Conference noted::sf

    Paperback or hardbound?
    
    len.
    

    Hardbound. Around $25. 
    
    About halfway through it, not a lot of action. The Motie politics is
    complicated enough for a good headache ;-)

    Any final reviews of this book?  It just became avail. in soft cover, I
    believe ...
    Jim

    It's OK. The Moties appear as a more filled-out society than they did
    in "Mote". As such they become less alien and mysterious, and more
    reflections of ourselves (can anybody REALLY depict an alien society?
    This would make a good discussion.) 
    
    There is a great deal of politics, some interesting
    Astro-physics, and plot thrown in for good measure :-).  I really
    didn't find any of the human characters memorable except for Berry
    (sp?), the trader. 
    
    I'd recommend it in order to fill out the first book, but it won't
    "grip" (sorry) your attention the way some previous Niven/Pournelle 
    books have - such as "Lucifer's Hammer". 
    
    - Russ

    I guess the best way to describe it is through comparisons:
    
    _The Gripping Hand_ is to _The Mote in God's Eye_
    			  as
    _The Barsoom Project_ is to _Dream Park_

    
    I've bought it but I haven't read it yet as since buying it I've had
    The Mote in God's Eye and footfall to read (I had to return them to
    someone)

Article: 616
From: [email protected] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Prograde Reviews--Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle:The Gripping Hand
Date: 8 Jun 1994 19:15:04 GMT
Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club
Sender: [email protected] (Michael C. Berch)
 
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle: The Gripping Hand
 
A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey
 
I never really understood the entire furor about _The Mote In God's Eye_.
I read the book, it was okay, but I didn't like it as much as _Footfall_.
It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I found out how much so many
other people liked it.
 
So I wasn't terribly disappointed by _The Gripping Hand_, since I didn't
feel that it had that much to live up to.
 
It doesn't have the whole thrill of the first-contact story in _Mote_,
true.  And it takes a long time to get to the Motie segments anyway.  But I
liked the character development of Horace Bury and Kevin Renner, among
others.  The only characters I remembered from _Mote_ were ones I didn't
like, like Sally Blaine...  I remembered a fair few more from this one.
 
I think one of the "problems" is that the Motie problem left over from the
last book was something that needed to be tied up, but by itself it wasn't
meaty enough for an entire book, without some "padding" that would
concentrate on other matters--in this case, Horace Bury trying to convince
anyone else that the Moties are still a threat.
 
I read it without being affected by the hype that surrounded it...and I
found it quite readable.  If you're expecting the next SF classic, this
wasn't it, but _every_ book can't be a classic...
 
%A Niven, Larry
%A Pournelle, Jerry
%T The Gripping Hand
%I Pocket
%C New York
%D 1993
%G ISBN 0-671-79574-0
%P 412 pp
%S Mote
%V Book 2
%O Paperback, USD5.99, CAD7.50
 
[P.S. In case anyone's confused about 'Retrograde' vs. 'Prograde' reviews,
what they mean is simply that the latter are more recent, and the former
are for 'older' books; the arbitrary dividing line I'm using at the moment
is 1990.]
 
-- 
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