- Paperback: 638 pages
- Publisher: Orbit (1 Oct 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0708813623
- ISBN-13: 978-0708813621
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 11.2 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 293,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Lucifer's Hammer
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book about six years ago and just had to give it a review. Have you seen the films Deep Impact, or maybe Armageddon? You know - big asteroid heading for Earth, eek, send out the astronauts to sort it out, near miss ending etc... Well what if the asteroid hits? What happens then? Read this and find out.
Proper riveting survival-against-the-odds type of stuff. Well researched and splendidly written. Buy it and read it.
Proper riveting survival-against-the-odds type of stuff. Well researched and splendidly written. Buy it and read it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
takes along time to get going but onces that big sucker stars to hit the world gose nuts and it can be edge of the seat stuff the book had me gripped but you really really od have to bare wiht it beacuse it takes ages to get going,
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The book is about the effects of a comet hitting the earth and in particular the effects upon a varied group of individuals living in California. I have taken off one star for the amazingly slow start. I don't mind a decent build up but at 200 pages I was struggling to get through it. The attempts at suspense during this phase of the story fail as anyone reading the book knows the comet hits (it says so on the backcover!). Some of the characters preparations are interesting and I did look forward to the reactions of some of the characters but it took a while to get there.
Thankfully though the book really is pretty good once the comet hits. The descriptions of this and the natural disasters that follow are very good. There is then a part of the book which shows how the main characters coped and found saftey or didn't and again this is very good. I really felt for Tim Hamner when he got to the saftey of his observatory only to find it occupied by other survivors and for him to be refused entry. It was also a nice touch that they were not murders or maniacs but normal people who just wanted to survive and had to do what they were doing. Both Hamner and Randall's journey's through the flooded wasteland of California are suspense filled and scarey. Some characters disappear and are never heard from again during the novel and again I feel that this is realistic as many people would lose touch and never know what had happened to former friends.
The last section of the book focuses on "The Stronghold" which is a valley surrounded by high ridges that form a natural defence against nature and other groups. It is ran by Senator Jellison who had a Ranch House there. This part of the book is exciting although it did become a little more far fetched. The formation of the cannibal army is done well at first but it is later rushed when Armitage and his band join and this detracts from the realism. However the battle scenes between the Cannibals and the Stronghold are good and the fear and urge to run are well played out.
All in all this is a very good book. The start should have been shortened but otherwise it is very good. However I have taken another star of for some fairly pointless text (is the sex offender character at all necessary) and some dodgy racial sterotyping. There is only one black character in the book that is not a murderer, robber. general criminal or cannibal. In fact the cannibal army are started by a group of mostly black soldiers who kill their officer and start maruading the countryside who then join up with a group of all black criminals who were using the threat of the comet to rob rich white folk's houses. Far be it from me to doubt another reviewer but at 640 pages and with the first 3rd of the book being pretty slow I doubt that anyone has read the full thing in one night but stick with it through the first section as it does offer some rewards in the later sections.
Thankfully though the book really is pretty good once the comet hits. The descriptions of this and the natural disasters that follow are very good. There is then a part of the book which shows how the main characters coped and found saftey or didn't and again this is very good. I really felt for Tim Hamner when he got to the saftey of his observatory only to find it occupied by other survivors and for him to be refused entry. It was also a nice touch that they were not murders or maniacs but normal people who just wanted to survive and had to do what they were doing. Both Hamner and Randall's journey's through the flooded wasteland of California are suspense filled and scarey. Some characters disappear and are never heard from again during the novel and again I feel that this is realistic as many people would lose touch and never know what had happened to former friends.
The last section of the book focuses on "The Stronghold" which is a valley surrounded by high ridges that form a natural defence against nature and other groups. It is ran by Senator Jellison who had a Ranch House there. This part of the book is exciting although it did become a little more far fetched. The formation of the cannibal army is done well at first but it is later rushed when Armitage and his band join and this detracts from the realism. However the battle scenes between the Cannibals and the Stronghold are good and the fear and urge to run are well played out.
All in all this is a very good book. The start should have been shortened but otherwise it is very good. However I have taken another star of for some fairly pointless text (is the sex offender character at all necessary) and some dodgy racial sterotyping. There is only one black character in the book that is not a murderer, robber. general criminal or cannibal. In fact the cannibal army are started by a group of mostly black soldiers who kill their officer and start maruading the countryside who then join up with a group of all black criminals who were using the threat of the comet to rob rich white folk's houses. Far be it from me to doubt another reviewer but at 640 pages and with the first 3rd of the book being pretty slow I doubt that anyone has read the full thing in one night but stick with it through the first section as it does offer some rewards in the later sections.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Slow start, then KABOOM!
This is an intelligent, thoughtful apocalyptic science fiction novel. I'd be tempted to call it a 'logical fantasy', in the same vein as other apocalyptic novels such as John... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Hackenabush
Great apocalyptic fiction
A comet is spotted heading towards Earth, and we follow a large cast of assorted characters as they prepare for a hit or near miss. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dr. Andrew Phillips
An epic read! Very surprised at how good this was.
I had had a long break from reading but I picked this up in my local post office as it seemed interesting but I didn't expect it to be amazing. Read more
Published 15 months ago by chaos_preacher
Lucifers Hammer
Delivered very quickly but was a bit disappointed with the condition of this 'Good' rated 2nd hand book.
Published 19 months ago by Carol
enjoyable novel of post-apocalyptical survival
A mostly enjoyable post-apocalyptic novel, in the great tradition of 1970s disaster novels. It is rather long at 640 pages and the middle section dealing with the travails of... Read more
Published 21 months ago by John Hopper
Lucifers Hammer
If you expect an Armegeddon type of book then you'll be disapointed. There is a lot of characterisation in the 1st 150 pages and you have to keep going back to the index of... Read more
Published on 13 July 2009 by J. Bradshaw
gripping read
I read this many years ago and read it from cover to cover in one night. It really is that engrossing. Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2007 by zargb5
LUCIFERS HAMMER
I had looked forward to reading this book but halfway through I got bored .
I suppose for an American it must be quite entertaining to read about places in America and this... Read more
I suppose for an American it must be quite entertaining to read about places in America and this... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2006 by "curupet"
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