The Gripping Hand

Eighteen years in the making! the cover proclaims. Not that I believe they spent the last eighteen years writing it but I guess everyone is allowed some poetic license. To any potential readers out there if you're thinking of reading this book and haven't read The Mote in God's Eye, then stop right now and go read that book and then come back. Okay? I'll wait. In any event, as you no doubt figured this novel is a sequel to that SF classic, which detailed First Contact with a race very different from humans in good and bad ways . . . and the worst way caused us to seal them up in their solar system to prevent them from spreading. But now it's thirty years later and there's a good chance that the Moties are going to come out. Now what? Do we wipe them all out or try to negotiate with them in hopes of forming some kind of compromise. As you can probably infer, this isn't as action packed as the last book was, in fact it consists of mostly dialogue, pages and pages of people talking and trying to manuever politically and strategically and whatnot. So some fans were probably put off from page one. But all in all for a book that has been slammed a million times it's not that bad . . . sure the engrossing mystery is gone and so are lots of the breakneck action but excitement can be found in the slow build up and the endless back and forth talk. If anything the two strikes working against the book are it's too long (especially toward the end, which just keeps going and going and going . . .) and none of the new characters are memorable at all. The old people are back, mostly Kevin Renner and Horace Bury and they make out well but even the others aren't even featured and the newcomers (especially Jennifer and Glinda Ruth) are so one note that it borders on annoying. However, the Niven/Pournelle team manages to capture your attention once you've gotten far enough into the book and by stringing along a series of minor climaxes they successfully keep the reader moving along with the plot (which, for all the manipulations, is oddly straightforward). So no, they did try something different with this one so they have to get credit for that . . . without the shock of the new that the last book had this novel can't hope to measure up but it's an entertaining book on its own and a welcome look at a race and concept that deserved revisiting.

Good sequel. Compared to many of the sequels on the market today (Hammers slammers; Eye of the world; etc;) this one delivers. While not as good as the first book, much better than most first books out there.

Writing sequels to classic books is not easy. In this case the authors seem to have succeeded pretty well. The Gripping Hand certainly is a more mature book than the The Mote in God's eye, and is highly readable. All in all it may even be better!This in contrast to The Ringworld Throne, the sequel to Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers, which really drags and contains a lot of soppy material that slopped over from Destiny's Road, another book unworthy of a great author.

...Is the title this was released under in the UK. Which explains my initial confusion.But in reading the reviews, I feel as if I have been looking at the wrong book. What's going on here? A classic follow up to a classic novel, and so many people were disappointed!Many people disliked the first section of the novel, which dealt primarily with the Human Empire and the Mormons. They claim they had nothing to do with the story - untrue, as they sparked Bury's paranoia about the Moties getting free in the first place. I enjoyed the insight into the human Empire, and the fleshing out of an area that TMiGE was unable to focus on.The Blaine children being flat characters? Glenda Ruth belonging on 'Clueless'? Chris being an unimaginative Navy officer? Ridiculous! They are cunning, manipulative individuals, raised by Motie Mediators, and they act every bit the part. Perhaps those who commented thus failed to look under the glossy exterior of the characters - Glenda's relationship with Freddy (an interesting new character, incidentally), say, and Chris's disbelief in the Motie threat (he spent less time with Jock, Charlie and Ivan than his sister).Bury, for all the 30 years, hasn't changed a bit - bar his unusual friendship with Kevin. He still follows his beliefs, he is still terrified of the Moties - and he still hates the Blaines with a passion (not quite the clear-cut 'good guy' I've heard him accused of).As to the lack of new technology and races, and lack of development by the Moties...of course not! Barely thirty years have passed, not enough time for substantial new technology to appear (bar the 'magic' coffeepots and the expanding Langston Field). A society will not change much in this period, and nor will a species genetics! And as to 'no new alien races', well: the Mote books have always been about the Human-Motie relationship, and adding new aliens would be unbelieveable, disruptive, confusing and above all; destroy the impact and flow of the story.Another comment I read was that a reviewer modelled himself on Kevin Renner. I'd model myself on a Motie Mediator - perhaps even Renner's own Fyunch(click!).In conclusion; The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye/The Gripping Hand is a worthy and impressive follow-up up to a classic. Read it, hate it if you must, but try looking under the surface and you'll find a lot more than some people seem to have.Incredible. One of the greatest SF books I've ever read.

Unlike, seemingly, many of the others who chose to add their comments about this book, I found it to be well worth the wait. The premise of what the heck to do with the Moties has been one I have thought over many, many times since I read "The Mote In Gods Eye" so long ago, and I think that the solution the authors have come up with is not only insiteful, but rather neatly answers the questions they raised in thier original work on these quite unique aliens