This is a good execution of a theme which has by now become a classic: that of an asteroid menacing the existence of planet Earth. Clarke is as usual a precursor and treats the subject with his typical style and insight, but the book is not without weaknesses. The character of captain Singh, for example, while developed at length during the first part of the book, seems to lose its definition at the end of the story.

More importantly, the treatment of the social impact of the menace and its consequences is somewhat naive. For example, one would imagine that on Earth, the news of the sabotage would have caused the Reborn to be chased down. The handling of social aspects has never been Clarke's strength, but this is maybe what gives his novels this color so familiar to science fiction enthusiasts around the planet.

Overall, this remains an good read, all the more because it touches on a subject which actually concerns all of mankind and deserves awareness. It certainly fares much better than the movies on a similar subject that appeared in theaters in 1998, Armageddon and Deep Impact.

There's no doubt Arthur C. Clarke is a master of the sci-fi genre, especially when it comes to 'hard' sci-fi. I rank '2001,' the Rama series and even 'Fountains' among the true classics of modern literature. That said, Clarke fell far short of his own high standard in 'Hammer'. The plot consists of a re-hash of the doomsday asteroid scenario popular today (although he conceived it in the 1970s). There is minimal character development. The writing style (brief, 1-page snipets resembling news bulletins) produces boredom, as I kept waiting for some real action. Finally, the end is simply atrocious, and utterly predictable. Some commenters have stated they enjoyed "learning some science" from this book. I would respond that even the scientific background is lacking, and there are much 'harder' comet stories out there.

For those seeking end-of-the-world-from-an-asteroid stories, I recommend 'Lucifer's Hammer,' another tale set in the 1970s but one which thoroughly explores the concept and aftermath. Try Clarke's other novels, but steer clear of this one.

And this book proves it again when early in humanity's twenty-second century, after all "ills" have been more or less taken care of, including starvation, an astronomer learns that the death of this "perfect" human civilization is hurtling toward it. A fascinating read, even if it is much shorter than other Clarke novels. Add it to such books as: "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Puppet Masters", "2001", "2010", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Ringworld", all the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" books, as well as books as new to the genre as "Advent of the Corps" and others.

Well, as you can see I am not one of the Clark's fans out there, I rather call myself mindless idiot who brags about the books a lot more than he is worth of :)
I hate to write here about what is going on in the books, about that you can read in blurbs that are posted all around the web. I much more prefer to comment. Now what we have here is the average story. When I say average I mean that you will not fall in love with the characters, you will have feeling that you read that story before and that it isn't anything new about it, and mere development and it's deus ex machina ending will not satisfy you. This book does not stand out of the crowd...

I think I don't give the book as much credit as it possibly deserves because of the overload of Earth-In-Path-Of-Asteroid stories that have been abundant the past decade or so. Maybe if I read this before seeing Armageddon I'd have liked it more, but I agree with another reviewer - it just seemed very dry, which could be because the asteroid plot isn't new and exciting to me, and the characters can't carry the story on their own.