Rating: 
Summary: AWESOME! THIS ROCKS!
Review: THis excellent sci-fi epic makes ID4 look like a children's nativity play! Although written and firmly set in the 1980s, it is still one hell of a blinding read even today! Elephant-like aliens(more feasible than 'raygun-wielding cats'(!!??) in the latest STARGATE spin-off book) in massive spaceships head for Earth where a takeover is planned. As the aliens attack dams, bridges and other means of communication, and cause natural disasters and even precipitate nuclear devastation with an ingenious Soviet plan to rid the world of the Thukthunthp, as they are known(I think that's how you spell it - the alien vocabulary is pretty strange!), it is up to the military and sci-fi writers, not to mention bumbling politicians, to save the day. And the climactic battles are just stunning! Don't miss this. When you read this, you'll wonder what was so wonderful about ID4 and THE X-FILES.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read but not a classic
Review: Footfall is a novel about alien invasion by sci-fi vets Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The begining of the book is rather slow and concerns itself with introducing most of the human characters. The pace of the book doesn't pick up until around page 200 when the aliens finally launch their attack.
The writing in this book is very well done and the pages seem to float by. The characters are both interesting and engaging (I love Harry Red). The science is well researched and sounds plausible. This is a great book to read if you are interested in exploring the possibility of intelligent life from other worlds and what their culture might be like.
If you have read any of Niven's other books you know that dreaming up alien civilizations is his speciality. On the down side the book seems to ignore certain sectors of society while focusing on others. I seriously doubt that following an alien invasion, the U.S. govt. wouldn't be hard pressed to maintain law and order in it's major cities.
Yet in the book, despite the dilapidated condition of the military, maintaining law and order doesn't seem to be much of an issue. The alien language is also a little daunting. This book desperately needs a glossary. Despite these glaring issues the book is a lot of fun to read, I highly recommend it.P.S
The ending is superb !
Rating: 
Summary: Ghastly!
Review: This book is astonishingly bad. Thinking about why, several answers come to mind: first, it was clearly written in hopes of selling movie rights as it resembles nothing more than one of those summer "blockbusters" that everyone is supposed to go and spend money to see because it is heavily advertised. Sometimes, of course, such movies can be entertaining, as with "Independence Day", but if that was Niven and Pournelle's intent, they failed badly. "Footfall" is needlessly complicated and quite frankly none of the characters are sympathetic or memorable. If there was a plot or point to this book, I sure didn't see it. The second big problem, and one which cripples the story, is the authors' blatant self-aggrandizement. Science-fiction writers, we are supposed to believe, are the only ones who can save the world. They are flawless and universally moral, and twice as smart and creative as everybody else. Perhaps this is the result of Niven and Pournelle spending too much time at conventions where they are the center of attention, or the result of some deep sense of insecurity within them that they are trying to work out; I neither know nor care. What I do know is that what had been a laborious read up to that point became downright painful when the science-fiction writers appeared, and I'm still amazed that somehow I actually managed to slog through to the end of the story. Both Niven and Pournelle had written better books before this one; I enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye", for example. They may have written better ones since, but I wouldn't know, since I refuse to read their work anymore, thanks to "Footfall".
Rating: 
Summary: Best alien-invasion story ever written?
Review: _____________________________________
I still think this is the best alien-invasion story I've ever
read. Granted, it's hard to write a sensible invasion story, given that
a) it's hard to think of a reason for rational aliens to invade, and
b) if they did, they should win overwhelmingly. See rifles vs. spears. But it makes a great *story*, and N&P have given probably as
reasonable a backstory as anyone could. As an example of high-level
page-turner storytelling, Footfall still rings my chimes. I've read it
three times, plus the last time I picked it up a couple of years ago, to
jog my memory to reply to a post, I got sucked in again and spent the
afternoon rereading the good parts. "Orion will Rise" -- all right! Footfall is dragged down a bit by dated political background: the
USSR is alive and well here, and is portrayed as considerably
stronger and healthier than it actually was in 1985. I'd skim over the
Russian scenes; in fact the book is pretty slow-moving until the
aliens arrive, so a quick skim of most of this early scene-setting
material is all you need. And make no mistake, once the action starts, you'll have no futher
complaints. Good stuff, guys. Happy reading!
