[31W]≡ Libro Saturn A Novel of the Ringed Planet And the Humans Who Explore It The Grand Tour Ben Bova 9780812579420 Books

Saturn A Novel of the Ringed Planet And the Humans Who Explore It The Grand Tour Ben Bova 9780812579420 Books

Download As PDF : Saturn A Novel of the Ringed Planet And the Humans Who Explore It The Grand Tour Ben Bova 9780812579420 Books

Saturn A Novel of the Ringed Planet And the Humans Who Explore It The Grand Tour Ben Bova 9780812579420 Books

Ben Bova's planetary series continues with "Saturn", a novel about the ringed planet and the humans who explore it.

The space habitat Goddard, loaded with 10,000 intellectuals and scientists, is headed for the great ringed planet. The inhabitants are a motley collection of volunteers, ones who have been asked, and ones who have been forced, to leave Earth and begin the voyage to Saturn. They don't agree with the regimes which have taken over Earth's governments. The plan is to see if a self-governing, self-sustaining habitat can be set up far out in the end reaches of the solar system.

Among the group is Malcolm Eberly. He has been recruited by the Holy Disciples from a Vienna prison with instructions to see that the population chooses a path of righteousness. Eberly agrees and is confident he can impose his own rule upon the others. However, the Holy Disciples have also placed spies, namely Ruth Morgenthau and Sammi Vyborg. Each has their own desire for power, and they are determined to get it.

Also aboard is Holly Lane. Holly is an assistant of Malcolm's who has developed very strong personal feelings for him. However, these feelings will end up getting Holly in very deep trouble as the story progresses. Other characters include stuntman Manny Gaeta, who has been assigned by Holly's sister to keep an eye on her; James Wilmont, the current director of the habitat, who holds some dark secrets of his own; Kris Cardenas, a scientist specializing in nanotechnology; Eduord Urbain, the leader of the scientists who has developed a probe to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan; and Nadia Wunderly, another scientist who has discovered the possibility of life existing in Saturn's rings. All of the interactions of these characters make Bova's story of Saturn highly readable.

Although I'd rate this book slightly below the others I've read in the planetary series, it still has plenty of action to keep the reader interested. I feel that Bova does a pretty good job of developing the characters, especially Eberly and Holly. The story itself is enjoyable to read, although some of Bova's trademark science flair is missing from the book. Despite this, I still enjoyed reading this book very much.

I've become a big fan of this series of books, and I plan on reading more in the future. I recommend this book and this series to fans of science fiction. You won't be disappointed in any of these great sci fi novels.


Tags : Saturn: A Novel of the Ringed Planet- And the Humans Who Explore It (The Grand Tour) [Ben Bova] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Six-time Hugo Award-winning author, Ben Bova, brings political intrigue and revolt on an expedition to the once uninhabited giant planet: Saturn</b> Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space,Ben Bova,Saturn: A Novel of the Ringed Planet- And the Humans Who Explore It (The Grand Tour),Tor Science Fiction,0812579429,Saturn (Planet),Space colonies,FICTION Science Fiction General,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction Space Exploration,Science Fiction - General,Science Fiction Action & Adventure,Science Fiction Space Opera,Science fiction,grand tour series; ben bova series; space exploration fiction; space science fiction; space science fiction books; science fiction space; science fiction space books; space colonization; colonization of space; space opera science fiction; science fiction space opera; space travel; space travel fiction; science fiction books; science fiction and fantasy books; best science fiction books; books science fiction; books sci fi; american science fiction; science fiction fantasy; speculative fiction; best sci fi books; best science fiction; best sci fi; best science fiction novels; science fiction novels

Saturn A Novel of the Ringed Planet And the Humans Who Explore It The Grand Tour Ben Bova 9780812579420 Books Reviews

