Lucifer's Hammer

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Randall and Hamner separately reach the valley and are allowed in (unlike almost all other refugees). In "Lucifer's Hammer," the only surviving nuclear power plant becomes potentially the salvation of civilization. Tsunamis and earthquakes, whilst triggered this time by a meteor shower, gives a powerful image of what would happen. Most of the first third of the novel focused on the 70's modern society, with all the strange views common of that time, but that wasn't the most striking feature.

Everyone for themselves the strong the lucky and especially the brave, shall inherit the ruined world. There should be a name for the particular type of book that is exemplified by some popular novels published between the late 1950s and the early 1980s. Niven and Pournelle create characters with enough depth that you can care about them and they place them in credible and interesting situations. Now originally I had this marked as a re-read but do you know, if I had read it, I didn't remember it one little bit so I'm guessing I have really never read this before, which I have to say is very remiss of me, as this is a very good book, that's very good not great.I do think he tries to 'balance' this out by having one of the astronauts be black, but it sure feels like its intentionally trying to provide cover for his the obviously racist depiction of the cannibals. Nuke 'em: The Chinese conclude that the Soviets that survive Hammerfall will need to migrate south to avoid future glaciers, and launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. The cannibals learn to fear the survivors because he knows how to make mustard gas and thermite bombs. I was humbled by the way they could turn so many flawed and normal people into an epic scene of pathos when they died.

The story kept moving and the various threads set up at the start of the story were woven into a believable whole towards the end. Niven and Pournelle start with a great idea, a since tried-and-true staple of the disaster genre–Earth facing an impending meteor pass.on unclipped dust jacket; with a small puncture ("1/4" x 1/8") and very slight corner wear to the jacket. One of Earth's possible destruction through a "Dinosaur killer" comet that might or might not hit the planet. Some characteristics include: an insistence on referring to men by their last names only, flat characterization which tends to adhere to sterotypical gender roles, a focus on jobs/career as being a key part of identity, and a predominance of loveless relationships and adulterous affairs. It helps make for very interesting reading, and I think I’ve added several new books on my to-read list.

The remainder of the story takes place in California, where survivors in the San Joaquin valley go about preparing for the coming ice age and trying to rebuild what little civilization they can. This is the story Niven and Pournelle tell, with a level of realism that echoes people’s attitudes and actions witnessed during the COVID pandemic. Anything in the way is doomed Tim has to share the accolades with a teenage boy though, from Iowa named Brown.Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: There are several instances throughout the novel, which is unsurprising when it involves the survivors of an apocalypse. Sounds like the Suck Fairy got in there while you weren't looking and spread her Suck all over the pages.

I'm also a lot more inclined to be forgiving of certain attitudes in a 1959 book than in a 1977 book. Take your earthquakes, waterlogged condominiums, swarms of bugs, colliding airplanes, and flaming what-nots, wrap them up and they wouldn't match one page of Lucifer's Hammer for sweaty-palmed suspense.Later becomes a love square when Maureen’s longtime lover, astronaut John Baker, enters the picture.