Outies

Moties #3

by Jennifer R. Pournelle

Outies is an authorized sequel to The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by best-selling SF duo Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. With a fresh point of view, deep continuity, and page-turning plot twists, J.R. (Jennifer) Pournelle brings a mature generation of Moties to life for a mature generation of readers. Outies introduces new characters, adds depth to beloved old ones, creates a rich, imaginable world, and gives clear voices to aliens and outsiders.

In a return to the CoDominium universe of the Second Empire of Man, Outies pauses at the fringes of human space, on an outworld that never knew fossil fuels. New Utah instead pushed crude solar technologies to the limits of everyday utility. But a planet is a big place - and it's time for the New Utahns to meet the neighbors. Blending hard science and social science, Outies explores complexities of biology, geology, and ecology at the heart of alien Motie society and evolution. While military science fiction in a sense, that sense is very much of the wars of our time. Outies plunges through the confusion, chaos, factionalism, and unpredictability of low intensity conflict with realism, but largely through civilian eyes. In a twist on traditional space opera, it introduces Asach Quinn - a wily, thoughtful, genderless, and diplomatic foil to reckless pilot Kevin Renner. Leaving the aristocratic manors of Sparta, Quinn burrows deep inside the heads of members of the Church of Him - who believe that the red dwarf visible twinkling through the Coal Sack Nebula is literally the Eye of God.

Pournelle - an ex-Army intelligence officer turned anthropologist - provides New Utah and its characters with a rich sense of place and deep motivations; hints at what may become, over the next millenium, of Mormons, moties, and Earth islanders displaced by sea level rise - and even masters some Tok Pisin along the way.

At nearly 110,000 words (about 400 print pages), the book is packed with additional material designed to allow the reader to explore New Utah in as much depth as desired. For those new to (or needing a refresher on) the Mote series, a detailed chronology lists key events over the five centuries preceding Outies. The cast of characters is organized by role and location, providing hints of relationships that unwind over the course of the novel. A map lays out the continental-scale environs in which the story is set. An appendix provides a guide to acronyms, details of religious history and organization, an explanation of alien accounting systems, and evolutionary biology. There is even an original musical score, composed by music theorist J. Daniel Jenkins.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Aliens, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

402 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2010

About the author

Dr. J.R. Pournelle is an archaeologist and anthropologist best known for reconstructing landscapes surrounding ancient cities. A Research Fellow at the University of South Carolina’s School of The Environment, and past Mesopotamian Fellow of the American School of Oriental Research, her work in Turkey, Iraq, and the Caucasus has been featured in Science Magazine, the New York Times; on The Discovery Channel; and on a National Geographic Television segment aired in January, 2012. In a former life, she received numerous decorations for service as a United States Army intelligence officer and arms control negotiator, and as a civilian directed reconstruction work in Iraq.

Pournelle received the South Carolina Poetry Initiative Book Prize, for Excavations, A City Cycle, Poems 1989 - 2004, released by the University of South Carolina Press in October, 2011.

Reviews

[Jennifer Pournelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I am saying up front: I'm the author of Outies . Yes, I wrote it. I have to put some number of stars on it. or I can't tell you about it. If I only put one, I'd be lying, and anyway you wouldn't see this.

This is a sequel to The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, and I wrote it on a bet. As in:
"I bet you can't!"
"Bet I can!"
"Can Not!"
"Can TOO!"
"Can't!"
"Can!"
If this sounds like childish sibling rivalry, well, I couldn't possible comment.

It's an authorized sequel, but not a directed one: I wrote the whole thing before taking it to Dad and Larry. They didn't expect much. In fact, they expected ashes and tears. They were surprised. Pleasantly surprised. They even wrote jacket blurbs.

So, if you liked either of those first two, I hope you'll like this one. If you didn't, give this one a try. I switched point of view, switched out some charaters, and ... well, that would be telling. Enjoy.

[Roberto · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a mess. There are some good ideas in there but:

1) It desperately needs an editor (example: it uses "composite compound" as the description of a material)

2) Characters appear out of nowhere, and disappear 20 pages later, to never be seen again.

