Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: The Mote in God's Eye

[sparkchaser]

How did this SciFi masterpiece escape me until only recently?

It's the dawn of the 31st Century and mankind is the midst of rebuilding the Empire from a Secession War that destroyed the First Empire. Most of the high technology from the First Empire has been lost and, world by world, the Empire is bringing systems back into it's fold. In a backwater part of the Empire called the Trans-Coalsack sector, an alien ship is detected coming into an Empire occupied system. The ship is intercepted and it is discovered where the ship originated from. Assembling a team of scientists, two battle cruisers are sent to the alien's home system and first contact is established. The aliens, called "Moties" by the humans, seem simultaneously advanced and backwater . The Moties are friendly and offer great trade benefits but are they harboring a dark secret?

Here is an interesting bit from the Wikipedia:

Spoiler

The events of this novel reflect an underlying social and political philosophy that war is sometimes the only option for a responsible government. After the need to destroy the species becomes obvious, Sally Fowler objects that "the Moties are not monsters!", and Roderick Blaine resignedly replies "No, just our enemies."

I give it a

Definitely one of the top SciFi books I have ever read.

 

[lenny nero]

This one's on my list. I read Footfall by them earlier this year and dug it.

 

[RAC42]

It's also on my TBR list, along with about 200 others,

Are you going to read the sequel? The Gripping Hand

 

[sparkchaser]

Are you going to read the sequel? The Gripping Hand

Eventually but not in the near future. Mt TBR needs to be tamed a bit first.

 

[Bob Magness]

I'm almost finished with this book. I was looking forward to reading it because of its popularity among sci-fi enthusiasts. But maybe I'm not into the "harder" sci-fi. I am just not enjoying it. I remember I really enjoyed Niven's Lucifer's Hammer. I do enjoy sci-fi. I enjoy books like Ender's Game, 1984, and Old Man's War. But recently I have read books like this one and Foundation that just didn't "click" with me. Unlike other genres, it is very difficult for me to predict what sci-fi books I am going to enjoy.