèlic definitiu, tant humans com pallers es juguen l'existència de la pròpia espècie.
Encara que no trobem tanta informació sobre la cultura i espècie palleres com en el primer volum, trobem la mateixa intriga política i acció trepidants. Per una altra banda, el tracte als personatges femenins, podria deixar-se passar en la primera part, escrita en 1974, però la segona part està escrita 19 anys més tard i no mostra cap millora.
Editat en la col·lecció «Esenciales» de Minotauro, s'haguera agraït una revisió de la traducció.
Una gran lectura per als aficionats a la ciència ficció.
March 24, 2021
Antra, ir iš #LarryNiven paskutinė (yra kito autorizuoto autoriaus pratęsimas) kosminės sci fi dalis. Išsilavinimo spraga užpildyta, bet su šituo senuku baigiau. Vis dėl to toks tiesmukas žanras jau vakar diena. Blogai nebuvo, bet ir parašyt nelabai turiu apie ką. Soso. #LEBooks #TheGrippingHand #Moties
July 21, 2021
Tras veinticinco años de servir al imperio por todo el espacio Bury descubre que su peor enemigo puede salir de su encarcelamiento. Deberá convencer a la maquinaria imperial que está en peligro y el debe salvarla.
Impactante, intenso e imaginativo. Me ha encantado la secuela, el cambio generacional no le ha restado atractivo. Muy bien conseguido el cambio de escenario y sus consecuencias.
Impactante, intenso e imaginativo. Me ha encantado la secuela, el cambio generacional no le ha restado atractivo. Muy bien conseguido el cambio de escenario y sus consecuencias.
August 17, 2018
A good book, but not as good as The Mote in God's Eye.
December 7, 2022
Clever, twisty, talky.
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