3) The action scenes are so confusing they would make Michael Bay blush.

4) The publisher should put the author's full name in the cover so noone confuses her with her father.

[Maryanne Hickston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really liked this. I would have maybe rated it more like 4 stars, but I just thought some of those other reviews were really way off.

I can see where readers who just want to flip pages would not like it, and I would not recommend it to them. It's a more demanding book than that. It gives you an incredible sense of place, and really makes you think about how things might really evolve over time if a world was pretty much, but not totally, cut off. It's way more complex than "I traveled to interesting new places, met fascinating people, and killed them."

The book starts out with four "levels" and/or timelines: Imperial (all of Second Empire Space), System (the trans-Coalsack sector), Capitol (St. George, the capitol of New Utah), and local (Bonneville & the Outback, New Utah). At first, these seem like they are all separate, and have nothing to do with each other. But in every chapter, they come closer & closer, until finally it turns out that they all come together.

It's true that if you want all fast-paced action, the first half is slow. But it did really pull you in -- I really felt like New Utah was a real place, not just some backdrop for the next video game. The author really thought through a lot - there's even appendixes that lay out things like how the religion works, and why the aliens evolved the way they did - even music. And the female characters are real and important and not just heavily armed girl jocks (though some are that too).

So I absolutely don't agree with this book being dismissed as "a mess." It just isn't a fanboy book. There's nothing wrong with fanboy books (or fanboys). But this book is for readers who like more depth.

[Harv Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review - OUTIES by J.R. Pournelle ★★★★

If you read this on a Kindle, before you start reading hit the Prior-Page button a whole bunch of times, until you get to the Cover Art; then, start paging forward. If you don't, you miss the maps and other important background material.

The CHRONOLOGY was not formatted correctly for Kindle: Words in some of the paragraphs extended beyond the edge of the viewing screen on my device.

Even 5% into the novel, I feel this novel ADDS to the Motie Fictional Universe rather than SUBTRACTS, as for example the DUNE sequels do (in my opinion). I wish I had never read any DUNE sequel. I wish those images would leave my mind.

I am so biased and prejudiced by multiple readings of THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE and THE GRIPPING HAND that I have no clue if OUTIES is a good "stand-alone" novel. For me it is useful as an Appendix of additional information on the fictional Motie universe. POV goes into the thinking of inferior Motie classes and a horse, which at first seemed odd, but I get it. The effect works.

50% into OUTIES, everything suddenly gets a lot more interesting for me. One nice thing about eBooks is that a Version 2.0 can be issued. I believe OUTIES could be strengthened by some professional and ruthless editing in the first half. This novel would work better for me if the action at 50% hit at about 5% or 10%. I sometimes felt like the author was a paleontologist slowly brushing away dirt from a buried fossil; I was in a hurry to have the thing dug out the ground. Next chapter: brush, brush, brush; revealing another rib.

(I prefer the short version of Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. In my own novels, I have noticed that if I have to cut ten or thirty thousand words from the text, that years later I prefer the shorter version: the forced cutting seems to improve my own writing.)

OUTIES is a variation on the "The Moties Are Loose!" cry in The Gripping Hand.

Noticed a few minor grammar glitches and formatting errors. The Kindle version would benefit from a new cleaned-up conversion, a proof-reader, and a professional edit.

J.R. Pournelle has a career in science fiction, if she wants it. @hg47

[Erin Lale · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action in Outies builds and builds. This book is like a song that starts with nature sounds, adds a few notes like rain falling into the music, drums up the excitement with a percussion rhythm and then pours on the instruments and storms on through to a joyful, thunderous crescendo.


Readers of the Pournelle universe will love this sequel to The Mote in God’s Eye. The story sheds light on the origin of the Moties, and the plot turns on science and engineering in a way that will delight fans of hard sf.


Those who are new to this series can catch up with the timeline and handy list of dramatis personae at the front of the book, before getting swept away by the tempestuous story of how contact with an alien culture upends an all too human struggle for wealth, power, and souls. Outies is a symphony of disparate characters orchestrated into one great read.

(This review based on an advance proof of the print edition.)

