Book Review: The Mote in God's Eye by Niven & Pournelle (1974)
The last book I read was such a deeply soft sci-fi book I felt like going in the opposite direction for my next novel, the hard sci-fi classic The Mote in God’s Eye . Published in 1974, this is an epic, galaxy spanning, militaristic story that finds humanity making first-contact with aliens in the year 3017 after mankind has spread through several other solar systems. I did feel like the first two chapters of the book were a bit of a drudgery but the third chapter picked up business long enough to pique my interest and propel me the rest of the way. Sure, but did I like it? This book is somewhat vexing. Well-written most of the way with an interesting-at-times but also too-familiar take on the mostly humanoid aliens, the book is occasionally ahead of its time (pocket computers, the Langston Field) while simultaneously being a product of the era it was written in (largely traditional patriarchal male/female roles and notes of feudalism, where a ‘romance’ that feels tacked on and immatur...