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)

Decent book but VERY dated

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

I don't think I could do this book more than once. It's just too dated, and felt long and drawn out at times. In spite of it being a decent book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Easily Harry the mail man. He provided some much needed humor and is a breath of fresh air in contrast to the dreary ambiance of the book.

What does Marc Vietor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Probably the best part of this audio book was the reader.

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

The book is very dreary and mellencholy once you get past the first 4 hrs prior to the Comet striking. You are pretty much looking at a post apocolyptic landscape filled with murder and cannibalism with the stark reality of even good people doing what they must to survive not just on a personal level but as a species. Having to turn away whole families at the front gate of a stronghold just because they know they don;t have enough resources to support them is pretty much condemning the family to die. But some great points are raised about the neccessity of certain occupations and skills sets and how valueable they become to the greater good and the commune itself.

Any additional comments?

Again, Solid book, the only issue i take with it is it really dated itself by incorporating the cold war mentality of anti-communism sentiment. They also had a bunch of hippies in their own commune, and made several refrences to the vietnam war and what amounts to the Black Panther movement of the sixties. Who were also conveniently the "Bad Guys". All that just made this feel very dated and it was hard to get past that for me.

One of the Few Books That Shape a Life

I have always believed that the books we read help shape our character as we grow up. Of course, not nearly as much as our parents, church, education, etc., but it is appreciable. I am almost 40 and continue to have my character shaped by great books, and this is one of them.

I am not convinced that everyone will love this book as much as I do, but I am convinced if you've come this far in reading reviews it's for a genre you like and should give this a try.

This book captivated me and so often I found myself right next to the characters and living with them through their trials. There is one setting that takes place on a railroad track bed that will stick with me for the rest of my life.It also forced me to realize that there are situations that I am simply not equipped to protect my family. This, incredibly, was a shock to my system, albeit a small one.

Marc Vietor did a great job with the narration too. He has a wide range of voices to help the listener follow.

One item that was a bit difficult - there was switching back and forth between character point of views. In the book, it is easy to tell as their must be a large paragraph/page break. For the audio, for some reason the producer didn't have a long enough pause between character POV's and at the beginning it was difficult to follow.

entirely plausible and quite entertaining

from the initial ignorance of the general population to the complete break down of society and all that attends it this book is firmly rooted in reality....as far as fiction can go lol

Okay

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Something to have on in the background while I do chores

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Not much

Did Marc Vietor do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Narration was well done, but it can't make up for a boring story

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

Too long, even listening in 2x mode, could hardly keep my interest

This was and still is my favorite all-time!!!

This was and is my favorite all-time favorite, I read the book about 1978, enjoyed this as much as the book.

A great tale

I read this book back in the early 80's when it first came out and decided to try it as an AudibleBook - I was not disappointed! One of the best of the 'end of the world' stories, with as much time spent dealing with post-impact life as the story leading up to the comet's arrival. Great creative license on the part of the two authors, really will get you involved in this nightmare scenario!

Amazing tale

If you want an apocalypse and post apocalyptic novel in one package this is the one to but. It is an amazing tale that is scientifically well thought out and it is worth a listen.

Sorry To See It End

I am not a big Scifi guy but I really liked this book. It seemed to me to be more about how society reacts to each other before, during, and after a natural disaster.

I would recommend it to even non scifi listeners.

Dated But Classic

Written before cell phones or the collapse of the USSR, still an excellent end of the world tale.

review

well seriously slow to get going it was a struggle to keep going..... guess it's kinda like the hammer itself because once it gained momentum I couldn't stop and had to follow it right to the ...... if only there was a way to change how it all started