[Stuart Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A continuation of "The Mote in God's Eye" series written by Jerry Pournelle's daughter, an archeologist sometimes seen on Nat Geo. You'll need to have read the first two books to know the significance of the characters in this one. A fringe world near the coal sac is up for membership in the galactic government, either as an independent entity or as a subservient colony. The locals have a complex political structure with several competing factions, but unknown to the one's in real power the people on the outskirts are in contact with a group of Moties. The Empire of Man sends representatives to scout out the planet before official contact and stumble across the political intrigue and the Moties and have to decide what to do before the Empire shows up and reduces the planetary surface to glass.

There's a slow hundred pages of world building before anything much happens, then it's politics and backstabbing until the final solution is reached. A great deal of time is spent exploring Motie physiology and the government of Space Mormons. Good book that could have been shorter, but Asach Quinn is a very interesting character.

[Duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series declines in quality from book to book;but the first one was of such very high quality that the floor is four or five levels up. Not quite satisfying as the end of the series, but it probably should be unless some real inspiration comes along. Well-worth the read but a little bit laundry-list, a little formulaic.
The characters are still well-drawn but it's hard for me to get involved with royal families and all of that-the importance of the people lessens the import of the events of the narrative.
I'd recommend it, but with some reservations. Not really for anyone who wasn't captivated by the Moties in the first place.

[Joshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give negative stars I would. What a TERRIBLE book. Shame on the editor... this book made almost no sense. I got the "big picture" but the author needs to literally re-write the entire thing. The author is Jennifer Pournelle, not Jerry. And she needs a big dose of reality - her writing skills suck. SUCK. As in horrible. Too many characters, not enough background on almost everything, use of never-heard-before terminology, and on and on. Please don't read this book, it is horrid.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Larry Niven's work for many many years, from publication of Neutron Star and Ringworld. Aside from his own writing skills, he seems to have a talent for collaboration that many others lack; the works he co-authored are often as enjoyable and thought-provoking as his best solo efforts. Among my favorites are those he produced with Jerry Pournelle, and high on that list are the books that led to (is it fair to say inspired?) this one.

This book escaped my notice at the time it was published, possibly because I was having a science fiction hiatus. So I only recently discovered it. I read some of the reviews at goodreads, which left me a bit wary, but interested. Unlike some of the commenters, I did not expect something that might have come from the same pens (er, computers) as the earlier ones. So I was not disappointed on that count. Similarly, I did not expect something that wouldn't engage my brain, because both Niven and Pournelle read and approved it. No disappointment there, either. Sooo…

I'm not sure how I might rate this as a stand-alone novel. Some of it will be quite obscure to anyone unfamiliar with the CoDominion universe, which includes the Empire of Man and the Mote system. Even so, there's a fair number of new ideas here, some not well-explained. Adequately exploring everything would have made at least two full-length books, and I'm not sure how that could work. Replacing "The End" with "to be continued" is never satisfactory. I see possible starting points for several more stories, but I'm not sure who might write them. Only one of the original series authors is still alive, and it might take another bet to inspire the author of this book to write more.

I found that many opaque points were clearer on second reading. I do think that a thorough going over by a good editor familiar with The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand would have improved it a lot. But I have a similar opinion of nearly all fiction I read these days, so …

If you enjoy the books written by Larry Niven and/or Jerry Pournelle, or if you like to stretch your mind, you will probably like this. You will almost certainly learn something. On the other hand, if you want to read something WRITTEN BY Niven and Pournelle, you'll be disappointed. On the gripping hand, if you want an easy read with a lot of action, give it a miss. Of course, neither The Mote in God's Eye or The Gripping Hand would qualify as an easy read; if you think they do, you weren't paying attention.

