Jerry Pournelle (1933–2017)

The popular wisdom is that this sequel, written two decades later, is quite inferior to the first book. In this case, the popular wisdom is right. This is just not as good as The Mote in God's Eye, but still I'm happy I read it, to see how the story ended.

The first part of the book takes place in the human CoDominium. I don't know how the authors got the impression that the CoDominium is as interesting as the Moties, but it is not. The Empire's politics, so old-fashioned and aristocratic, would seem to belong in the 19th century more than in the future. I know this is explained by the collapse of the first Empire and the related wars that put humanity's survival at risk, but still it's not as interesting as the Moties. The same goes for Bury and Renner's secret agent antics. I like what the authors do with Bury, though. When he was introduced in the first book it seemed he was going to be a one-dimensional villain, but he has turned out to be a much more complex and interesting character.

In the second part of the novel we finally get the Moties, which is what I wanted all the time. That part of the novel turns out to be a military thriller more than a first-contact chess game, but when the moties are around things are always interesting, even if most of the focus is on the action.

One could say that the solution the book offers to the Moties' little problem is a bit too easy, but let's not get into spoilers. At least we get an ending that's more conclusive than the one in the first book, even though I still would have liked to see some more. Unfortunately, the authors did not write any more sequels. There's a more recent book, however, an authorized sequel written by Pournelle's daughter.… (more)