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Lucifer's Hammer

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Lucifer's Hammer

By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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About this listen

 The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival - a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known....

©1985 Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (P)2009 Audible, Inc. Adventure Fantasy Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction

Critic Reviews

"Take your earthquakes, waterlogged condominiums, swarms of bugs, colliding airplanes, and flaming what-nots, wrap them up and they wouldn't match one page of Lucifer's Hammer for sweaty-palmed suspense." ( Chicago Daily News)
"Massively entertaining." ( Cleveland Plain-Dealer)
All stars
Most relevant
Read this book in the late 70’s. Was a pleasure to revisit it in audio.

Epic tale of disaster and survival

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if the earth ever bites a comet, well I know how to make do. excellent story.

fantastic

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The amount of research and accuracy on this novel is fantastic. One of the best!

One of the best End of the World stories ever

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The best SCFI book that I ever read is transformed into a brilliant audiobook, a great read and a better listen. 5 stars

Lucifers Hammer

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Any additional comments?

This book is getting a tad long in the tooth, being first published in 1977. But age has not removed the shine from this classic apocalyptic novel. If anything I feel that the age of the book adds to the story and in places makes for some hilarious reading.

All this aside Lucifer's Hammer delivers a story of a world that is in the path of a comet. Mankind knows it is coming close, just not how close. The start of the book is used well in informing the reader about comets and the science of predicting their paths. Our main characters are well grounded and we get a good feel for them.

Then the world comes to an end and Armageddon is let loose upon the earth. We watch the survivors struggle to come to terms with their new reality. It is fascinating to see how they change. Some rise to the challenge and some lapse into depravity. The plot is not a new one nor does it comes as surprise. But what makes it a truly great read is how well the author tells his tale. Also the thought is always in the back of your mind that what you are reading may one day be your reality, which in itself is truly scary stuff.

This book did leave with one question. Why the hell was it no called hammer fall.

A Classic for a reason

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