FOOTFALL

The first thing one notices about this book is the alien on the cover. Yes, it looks like an elephant with an articulated trunk that acts like hands. Don't let this put you off, despite the looks the alien society is very well done. And who says aliens can't look like elephants? I've read stories with lizards, spiders, cats, dogs, birds, dolphins, bugs of all types and even crabs as intelligent beings. Elephants aren't a problem for me, though I've read a few reviews where they were a problem for some. Let it go, these guys make it believable.

There are way to many story-lines to try and summarize them all in-depth so I'll just give you a brief overview. As I've said, this is a book of alien invasion. The motivation of the invasion is always an important factor in these types of books. What are they after? The answer is usually very critical to whether the book is going to be bad, good or great. This falls somewhere between good and great.

The fithp have crossed the stars to Earth, which they call Winterhome. It is evident early on that they intend to enslave the human race as they make Earth their new home. But it's not so simple as that. Motivations for the trip and the plan of attack are based upon their own history and customs. But more on that later.

An alien ship has been detected heading for Earth from the direction of Saturn, where it is soon discovered they had been hiding for some number of years. No one knows what they were doing there all this time, but it is assumed they will be friendly. The old argument that anyone travelling that great distance could no longer be warlike is prevelant. And anyway, if they were hostile, there wasn't much anyone could do about it. With small lunar bases and only the Russians with a space station in orbit, we couldn't exactly go meet the ship and find out its intentions. We would have to wait for it to reach us. A U.S. congressman named Wes Dawson is sent to the space station to act on behalf of America for the first meeting between human and alien.

This meeting does not go well. The aliens attack the station, killing many and capturing Dawson and three Russians. The war for Winterhome has begun. In the opening stages, the fithp bombard the Earth with targeted meteors, destroying most damn and interstate highways. They leave the major cities practically untouched, but nearly isolated as roads and rivers become unpassable. The U.S. and Soviet Union both lauch nuclear weapons which are mostly destroyed by some kind of laser weapon, and in addition, the sites where these missiles were launced are also obliterated. It quickly becomes clear that the aliens completely control space and that any retalliation will be difficult if not impossible.

Then comes the land war. Fithp "paratroopers" land in Kansas and quickly take control of a large area of the American heartland. Military forces are overmatched and destroyed. The President, desperate for a moral victory, conspires with the Russians to launch a joint nuclear attack that drives the aliens out of America, but leaves much of Kansas a radioactive wasteland.

It is now that the aliens initiate "Footfall". They launch a massive meteor into our atmosphere and it lands with devastating force in the Indian Ocean. They follow this with another occupying force, this time in Africa. With the threat of another "foot", or even countless ones, Earth is in iminent danger of losing the war. With little hope of a conventional victory, a daring plan is undertaken in secret. A massive, heavily armed and armoured ship is built in a small town in Washington state. It will be launched into space and manuvered through the use of controled nuclear explosions. Secrecy is of course paramount if this only hope is to succeed.

Now back to the fithp. In their culture, one surrenders by rolling over onto its back and letting the victor place his foot upon their breast. By doing so, the defeated become the property of the victor, and will eventually gain status in the victor's tribe. This surrender is complete and binding. It is beyond reason for someone to surrender and then continue to fight and defy. Of course, humans do just that. Fight and defy even after surrendering. This presents the aliens with a huge delimna. The term "conditional surrender" is just so much jibberish to them. Until near the end, that is. Then they come to understand it well. Their intentions have always been to enslave mankind to use them as laborers as they colonize their new home. These two factors will explain why they were not prepared to decimate the Earth to gain victory unless no other hope remained. They were trying to strike a balance between destruction and restraint to force mankind to surrender. They never counted upon a "live free or die" mentality.

As stated above, there are numerous plot-lines here. There are the human captives aboard the fithp mothership. There's the survivalists who feel quite safe in their bunker in a small town in Washington state. A man named Harry Reddington, whose sense of honor is above and beyond the call. Throw in some sci-fi writers acting as advisors to the President (including one obviously based upon Robert A. Heinlein and two most likely based upon the authors themselves), a reporter who will never get to put his byline on the greatest story ever uncovered, a murder investigation aboard the alien mothership and internal strife between the aliens who had been in cold sleep during the trip and those born between the stars. What you get from all of this a very good novel. There are those who rate this among the best ever, and although I would not rate it quite that highly, I did find it enjoyable and would certainly recommend it to science-fiction fans.

Endings are important to me, and this one has a rather abrupt yet satisfying finish.

Related Links:
Nothing at the moment - stay tuned

Other books by the authors:
Lucifer's Hammer

Books at Jay's Lair

Contact Jay