Lucifer's Hammer

By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 24 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival - a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....

©1985 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"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." ( Chicago Daily News)
"Massively entertaining." ( Cleveland Plain-Dealer)

One of the Best in the Genre

I ran across this book after doing an internet search for books about world ending or apocalyptic events and I'm glad I did. There are not many books that deal with the details of what happens after such an event versus leading up to it or preventing the event all together. Even though this book was written in the 70s before cell phones and the internet, or personal computers in general for that matter, it still works. In fact it might work even better because of the time period.

Either way the author does a great job developing the many characters in the book giving their individual account or perspectives of how the events impact their lives. There are those who do nothing and those who heed the warnings and prepare and just the right amount of detail is provided to setup the various stories and make them plausible. As the focus narrows to a smaller playing field it just feels right. The narration is on par with some of the best as well.

I hated to see this one end. I put this at the top of my personal list of books in this genre and can recommend it highly to anyone who finds this subject as fascinating as I do.

High remarks!!

This is am amazing story written written before all this post apocalyptic movies. This book caused me to think differently about those making decisions for us. Made me consider how I would respond to the ethical decisions. This book should be required reading in high school.

Better the second time

Read the book in the 80’s
Listened to it in the early 00’s
Again 2023,
Just a good story

Classic Niven and Pournelle

Great performance of this classic. Read it when it first came out. It’s definitely a product of the ‘70’s, but still holds up.

I enjoyed the book

The book is good enough, but honestly, the performance was not great. Weird emphasis on many lines requires the listener to "decode" what's going on. it was distracting.

Very solid book

Yes, it's a bit dated, but it's also the first book of the comet/asteroid as the end of the world genre. In that sense it's groundbreaking and definitely worth reading.

Some people may have difficulty with the first several hours up until right before the comet makes landfall. Yes, the book jumps around, but there are lots of characters to weave into the narrative. And believe me, the payoff is worth it.

Too many men talk themselves into hating thier

Wives. Just some wisdom from Larry and Jerry.
As far as Armageddon novels go this is in the upper middle. If you have already listened to Alas Babylon, The Road, The Postman, and One Second After and still want more then buy the book. There is nothing new in this book. This was written in 1977, way before three of the books I mentioned, but that don't mean you should settle. After this then read The Stand or The Mysterious Island.

After I put the book on fast play, I found I liked the book a lot better. More on that later. Harry the Mailman had to be an influence in David Brin's, The Postman. It is dated, pocket calculators are rare and cost $200 to $300 dollars and white men are Honkies. It runs a little long and seems to have a couple of endings. It is all about California, because those of us in fly over country don't count. There are some interesting characters and interesting situations.

With about 18 hours left to go I was dreading listening for that long. As a last resort I put the player on fast forward. That made my opinion of the book go up two stars. I hate to be tough on narrators, but they can make or break a book with there talents or lack there of. During the disaster his narration of the carnage, reads like a To do List.

Great Story Just Smashing ;-)

Would you listen to Lucifer's Hammer again? Why?

No. I rarely if ever llisten to a book again

What other book might you compare Lucifer's Hammer to and why?

Haven't read another book about a comet hitting the earth as good as this one! None compare

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I loved the ending while I did not laugh it certainly made me smile!

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this one and will be looking for other books from this author

A very good read!

I got this book on a whim and figured it was an Audible Frontiers book I might like it. I DID! I found the story very engrossing and could not put the headphones down. I would highly recommend this book to others

Mixed feelings

I love the book itself. Great story, only wish the audio version came with the character list. Only thing that bothered me was the author(s) seemed to love and overuse the word 'presently'. It got on my nerves after awhile.

The Reader: Terrible. He had three voices. The one used for all women. The Southerner Voice. And the "Can you tell I'm a chainsmoker?" voice. He seemed to forget what voice he used for many characters, so voice changes did not denote character changes. Also, the attempts at singing (more like off-beat chanting) required me to use the fastforward every time.