"Footfall" is grand sci-fi from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle with a feature on an invasion of the Earth by some of the strangest space aliens ever.
The novel runs 580 pp and constantly pops up vignettes from the lives of a huge cast of characters, human and alien, along with a level of technical detail which rivals a Tom Clancy story. "Footfall" builds throughout but, even twenty pages from the end, it wasn't clear how it would be possible to resolve the conflict between the humans and the 'snouts' (as they affectionately called the space aliens).
The story was much more involved than these two, who write together often, will usually get. Whether that increased complexity reflects more accurately the reality of the considerations for alien combatants is something you will decide but we suspect you may vacillate between being fascinated by it and thinking it runs long.
Because of the way the story built, it was vital to have some kind of impactful resolution in the last twenty pages ... but that didn't happen. Even when it ended, you're still not 100% it's over.
As taught to me, a story needs to have a climax from which point everything following it is the resolution. For example, the climax with Custer's Last Stand isn't the battle but rather whenever he decided to do that dumb ass thing. From that point forward, it's predictable. He will go there to fight where he will either win or he will lose. On the other extreme is a joke in which the climax is the punchline and the resolution is you laugh, hopefully.
In "Footfall," there didn't seem to be any particularly climactic moment but rather it was continually building toward ... something. That something came in the last twenty pages and it just wasn't satisfying. In large part it was predictable because any other result would have resulted in the enslavement of humanity or the snouts would just waste us altogether.
As I got close to the end of it, one of the last chapters fell out and likely that was an omen. When the binding starts to break for a paperback, the story is over because it's too difficult to fix. I got to the end of the book by reading those pages by the individual leaves.
"Footfall" is one of four in the treasure trove hauled back from a local used bookstore. It was disappointing in resolution but generally engaging overall and an interesting excursion. Also in the trove are "The Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand" is the sequel to it.
The base has been explored multiple times but I was not aware until recently of the sequel. The only question is whether to read "The Mote in God's Eye" again because it's more than the sci-fi with some fascinating views of sociology and the consequences of manic reproduction.
The last is "Otherland" by Tad Williams and I know nothing of that one except the recommendation of a friend. It's a grand saga of some kind and it looks like it runs 500-600 pp. It's the first in a series so that's mixed news but we shall see how that goes in round after The Mote books.
The novel runs 580 pp and constantly pops up vignettes from the lives of a huge cast of characters, human and alien, along with a level of technical detail which rivals a Tom Clancy story. "Footfall" builds throughout but, even twenty pages from the end, it wasn't clear how it would be possible to resolve the conflict between the humans and the 'snouts' (as they affectionately called the space aliens).
The story was much more involved than these two, who write together often, will usually get. Whether that increased complexity reflects more accurately the reality of the considerations for alien combatants is something you will decide but we suspect you may vacillate between being fascinated by it and thinking it runs long.
Because of the way the story built, it was vital to have some kind of impactful resolution in the last twenty pages ... but that didn't happen. Even when it ended, you're still not 100% it's over.
As taught to me, a story needs to have a climax from which point everything following it is the resolution. For example, the climax with Custer's Last Stand isn't the battle but rather whenever he decided to do that dumb ass thing. From that point forward, it's predictable. He will go there to fight where he will either win or he will lose. On the other extreme is a joke in which the climax is the punchline and the resolution is you laugh, hopefully.
In "Footfall," there didn't seem to be any particularly climactic moment but rather it was continually building toward ... something. That something came in the last twenty pages and it just wasn't satisfying. In large part it was predictable because any other result would have resulted in the enslavement of humanity or the snouts would just waste us altogether.
As I got close to the end of it, one of the last chapters fell out and likely that was an omen. When the binding starts to break for a paperback, the story is over because it's too difficult to fix. I got to the end of the book by reading those pages by the individual leaves.
"Footfall" is one of four in the treasure trove hauled back from a local used bookstore. It was disappointing in resolution but generally engaging overall and an interesting excursion. Also in the trove are "The Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand" is the sequel to it.
The base has been explored multiple times but I was not aware until recently of the sequel. The only question is whether to read "The Mote in God's Eye" again because it's more than the sci-fi with some fascinating views of sociology and the consequences of manic reproduction.
The last is "Otherland" by Tad Williams and I know nothing of that one except the recommendation of a friend. It's a grand saga of some kind and it looks like it runs 500-600 pp. It's the first in a series so that's mixed news but we shall see how that goes in round after The Mote books.
No comments:
Post a Comment