I mentioned the other day that I was reading The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I don't read much science fiction, but this novel got my attention after a favorable mention in the National Review:

This 1974 novel of first contact carries lessons for conservative hawks and liberal doves. (Robert) Heinlein called it “possibly the best science-fiction novel I have ever read.”

I finished the book yesterday and I'd recommend it, especially to readers who enjoy science fiction and fiction concerned with the military, politics and philosophy. The Mote In God's Eye is an entertaining, engrossing read; at times reminding me of such disparate writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Clive Barker, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, John Gresham and Franz Kafka. If that sounds like a rambling, incoherent mess, it's not. This novel is really quite complete and satisfying … and what it has to say about human nature is worth reading.

…Mote… takes place some two-thousand years in the future, with mankind's Empire Of Man having colonized much of the known universe. After a series of bloody and disastrous wars of secession, the Empire finds itself weakened but focused at the start of the book, intent on putting down rebellions and reuniting mankind in the name of peace and progress. The Empire of Man is a militaristic and aristocratic one, but the aristocracy is benevolent and the military is concerned almost primarily with finding new worlds and with maintaining peace. It's in this environment that mankind makes first contact with a new species of intelligent life from another world.

There are, of course, any number of "first contact" stories out there, but few of the ones I've read or watched are as complete and well imagined as …Mote… While there are thrilling action passages in the book, there are also important and engrossing subplots involving the politics of first contact. The way contact with an alien race will effect everything from human law to religion to commerce and art is pondered, and more often than not the conclusions the novel reaches seem at once logical and amusing.

I was really quite surprised at how well the novel manages to succeed simultaneously within it's own science fiction framework and within the context of other genres. The elements of the novel concerned with the Imperial Navy are smart and entertaining, as are the elements that present themselves as political thriller and as theological fiction. A love story between the primary male and female characters is a bit less satisfying … at times it's a bit of a distraction. Nonetheless, the relationship between those two characters reminded me of something from a 1940's movie serial, and it wasn't without it's charms.

It's amazing how thoroughly Pournelle and Niven touched on topics that remain relevant today. If you'd told me that the novel had been written in the last year (instead of the early '70's), I'd have been sure that the war in Iraq had been a major influence. One character is a Muslim trader, and as the relationship between mankind and the alien race changes (sometimes violently), that character's religious faith becomes more prominent. Other characters, including a Christian Naval Chaplin and practitioners of a new astrology-based religion, are rendered fully and believably. In fact, none of the human characters fall into stereotype, and the way they develop is one of the best parts of the story.

Most satisfying of all, however, is the way …Mote… treats the alien race itself. This is a wholly "alien" race, unlike anything I'd seen or read before. The race is given motives and logic that readers can relate to, but it never dissolves into anthropomorphic symbolism. These aliens are believably alien; sometimes mysterious, sometimes horrific, sometimes plainly obvious with regard to their actions. The passages where living aliens and living humans first attempt to find a way to communicate are real page-turners.

The novel's action climaxes in the third of it's four acts: Miscommunication culminates with a bloody and downright horrifying battle that results in the loss of a Naval spacecraft. It was difficult for me not to think of video games like Halo and movies like Aliens while I read that section. While that might speak badly of me and might indicate how stifled my own imagination has become due to movies and games, it should also indicate that the movie hit all of my excitement buttons. Suffice it to say that I was totally "into it" during the battle sequences.

The fourth act might be a bit of a letdown to some readers after the climactic third act. The novel ends with a protracted and dry focus on the political implications of what's come before. Some might not like it, but for political junkies like me, it was (to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis) red meat and strong beer.

The Mote In God's Eye isn't for everyone, and if you have no interest in science fiction at all, you should avoid it. Nonetheless, fans of fiction involving espionage, war, theology and philosophy will find much to enjoy within this space tale. If you're looking for a summer page-turner that's fun and smart, you probably can't do much better. The Mote In God's Eye gave me lots to think about and kept a perpetual smile on my face.

Up next for me … after cleansing the pallet with a a political autobiography, I might take on the sequel to …Mote…, called The Gripping Hand.

Labels: Books, Entertainment