The Mad Professah Lectures: BOOK REVIEW: Lucifer's Hammer

Thursday, December 24, 2020

BOOK REVIEW: Lucifer's Hammer

Lucifer’s Hammer is one of the classic works of science fiction; it was nominated for the Hugo and Locus awards for Best Novel. Written by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven and published in 1977, Lucifer’s Hammer is one of the most prominent examples of the post-apocalyptic trope of modern science fiction. Set primarily in California, the story follows a large cast of characters as they are affected by the discovery of the Hamner-Brown comet, its rapid approach to Earth, catastrophic collision and immediate aftermath.

The story is set in the late 1970s and the cultural assumptions and depictions are somewhat jarring as one views them from the perspective of a gay, Black man living in the 21st century. This is not a new experience I (and am sure many other readers who are not in the expected target audience of straight, white, males) have had reading alleged classics of science fiction. Honestly, I would say that Lucifer’s Hammer has fewer “ugh!” moments than others I have read. For example, the N-word does appear in the text, unexpurgated.

The primary way the disconnect between the modern reader and the somewhat dated text manifests is in a lack of empathy for the primary characters. I was never that invested in whether a particular character that we’ve been given a first-person perspective of would survive or not. To me, the narrative tension in the book that kept me reading to the end was the recognizable plausibility of the depiction of the rapid deterioration of civilization after the cataclysmic comet collision and whether human civilization would still be viable at the end of the book.

Pournelle & Niven use 3-4 main characters as vehicles through which they tell the bulk of the story. The first is Tim Hamner, a rich astronomical dilettante who happens to discover the comet and then escapes with a woman-who-is-not-his-wife to Northern California after devastating tidal waves basically inundate and decimate Southern California where he lives. Another is Harvey Randall, a producer of television documentaries who does a series of stories on Hamner and the comet. The third most prominent character is Maureen Jellison, daughter of U.S. Senator Arthur Clay Jellison. When the comet strikes, Jellison becomes the de facto leader of a group of survivors in Northern California, due to his thforesightedness to stockpile useful supplies on his ranch in the area. There are many other characters who also get first-person accounts, from the murderer-rapist who takes advantage of the turmoil and confusion to commit crimes, to the policeman who punishes him and maintains law and order despite the uncertainty of whether humanity itself will persist and lastly, the Black criminal Alim Nassor who (unsuccessfully) attempts to use the abandonment of white folks their homes to enrich and empower himself and his “brothers.” Some of these characters are simply bad people so that’s one reason why it’s difficult to connect with them or care about their survival. However, some of the characters are simply not that relatable to me (perhaps because I’m not in the expected target audience). And some of the depictions of the characters (especially their attitudes and beliefs) are borderline offensive.

However, in the end I would say that overall Lucifer’s Hammer is an effective, if flawed, entry in the genre of speculative fictional depiction of apocalyptic events. It would have been improved by providing a more diverse set of perspectives on the cataclysmic events by the inclusion of different characters.

Title: Lucifer's Hammer.
Author: Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven.
Format: Kindle.
Length: 642 pages.
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services.
Date Published: September 22, 2010. (First Published: July 1, 1977)
Date Read: November 29, 2020.