The Mote in God's Eye

The Mote in God???s Eye, co-written by frequent collaborators Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, is a classic First Contact science fiction story which Robert A. Heinlein called ???possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read.??? The story takes place in 3017 AD in the future of Jerry Pournelle???s CODOMINION universe (though it???s not necessary to have read any of those books to enjoy The Mote in God???s Eye). Humans have developed the Alderson Drive which allows them to immediately jump to certain points in space. Thus they???ve been able to colonize many planets which are ruled by a single government similar to the British monarchy.

Up to this point humans have assumed they???re the only intelligent species in the universe, but an alien spaceship has just been detected near the Mote system. The spaceship MacArthur, captained by Lord Roderick Blaine, is dispatched to intercept the alien. Besides its regular crew, MacArthur has a couple of civilian passengers temporarily on board: Horace Bury, a trader and political prisoner, and Sally Fowler, a cultural anthropologist (how fortuitous) and senator???s niece.

It turns out that the alien in the probe ship is dead, but the humans figure out where the home planet must be, so Roderick Blaine, Sally Fowler, Horace Bury, a priest, the crew of MacArthur and a team of scientists are sent on a diplomatic mission to the planet they call Mote Prime. The ship Lenin is sent for back up. It???s captained by Admiral Kutuzov, a ruthless but effective man whose job is to not let the Moties learn anything that could help them build an Alderson Drive and escape the bounds of their own solar system.

Upon arrival at Mote Prime the diplomats find that the Moties are friendly and want to be allies. An alliance and trade agreement with the Moties would be beneficial to the human empire because, except for the lack of an Alderson Drive, the Moties are far more technologically advanced. But that means they???re also a threat. The diplomatic mission must discover all they can about the Motie society so it can make a recommendation to the empire about how to deal with this species they???re sharing the universe with. This, of course, is not as easy as it seems. Do the Moties really have pure intentions toward the humans, or are they deceiving them for some reason?

The Mote in God???s Eye, published in 1974, is a nice change of pace from most of the human vs. alien science fiction that had been previously published. Niven and Pournelle create a truly alien society and explore its evolution, history, sociology, and motivations. The story is compelling because Niven and Pournelle capitalize on the mystery, leaving the reader as much in the dark about the Moties??? true intentions as the human characters are. The truth is surprising (though, I thought, not completely believable).

Niven and Pournelle write unique stories but they???re not superior stylists; I read their books for the plot and ideas ??? not to admire their use of structure or language. This particular story is interesting, has a few great characters (Blaine, Kutuzov, the priest, and the Brownie aliens), and has an occasional nice touch of humor, but it sometimes suffers from shallow characterization, excessive dialogue, and an old-fashioned feel. The action is exciting, but limited. There is a lot of the normal ???hard SF??? explanation of drives, fields, stars, ships, etc, but there are also a lot of meetings in which the humans (or aliens) are trying to figure out what the aliens (or humans) know, assume, intend, and plan. Some of this was amusing (for example when the aliens are trying to figure out some aspects of human behavior) but many of the discussions just go on too long. Also, for a story set in 3017, ideas about birth control, sex, and women???s roles in society feel rather quaint.

Read the rest at FanLit:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/the-mote-in-gods-eye/

I did not like either the story or the writing style. Too much military jargon and sci-fi talk relating to spaceships and interstellar travel that has put me off continuing to read the book.

The plot seemed to revolve around the first contact of mankind with alien life. There was this spaceship that came out of an area in space known of god's face. The area received this name because due to the way some astral objects are positioned, when viewed from a distance, it looks lake a face.

This unknown spaceship attacked the spaceship of the protagonist for no apparent reason. He retaliates and succeeds in killing the aggressor. When the remainings of the spaceship are collected, they found out the body of the pilot is of an anatomy completely different from humans.