Pete Tillman
Rating:
Summary: Exciting reading right up to the last page
Review: Another realistic possibility of how our "first contact" with aliens might unfold (ref. The Mote in God's Eye). As with all of the Niven and Pournelle books, they introduce some new perspectives on things (e.g., throwing rocks at us, the alien's battle strategies, and their concept of surrender and more). I enjoyed their use of parallel stories that all came together at the end. The use of alien vocabulary was interesting but sometimes cumbersome (I would suggest putting a glossary in the back of the book). The use of the cast of characters in the front of the book was helpful in keeping the characters straight, esp. the aliens. I would recommend this book to people who don't usually read sci-fi since it's not too "alien" or overly scientific. Whatever you do, DON'T READ THE LAST PAGE UNTIL YOU GET TO IT. Have fun and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Ghastly!
Review: This book is astonishingly bad. Thinking about why, several answers come to mind: first, it was clearly written in hopes of selling movie rights as it resembles nothing more than one of those summer "blockbusters" that everyone is supposed to go and spend money to see because it is heavily advertised. Sometimes, of course, such movies can be entertaining, as with "Independence Day", but if that was Niven and Pournelle's intent, they failed badly. "Footfall" is needlessly complicated and quite frankly none of the characters are sympathetic or memorable. If there was a plot or point to this book, I sure didn't see it. The second big problem, and one which cripples the story, is the authors' blatant self-aggrandizement. Science-fiction writers, we are supposed to believe, are the only ones who can save the world. They are flawless and universally moral, and twice as smart and creative as everybody else. Perhaps this is the result of Niven and Pournelle spending too much time at conventions where they are the center of attention, or the result of some deep sense of insecurity within them that they are trying to work out; I neither know nor care. What I do know is that what had been a laborious read up to that point became downright painful when the science-fiction writers appeared, and I'm still amazed that somehow I actually managed to slog through to the end of the story. Both Niven and Pournelle had written better books before this one; I enjoyed "The Mote in God's Eye", for example. They may have written better ones since, but I wouldn't know, since I refuse to read their work anymore, thanks to "Footfall".
Rating:
Summary: Not published in 1996
Review: This is an excellent read. The aliens are realistic and their culture well-thought out. A major plus is that we get an insight into the motivations of both human and alien. I'm not sure I would argue that it suffers from the too many characters know each other syndrome. The story is plausible as to how the known characters keep popping into each other. One thing to note - this book is not an alternate history of what would have happened if the Soviet Union hadn't collapsed. Originally, the book was published in the early/mid 1980s, I believe before Gorbachev came to power. I.e. back in the heyday of the evil empire years.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be too quick to poo-poo the SF writers.
Review: First, let's get it out of the way - I loved this book, and was absolutely riveted by the ending. I always enjoy an ambiguous ending - although a well-done one (like this) leaves me desparate for more. Perhaps these two will write sequels one day. They will inevitably prove disappointing, but dammit, it'll be satisfying. Anyway, the point of my review is to refute those who dismiss the concept of the SF writer team in the book. What, exactly, do you suppose is the difference between this and the "think-tanks" that exist as unofficial (or official, in some cases)advisors to our government officials in real life? Nothing. In real life, there are groups of people who spend their time thinking and planning, and that's no different in the book. The fact that this think-tank dwells on an unusual subject shouldn't be considered outlandish, given the premise of the book. The only difference between the Pentagon planning teams (I'd be absolutely astonished if there aren't existing plans for catastrophic meteor impact or even alien invasion) and this fictional sci-fi think-tank is that the Pentagon boys have shinier shoes and nice uniforms. But when you get down to it, both groups were doing nothing but guessing, so who's to say which is going to come up with better solutions? Remember, in the book, the SF writers provided the imagination and the military worked on making it practical. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. (Although if it happened today, it seems equally likely that the team would be made up of priests rather than SF writers, given the political climate. It would have been interesting to have a General Boykin type in this book.)
Rating:
Summary: A solid work of classic alien invasion
Review: Yes-you might be thinking "Another alien invasion book?". However this is a good revisit to that classic idea. Niven and Pournelle create a solid work with some suprises and it is well worth the read. Too bad the movie industry didn't choose to film this book instead of doing the intelligence insulting ID4. Two minor dings on the book...I thought there would be an explanation for the elephant-like appearance of the invaders, like maybe a plot element of them actually decending from the elephants of Earth, this was never done. The other thing was I thought it was about 100 pages too long. A good book and recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Deep and wide.
Review: A good book overall, Footfall is one of the most realistic (if such a word applies) books about alien invasion that I've ever read. The aliens are well designed, and the human's responses to them credible. The only flaw in the book is that it suffers from Tom Clancy complex, where there are so many concurrent plotlines going on it's easy to either lose track, or lose interest. A great book if you're a fan of Niven/Pournelle, and an good book if you're a fan of the alien invasion story. Otherwise, get it from the library.
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