[Annie Minsterley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected pulp fiction, and got a really pleasant surprise. This is a book for real readers - for people who like to get lost in a fictional world, not just rocket from one plot point to the next. It starts off with four stories, in four locations, and then about halfway through they all come together. I think that works really well, because space travel takes TIME. The characters are beautifully crafted. The author doesn't ever tell you: "dear reader: so-and-so thinks this; so-and-so thinks that." She takes the time to build the setting so you KNOW what people will be like. There are breathtaking prose stretches (like Kevin Renner smoking his pipe - a nod to a purchase he made in The Gripping Hand, or Asach Quinn's long ride to the Orcutt ranch), then something totally shocking happens. I can just see Michael wearing his "Bonneville whites" - in one brief passage painting a picture of this overprivileged guy, trying to fit in by wearing local garb, but getting it all wrong. There's a wonderful conceit played with Colchis Barthes, the Librarian - he finds a report, but doesn't read it right away. However, the full report is in the Appendix, so you can decide to refer to it or not. I read it, and found myself shouting in my head: read the report! Colchis! OMG read the report! Also, she weaves in backstory from the two earlier books (there's a passage where the entire plot of the Gripping Hand is retold from the POV of an alien), so you don't have to have read them (but you will want to). I'm giving it 5 stars as a first novel. I really hope there's a second.

[Scott Norville · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ambitious attempt...and is mostly successful. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but this is mainly a critique of a book that tries to belong to a series.

The plot is good, and mostly flows in a straightforward mode.
Dialog is usually good and readable, sometimes attribution is not clear, but within usual boundaries.
Characters were mostly believable, but the characterization of Moties was different than her father's, and again, attribution of writing in first person was sometimes hard to follow.
She has a tendency to attempt an "evocative" style, with a sequence of sentences describing a scene in simple declaratives. "There was a window. There was a rock. There was broken glass." This doesn't appeal to me.

Now for the real problems: this is another book on Amazon that appears to be self-published. That's good, it gets new authors past the hidebound publishing industry. It's bad, because it almost always means the books are not fully edited. This is another one full of unclosed quotations, inaccurate heterographs and many misspellings. And, unclear attribution and unclear passages throughout.

Also: Limited interstellar travel, using only Alderson tramlines is consistent throughout the Codominium universe. I may have gotten lost somewhere, but why does Sinbad have to wait for the tramline to open while some of the characters seem to come and go at will?

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It'd been years since I'd read the preceeding novels in this series so it took a while to get back into the story but I'm glad I did as this is a refreshing apin-off/continuation of the original tales.

The story is based on a world called New Utah, which has applied for membership of the Second Empire of Man. Unfortunately, there are some who'd rather that didn't happen and some that didn't even know it existed. Mixed into this is the fact that a goodly number of the local settlers are followers of the Church of Him who believe that the red dwarf star seen through the Coal Sack Nebula is literally the Eye of God. Add to that a population of heretofore unknown indiginenous aliens who have their own ideas of what should happen on "their" home world and it makes for a very entertaining read.

Essentially it's a mix of alien paranoia, religious fundamentalism, corporate greed and political corruption and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Ben Shelef · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an independent book in the Mote universe. Barely any commonality in characters, but the timeline is shared.

The author is the daughter of one of the original authors. The cover (at least my edition's) kinda obfuscates that fact, as their names both start with J.

The basic premise is actually very good, there are some good new Motie concepts, but the writing more than makes up for it... It has none of the "tightness" of the two Mote books, too many attempts to details technology that should really be left alone.

Even if you think you know something about 21st century technology, don't try to inject that into the 35th. Also, you might not be so knowledgeable as you think you are.

Mote fans are bound to read it for the sake of completeness, but will end up regretting the waste of time.

[Charl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quit. I made it to chapter 10, the teasing of an occasional Motie keeping me going. But I want spaceships, Moties, danger, interesting science ideas, all of that.

I couldn't care less about Mormon vs. Mormon rivalry, about violence between church schisms in the streets, or, frankly, about what happened to Bury's wealth after his death.

I want science in my science fiction, not sociology. And I was very disappointed when I realized "J.E.Pournelle" wasn't Jerry Pournelle. When you have to pull tricks like that to fool the fans into buying the book, I'm even less interested.

Moving on. This was a waste of time and money for me.

(One of the few times I'm rating a DNF because I feel I was mislead. I was expecting something more like Niven and Pournelle's original Motie books, and was tricked into reading this.)

