The Moat around Murcheson's Eye
(Moties 2)
by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
science fiction
copyright 1992
read in April 2016
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
Fun aliens, fun action, very hard to follow.
First, the aliens are so clever, the humans are so clever at understanding the clever aliens, this average reader is not clever enough to follow the logic.
Towards the end of the book -- when the action has hotted up -- there are several times when the hero says, I don't have time to explain. So I read on, it all happens... Am I then meant to understand what just happened, or why?? I don't.
Does it matter that this is a follow-up book? Would it be clearer if I had read the first book? Well, it seems to me that the explanations of the past are well covered. Enough hints and passing references and occasional anecdotes that I don't *feel* as though I'm in the dark. I *believe* that it's *this* book which is hard to understand. I could be wrong.
The explanation of why things are happening -- and quite often *what* is happening -- is very much, Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, you know what I mean, say no more... It feels like an extended in-joke, and I'm excluded.
There are dozens of characters popping on and off the stage. Is that another result of being book two? Whatever the reason, I give up trying to remember who is who. (Or even whom.) No worries, the main characters stick around long enough to become familiar.
There is a satisfying conclusion. (As far as I understand it.) Unfortunately the journey is like a ghost ride: reasonably enjoyable but largely in the dark.
On another point entirely:
Lots of science fiction (and fantasy) authors use cultural stereotypes in their books. It simplifies our understanding and, often adds to the enjoyment. If the aliens are obviously "French" then you know that they will eat the garden snail-substitutes.
In Moat, this stereotyping is taken to a new level... The humans have expanded into space. Over thousamds of years they have settled innumerable planets. Yet they have still carried their *original* stereotypes with them!
Racial and religious groups have maintained their racial and religious groupings. And hatreds and distrusts. I find this just a bit lazy. And very, very disturbing. Thousands of years of social developmment -- and we will still have the same old prejudices?!
Clever aliens. Lazy writing. Incomprehensible logic. Readable.
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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
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"A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top."
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