Title: Lucifer’s Hammer
Authors: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Date: October 2009
Rating: 6/10
Comments: A great picture of the challenges faced by survivors of an apocalypse. Not exactly a fun read, but well written and worth finishing. The story is necessarily grim, and the characters are well written, if a bit too likely to survive.
The only real negative is that this book is over 30 years old, and it shows. Characters reflect attitudes and social beliefs that feel a bit dated. The women may be strong, but they are all looking for a man to attach themselves to for encouragement and protection. Calculators are the height of technology and all the shotguns are of the double-barrel duck hunt variety (this is actually important at certain parts).
Probably not the best book ever written about an end-of-society scenario, but certainly one of the earliest and not the worst. I wasn’t so captivated that I searched out any opportunity to listen. Indeed, on several occasions I listened to podcasts instead. That said, I never considered giving up on Lucifer’s Hammer, which is more than can be said for other books.