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)

terrific read

great story loved it from the beginning to the end will probably read it many more times to come I would recommend this book to all my friends looking forward to more from the author

So glad I finally read this one!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes absolutely. It is a thoroughly interesting and engaging story focused on the end of the world as we know it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lucifer's Hammer?

Defending the citadel from the onslaught of the cult-like army besieging them.

Which scene was your favorite?

Same as above.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

SPOILER:






I was very touched when I heard that the scientist had died. He worked so hard to devise weapons to save the people and in the end he died, but he knew he would. He could not get his insulin and could have spent time trying to synthesize more from the sheep present but instead he spent all time to ensure the community would survive. I was really hoping he would have made it.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoy sci-fi or post apocalyptic literature you have to give this a listen. It is a great and timeless tale and shows just how fragile civilization can be. It took me decades to get around to it but I am so glad I finally did!

You forget you’re reading a book

The book does a wonderful job of sucking you into the story. It’s both realistic and emotionally powerful. It’s both artistic and imaginative. It was so long, yet it ended too fast. It was an adventure. I found myself wanting to be there alongside the protagonists, to struggle, and to overcome with them. I found myself developing a deeper gratitude and enjoyment of the comforts and technology of our society.

Good, but dated

The book itself was very interesting, but the race and gender relations sound very backwards to modern ears, and it concludes rather abruptly. The inclusion of quotations from source material as chapter epigraphs was very interesting and leads the reader to other possible books.

Boring

Great book but Unnecessarily long-drawn-out and boring. Could have shortened it up to Keep peoples attention and interest

Very Dated

The narrator did a great job with the book and made it very easy to listen. The story is very dated compared to today culture. You'll find yourself reminding yourself that this book was not intended for the current generation. Not so much because of what we would call 'being woke" more that we have a general mistrust of the government. Since one of the characters is a senator that gets to decide what happens to the community it feels weird. Of the book was written today aside for some of the ethnic characters you would probably expect the senator to be tarred and feathered as opposed to "deciding" who gets to join or be left out. Other than that I think the author spends to much time trying to time trying to write himself into and out of situations.

Very long but very interesting

Great book. World is very fleshed out and interesting, great characters. At times it felt a little bigoted by having every black character except one be a terrible gang member type personality with no morals or civility.

amazing

had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! one of my favorite reads all year long!

A what if scenario to make you think

Where does Lucifer's Hammer rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I don't know where I would rank this in comparison to other books I have read, but this is definitely one I am keeping on my Kindle for re-reading.

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

Lucifer' s Hammer is a combination of "Armageddon" and "The Road" rolled into one. It's long, but even when it's over you still want to hear more. We only get a small glimpse at the rebuilding process and only get hints as to the struggles to come.

Wanted to like it more than I actually did

I really liked the idea of this book and I felt that the authors put decent amount of thought into what might happen to a society facing 'the Hammer'.

On the other hand, I wasn't really drawn into this story as I would have expected. Big, exciting events felt somewhat flat. It could be that variations of this story have been told and retold for decades now, but it never really felt that the story moved too far beyond the expected. That could just be a consequence of being a classic.