I really, really enjoyed The Mote in God’s Eye by L. Niven and J. Pournelle. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I found the starting paragraphs simply great. The book is about a futuristic human civilization that expanded to the stars and makes first contact with intelligent alien life.
The book starts with a chronology of events that immediately made for some great world building. The setting in this is quite interesting, the current Empire of Humanity is military, religious and barely holding up, and somehow, it remains hopeful, and not as bad as it may seem.
It features a nice cast of characters, from different upbringings and personalities: military, scientists, anthropologists, politicians. Everything goes, and the clash between opinions are very intersting. The history of the aliens, the way the look at us and think of us, was also quite well done.
It was a fairly long book, it is the longest book I’ve ever read, but it remained delightful all the way through. The pages just kept flying, the writing was just captivating to me.
It is not the most action packed or the most intense book overall, but it has its moments of great suspense and thrill. I found it quite realistic and the plot developed really well, and the way the conflict resolves, while a bit rushed, makes complete sense. There is also a little bit of corny romance and humor which I wasn’t expecting, but I found myself having a blast with it all.
I read it on my phone and I also found an audiobook on YouTube, which I ripped and spliced in chapters and added to AntennaPod as a local folder. Sometimes I read while listening, which made things a bit slow but also easier to understand.
If I could read it for the first time again, I would, its that good to me.
