The Mote in God's Eye - Overview

Overview

The book describes a complex alien civilization, the Moties. The Moties are radically different (both physically and psychologically) from humanity in ways that become more clear over the course of the book. The human characters range from the typical hero-type in Captain Roderick Blaine to the much more ambiguous merchant prince and suspected traitor Horace Bury.

The novel is an example of hard science fiction in that close attention is paid to scientific detail. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle often write in this genre. It is especially evident in this work with regard to the theoretical mechanics and physics of interplanetary travel. The book's Alderson Drive and Langston Field are literary inventions, but they are presented against a background of established scientific knowledge.

A sequel to The Mote in God's Eye, titled The Gripping Hand (UK: The Moat around Murcheson's Eye), was published by the same authors almost twenty years later, in 1993. In December, 2010, with Niven and Pournelle's authorization, Pournelle's daughter, J. R. Pournelle, released a second sequel, entitled Outies, written in part to address issues raised by critics of the earlier works.