Mote Series

Starts with A Mote in God's Eye, the award winning first book in the series of 2 with the 3rd book written by one of the authors. Nothing will prepare you for this book. You will find this book on every damn list of great science fiction - ever. Technically this series is about first contact and it is hard science fiction. Are you tired of reading books where the aliens are basically humans wearing weird costumes? Then read this series -- one of the best about 'first contact' out there. This series puts a lot of effort into developing a fascinating human society and a complex and enthralling development of and entirely 'alien' alien society. There is just the right amount of mystery and suspense to keep you captivated the who way through. This stunningly good novel The Mote in God's Eye, written collaboratively by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and first published in 1974 gave us the Moties. It's an older work, but it hasn't aged at all and is certainly readable even in the post 2013 era. Robert A Heinlein, one of the giants of science fiction was consulted on this book and he famously blurbed the book saying, "Possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." He was right. Although nominated for all the big awards, the book never received any of them. Instead, it infected its readers with microscopic Moties who enter fan brains through reading. There are two sequels, The Gripping Hand and an authorized sequel by J.R. Pournelle, daughter of Jerry Pournelle. Get your alien on, go read you some Moties.