A review by manuphoto
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I’m usually all for a nice buildup, but the first third of this novel was tedious. I almost stopped reading because I was bored.

The setup is interesting, and the first couple of chapters are actually quite engaging and funny. But then we get multiple (too many) viewpoints, and everything drags on forever.

Once the story actually kicks in, it becomes a good page-turner. However, there are still too many characters that aren’t developed enough, making it hard for readers to care about them.

The deaths and other misadventures don’t have the emotional impact they could have because we spent so little time with each character. This approach also made the plot confusing at times, as I don’t think the authors managed the multiple POVs all that masterfully.

This novel is also very much a product of the 1970s. It’s primarily a catastrophe story, which was quite popular at the time, and it revolves around cars, women, sex, and alcohol. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s definitely a reflection of its era.

The dialogue is decent, though sometimes a bit clunky. The racial and gender politics are actually better than most novels I've read from this period. Women and people of color are depicted in both progressive and ultra-conservative ways, with the novel generally leaning toward the more progressive portrayal. So at least the authors were trying… I think. But don’t expect anything super-modern. The authors seemed to be attempting to be progressive without fully committing (for example, Ringworld by Niven is one of the most misogynistic novels I’ve read, and Pournelle was very conservative).

All in all, it has a decent sci-fi concept, but then it veers into a series of clichés and adventures that work more or less well. If you can get past the first 25-30%, you should enjoy it… until the final act. The last part is like a Mad Max sequence, but it’s insufferably long. The fight scenes are fine, but the way characters discuss things in the final stages is just boring. It’s a shame, because the ideas and questions are actually smart and relevant, but I didn’t enjoy how they were presented. Don’t expect to be blown away.