Footfall   Basic facts title: Footfall ISBN:  0 345 32344 0 author: Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle language: English (original language) science fiction publisher: Ballantine Books / Del Rey 581 pages published: 1992, first published in 1985 my rating: includes: dramatis personae   The story For the first time in human history an alien space ship is detected in the solar system, heading for Earth. As it is expected that first contact will be made by the Russian space station circling the Earth, US congress man Dawson is sent up as a member of its crew. Contact is being made by the aliens attacking the space station and taking its inhabitants prisoner. They then start attacking strategic targets on Earth by hitting them with small meteorites. All attempts to destroy the alien ship are fruitless and only lead to more destruction. The aliens establish a foothold in Kansas, but a combined American/Russian nuclear attack drives them out again. As revenge the aliens set off a huge artificial meteorite to collide with the Earth. When it hits the Indian Ocean the resultant flood waves kill millions of people and the weather all over the planet is changed drastically. A team of science fiction writers come up with what seems to be the only feasible option to attack the alien ship: a large space ship powered by nuclear bombs. In the utmost secrecy project Archangel is initiated to construct such a ship. It takes a long time to build, but finally the ship is launched against the aliens and manages to force them to surrender.   My opinion Like Niven and Pournelle's 'The Mote in God's Eye' this is a story about first contact, but set in a completely different context and in our current time frame (if you ignore that the book was written when the Iron Curtain was still in place). One thing I like about the book is that it tells the story from the viewpoints of many different people, including the invading aliens. This gives the story the human touch and avoids that the depicted events become too abstract. It also allows the writers to work out the big social and cultural differences between aliens and humans. Niven and Pournelle had a brilliant idea when they put a group of science fiction writers in the military headquarters in Cheyenne Mountain, together with the US president and military staff. Perhaps not entirely realistic, but it gives a nice twist to the story. If there is one point of criticism, then it is the rather abrupt end of the book. It would be quite interesting to read about events after the alien surrender, how they are treated (the first intergalactic war tribunal?) and how the Earth recovers from the damage done. 'Footfall' is an easy to read book despite its many story lines, and it will keep you caught from the first to the last page.

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