Book Review – Larry Niven’s “Lucifer’s Hammer”

Today I finished reading Larry Nivven‘s post-apocalyptic novel, Lucifer’s Hammer.

Co-written by Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer’s Hammer is a haunting tale of survival after the Earth is hit by a comet.  Billions of people are killed instantly, and the survivors are forced to fight for their own survival in ways that they never imagined.

Lucifer’s Hammer begins with the discovery of the Hamner-Brown Comet, named after an amateur astronomer and a kid who was using a telescope and looking at the right place at the right time.  The comet is approaching the inner part of our solar system.  According to astronomers, the Hamner-Brown Comet is going to pass by the inner planets, swing around the sun, and head back out into space.  The odds of the comet striking the Earth are so small that it’s not even worth mentioning.

Life continues as the comet continues on its path.  But when scientists continue to monitor it, and when a TV documentary gives it more attention, people can’t help but wonder just how close the comet will be when it passes the Earth a second time when heading back out into space.  It’s not going to hit, right?

As the days pass, more and more people believe that the comet is really going to impact the Earth and wipe out everybody, just as an asteroid ended up killing off the dinosaurs.  Some people see this as a sign from above.  Others begin to stockpile supplies to help ride out whatever happens.  A smaller percentage think that since everybody is going to be killed, then nothing at this point matters, and it’s okay to commit crimes.  And still other people believe that nothing will happen and that everybody else is crazy.  Those people cannot wait for the comet to pass so that life will get back to normal again.

California Senator Arthur Jellison is able to pull some strings and persuade the government to use an old Apollo rocket to send two Americans into space to research the comet as it passes.  The two Americans link up with two Soviet cosmonauts, and the four of them use an orbiting research lab to document the passing of Hamner-Brown Comet (now nicknamed “The Hammer” by the media).

When Hamner-Brown Comet passes by the Earth and swings around the sun, the scientists realize that the comet’s second passing is going to be much closer than realized.  There’s only going to be a hair’s difference between the comet harmlessly passing by the Earth, and that of it striking the planet.

Sure enough, Hamner-Brown Comet strikes the Earth in an event called “Hammerfall.”  The astronauts in space are powerless as they watch the comet break into three large pieces and impact the Earth.  One large chunk lands in the Mediterranean Sea, another lands in the Atlantic Ocean, and the third large piece of comet impacts the Pacific Ocean.  Other parts of the planet are pelted by smaller but still very dangerous pieces of the comet.

The tremendous impacts cause heavy damage all around the world, from erupting volcanoes and devastating earthquakes, to massive tsunamis that wipe out everything within a hundred miles of the coastline.  To make matters worse, all of the water that was blasted into the atmosphere came back down as a rain storm that lasted for several weeks.  The seemingly never-ending rains flooded farmlands, caused rivers to swell, and broke several dams, resulting in even more damage.

People know that all of the dust in the atmosphere is going to cause another ice age.  China knows that Russia is going to head south and invade its territory, so the Chinese launch a surprise nuclear attack on Russia.  Russia fights back and with the help of the U.S., pretty much all of China is destroyed in a short-lived nuclear war.  As a result, most of central Asia has become a radioactive wasteland.

In the U.S., most of the story takes place in Southern California.

Just after Hammerfall and when the area was rocked by a powerful earthquake and devastating tsunami, there was no longer any law and order.  It was now a game of survival where you did anything it took, including murdering other people, to save yourself and your family.  Life had suddenly and brutally shifted into a realm of survival of the fittest.

Most of Los Angeles was flooded from the tsunami, so the survivors gathered whatever supplies they had, and they headed east into the mountains and anywhere they thought that they could find refuge.  While some people banded together, others turned on their friends and colleagues, and still others freely robbed and murdered anybody standing in their path.  It was anarchy as people fought to find shelter, food and water.

Senator Jellison had a hunch about the comet and quickly stockpiled food and other supplies at his house out in the country.  Him and a few of his neighbors band together and seal off their settlement (called the Stronghold) from others.  *They* might be able to survive the upcoming winter, but if they continued letting others into the Stronghold, then it was less likely that they would have the supplies to feed everybody, and then they would *all* perish.  Senator Jellison becomes the judge and ruler of the Stronghold, and his band of people fight to keep almost everybody else out of it.

The second half of Lucifer’s Hammer revolves around life at the Stronghold as the survivors adapt to their brutal lifestyle.  The name of the game is survival and finding a way to save enough food and supplies to survive the upcoming winter.  In the spring they’ll be able to replant their fields and grow crops again, but for now those same farmlands are flooded, and the crops are ruined.

The Stronghold slowly grows stronger as they acquire more supplies and allow certain people to join their organization.  That’s important later as a roving band of bandits (called the New Brotherhood Army) launches a war against the Stronghold in an attempt to gain their supplies and their territory.  The war is brutal and many people are killed, but the Stronghold ultimately wins in the end thanks to the manufacturing of home-made chemical weapons.

After fending off the attack by the New Brotherhood Army, the survivors of the Stronghold race off and defend a nearby nuclear power plant from being attacked by the remainder of the New Brotherhood Army.  They are successful in the defense and the New Brotherhood Army is finally destroyed.

Lucifer’s Hammer ends with the operational nuclear power plant safely in the hands of the Stronghold.  The Stronghold itself survives the winter, and the people are making progress rebuilding their small part of the world.  It’s just a matter of time before they finally link together with other societies around the country and across the planet.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So is Larry Niven’s Lucifer’s Hammer a good story?

Yes!

Lucifer’s Hammer is a frighteningly realistic doomsday scenario involving a disaster from space nearly destroying all life on Earth.  It shows just how quickly society collapses as people fight for the most basic elements to survive.

One of the best aspects of Lucifer’s Hammer is that it primarily stays focused on one area during a worldwide catastrophe.  While it would be nice to know how other people around the world (or just other places in the U.S.) reacted to the comet’s impact, such a story would simply be to grand to tell with this level of detail.  So while the story primarily takes place in southern California, there are plenty of details to how the people tried to survive.  We also see their reactions as they hear about other places around the world that survived, and those places that were destroyed.

A book like Lucifer’s Hammer reminds us just how dependent we are on modern technology, from electricity to running water to always having food available in a nearby grocery store.  If you had all of that removed in one fell swoop, would you be able to survive and continue to live?

It’s one thing to stockpile food, water and necessary medicine to live for a few days or even a week.

But what happens if you’re still on your own two weeks later?

How about a month later?

What happens when other survivors try to break into your shelter and steal your supplies, or even try to kill you so that they can live in your shelter?  Can you successfully fight them as well as find a way to continue living?

Thankfully the events in Lucifer’s Hammer are just a work of fiction.  Oh sure, a large asteroid or even a comet will eventually hit the Earth, but chances are likely that it’ll occur hundreds or even thousands of years from now, well after we’re gone and (hopefully) people have been living in colonies out in space, ensuring the survival of the humanity.

Those who love doomsday and survival stories will love Lucifer’s Hammer.  The same goes true for people who enjoy thrilling stories with a little bit of science-fiction mixed into it.

Don’t be fooled by Lucifer’s Hammer‘s publication date of 1977.  This is still a powerful book that relates very well to today’s society.