Lucifer's Hammer
1977 • 642 pages

Ratings45

Average rating3.6

15

I really loved this book with some major reservations. Overall, the story was thoroughly engaging. I have always enjoyed Niven's somewhat dry style. The Earth is struck by an almost world ending meteor. We see the lead up to the strike and then the slow recovery of civilization in one small area (Southern California). The major flaw is that the only group of black characters in the book just happen to become a roving band of cannibals. It's not unreasonable to think that some people might resort to cannibalism, but to make the only black characters the only cannibals... If you simply make this group a mixed group it in no way changes the overall story but makes it far less racist.

February 22, 2023Report this review