[Jack Repenning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unworthy of the preceding volumes

Formulaic and shallow, this volume makes no attempt to deal with the major, unsolved difficulty of the two predecessors (how can the Moties overcome their population problem and its effect of endless expansion, war, and collapse?), merely locating another group inexplicably not so-troubled.

This frees the narrative to ignore the major, unsolved question, “if Motie war is inescapably forced by biology, then what excuse has humanity, free from such liabilities, for theirs?” instead merely accepting the stereotypical list of human flaws for their value in story-telling.

I can’t recommend this to anyone who has.thought about the first two.

[William Dennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Specialists probably shouldn't branch out into fiction, number #78978.

There is half of a good book here, but the first half certainly doesn't encourage you to stick with it, far, far, far too much cod anthropology, too little attention paid to character development, and storytelling. By the time the story started to get interesting, I was very nearly past caring about most of the characters (the ones I could remember, anyway).

But it continued the trajectory of the series nicely: Mote was very good, Gripping Hand was just good, this is mediocre. Although, I can't help but think that, with a ruthless editor, it could be made to shine.

[Turok Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

OUTIES has good in it, and for part of the novel I was taken in. But somehow, someway, it just kept losing me and I struggled to get to the finish line. The language is more florid. The world considerably different than the one readers are fighting for in the first two books. I would suggest reading OUTIES like KING DAVID'S SPACESHIP, less as a sequel to the MOTIES series (to be honest, if not for money it shouldn't be a series at all and left to the first stellar book) and instead another story from MOTIES universe.

[Rob Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two Motie books by Jerry Pournelle. This, the third, is by his daughter. I am afraid it doesn't measure up. The complexities of the timeline, various religions, and imperial politics muddle the story. The book contains the timeline, and several chapters explaining the religions etc., but one does not want to study to be able to read a story. That all said, the story is a good one.

[Bob Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by the wrong Pournelle

Don’t let the “J.R.” fool you; this was written by Jerry Pournelle’s daughter Jennifer, not the master himself. Good ideas and plot, but virtually unreadable. Jennifer Pournelle apparently can’t write dialogue, as there is virtually none here. The text is almost entirely exposition, to an excruciating level of detail. Too bad, as it might have made for a good story had it not been such a chore to slog through.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book just doesn't work. It is badly written and badly edited. It is by the daughter of the original author of Mote in God's Eye and just doesn't cut it. I read it on my Kindle and I think it is an ebook only release. I suspect the publisher has not really invested any effort in this one. The big picture and how it links back to the original book is there, but the execution is horrible.

[Doug Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I was so jazzed to find a new book set in the universe of The Mote in God's Eye that I bought it immediately. It starts slow but picks up and gives us a great story set in a fascinating universe.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read by Jerry Pournelle's daughter in the vein of the Moties. Maybe a little more political than Jerry and Larry Niven's books. Recommended for those Motie junkies.

- Rob read it. I bought the eBook.

[Rafael Ontivero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Menudo truño de libro, sobre todo por lo mal escrito que está. No me he enterado de la mitad y no hace porque lo sigas. La prosa es muy confusa y carente de continuidad. En lugar de una historia continua parece un conjunto de párrafos conjuntados al azar.

[Carol T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre at best

Not near same level as first two Motie books. Too many characters, jumps from one place to another too often, confusing and hard to follow all the plots and subplots. Way too complicated. Had to force myself through to the end.

[geoff mcdonald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not up to the others in the series

Too slow to bother reading. I do not recommend this at all. Just finished the mote in gods eye and its sequel. My second attempt to read it.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it because of the previous 2 in the series

Tedious compared to previous in the series. It could just be the stage for more but if it isn't then you ougjt to have paid me to read it.

[Mrs P A Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I'd hoped

The book does not flow. I find it stilted and awkward . I also found it quite boring in places and jumped forward in order to find a more interesting storyline. Very disappointing.

[Harry · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTH? This book is thoroughly, disappointingly unreadable. I couldn't understand what the author was writing about.

[Donald Haack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jennifer... You are not your Father. Enough said...

[David Provan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Shambles

This book is so badly produced it's unreadable. Several lines or paragraphs duplicated or missing on many pages. I give up.