Author: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Written in the mid-80's, this is a novel of alien invasion, a bit like War of the Worlds in the idea that we know they are coming, we don't know if they'll be friendly but we expect them to be, only to find out their first communication with us is to attack massively. The ability of the U.S. and Soviets to use nuclear arms for defense doesn't make as much difference as you might think.
Even though this story was written when there still was a Soviet Union and the Cold War was still going on, the politics of that don't interfere too much with the story in terms of dating it.
Niven and Pournelle are great at quickly establishing their characters, giving the reader a feel for the emotions and motivations of all the players without tons of discourse about it. Their depiction of an alien race is very credible, gradually showing us just how different in thought and beliefs the aliens are from humans.
My only real gripe about this book is that at the end of a rousing climax, with the fate of all humanity and aliens hanging in the balance, the denouement seems slightly rushed, and we don't get any sense of what things are like after that. I think even a short epilogue would have made me happier than the ending they wrote. However, I still think overall this is one of those classics in science fiction, worth re-reading from time to time because it is enjoyable.
By the way, this is the only book I've read where a group of science fiction writers plays a significant role, in a creative idea where they advise the President on the aliens.
Not too much hard science, just enough, with some likable characters, excitement and suspense, and also some nice info on survivalist stuff since disasters abound in this book.
Posted by pam at July 20, 2002 05:20 PMJust read this book, and then found this web site after searching for "Earthfall Epilogue". If denoument can be defined as "the events following a novel's climax in which a resolution or clarification takes place," I think it's safe to say that there is no denoument in this novel, as it builds towards a climax right to the very end, apparently by design.
The book is an interesting study of how an alien invasion could occur. Especially noteworthy is how the authors create a universe in which an alien race is powerful enough to travel between the stars to conquor Earth, but where such race is governed by an intricate (and gradually revealed) web of alien mindset and technological limitations so that the book does not end with the extinction of humanity one page after the arrival of the aliens at Earth.
Many might think the treatment of the alien mindset "simplistic," but this may be because such readers might have difficulty accepting that a potential alien invader would not take the course of action deemed most appropriate by one with a human mindset. Some, but certainly not an excessive amount, of suspension of disbelief is required in this regard. On this issue, I think Niven/Pournelle were very consistent and successful.
The book is detailed in it's coverage of a sweeping story, but not so detailed that the reader loses interest. The authors make an ambitious attempt to describe a truly world-wide event from the perspective of many characters, from the President of the United States down to the a traveling minstrel, and from both sides of the Cold War. Granted, the reader may have difficulty sympathizing with many of the characters if the reader came of age after the fall of the Berlin Wall since the characters in the novel are clearly products of the Cold War.
As noted, the novel builds to an exciting climax, and the closer one makes it to the end, the harder it is to put down the book. And yet, many questions were raised during the final rise to the climax that prompts one to search for additional resolution.
Posted by: il Topo on January 9, 2003 09:41 AM