Music for the Day

Now that I think about it, I should’ve set up my titles as ‘Stories That I Recommend’ since I have a broad range of interests in various media. Manga, comic books, movies, TV shows, and even video games. But eh, maybe I’ll retitle it in the future. But for now, here is another book for you all to read.

The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

The setting is Jerry Pournelle’s CoDominium universe. In this future, the United States and the Soviet Union put aside their differences and became one union, even going out to the stars together. This book is one of the farthest points in the universe, though you don’t need to read any of the CoDominium to understand this one. Basically, after a rise and fall of a human empire, a new one, the Second Empire of Man, is rising and trying to claim the first’s former territories.

And yet, by pure chance, the Second Empire received proof of alien life when an alien probe came by New Caledonia, with the pilot dead. So, after much debate, the Second Empire sent two ships, MacArthur and Lenin, to the Mote star system to make first contact with the aliens, who they dubbed Moties. The MacArthur is there to make the first contact discussions and research, while Lenin makes sure no human technology falls to the Moties’ hands.

And things went wrong.

It is an excellent book, made by two esteemed writers. While some writers have difficulty working together, these two not only managed to do so but did it while ironing out the other’s flaws. It is also a well-crafted first contact story, with debates on whether to trust the Moties, split between the military and the scientists, and how difficult it is to trust the other. Whether it’s soldier or scientist, human or Motie, profiters and soldier/scientist, it is hard to build trust if you don’t know what the other is planning. And how it ends, well, you just have to read it yourself.

There is a sequel, The Gripping Hand/The Moat Around Murcheson’s Eye, and while it has a slow start, it does make sense since part of it deals with the political side given how the last book ended, and it does pick up after you get past that point.

If you want to read for yourself, here are the links.

Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/58hsntnp
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/2p9xm8ev