This book is a very fast enjoyable read about power, greed, and corruption in space. The rise of nanotechnology and the people for it, and the people against it. Modern social issues combined in the space outing make for a very well paced story full of action and adventure.
I thought the plot was weakly developed, the science part of sci-fi was a stretch, there were Mission Impossible coincidences. I finished reading just to see how it ended.
A wonderful ideea, a bit of discontinuity or easily predictable in some spots...
For me this book started out quite slow but hang in there and enjoy the myriad of thrilling adventures that await you. Hard to put down once you become mesmerized by Ben Bova's artistry of creating several intertwining seat-of-your-pants events and character portrayals all happening at the same time leading to a wowing crescendo. Saturn now looks more beautiful than ever to me.
As a disclaimer for my review, I'll mention that I'm trying to read all of the Grand Tour (17ish) books by Ben Bova in their chronological order - which is not the order they were written in. Saturn is the thirteenth book in the chronological order.

The premise of Saturn has been done before in Science Fiction. Build a huge habitat, load it with people and send it on a long journey. In this version, members of The New Morality and other fundamentalist religious organizations on Earth have create a social experiment by rounding up "free thinkers" and other dissidents and loading 10,000 of them into the Saturn ship. The facade of the mission is to create a new society in addition to creating a permanent habitat that will orbit Saturn and study the planet and it's moons, primarily Titan. Secretly, the New Morality have hand picked a few people to create a new government, one founded on their fundamentalist religious principals, to take over the habitat. Saturn is more political thriller than Sci-Fi, but I still enjoyed most of the book.

Let me start off by saying that this book has practically nothing to do with Saturn. In fact, it isn't until the last 50 pages that the habitat reaches Saturn at all and only one bit of exploration is done in the rings surrounding Saturn (although a great discovery is made). That was a bit of a disappointment, as earlier books in the Grand Tour series that had planetary titles (Jupiter, Mars) dealt mostly with the planets. The bulk of the narrative in Saturn takes place on the more than a year long trip it takes the Habitat to reach the ringed planet.

I'll also say that some of Bova's previous works that have been less Sci-Fi and more Thriller have not worked for me. This was not the case with Saturn. The antagonistic elements of the book revolve around four characters - the first a charismatic opportunist hand picked by the New Morality to control the habitat population. Then you have the real power behind the throne, a New Morality fundamentalist who will keep watch over the charismatic leader. These two are rounded out by a brutal security specialist and a whining hanger on who becomes head of communication. Set against them are a few repeat characters from The Grand Tour. Cardenas, the Nanotech expert featured in the Moon War and Asteroid Wars books. Holly, sister of Pancho Lane (head of Astro Corporation) and Manny Gaeta, stuntman turned accidental good guy.

Unlike some of Bova's work writing political thrillers, the characters in Saturn felt real, and more importantly, their motivations felt real. While some of Bova's villains in the past have been of the mustache-twirling, "I'm going to get you my pretties!" type the four main antagonists in Saturn each have a reason for doing what they do and those reasons seem in line with their characters. The romantic parts of the book also rang true, unlike some Bova novels where romantic issues feel hammered into place just to have some sexual tension included.

Overall, I'd have loved to have a little more Sci-Fi in this book but what I got was a good story with a satisfyingly crunchy end. Those looking for hardcore Sci-Fi may be disappointed but I think anyone who wants a good story will get their monies worth.
The concept proved intriguing to me when I saw an offer on . And although it had very interesting science it fell short on the story. The characters never developed throughout the novel.Small coincidences added up to help move the story along but were too convenient, almost like it happened just to conclude the story. A good, solid story but it didn't live up to the depth I was expecting.
The main character was very naive and I almost stopped reading the story early on. However I finally got caught up with the plot and quickly finished the story. I was interested in how this group of people would react to the circumstances they were faced with.
Ben Bova's planetary series continues with "Saturn", a novel about the ringed planet and the humans who explore it.

The space habitat Goddard, loaded with 10,000 intellectuals and scientists, is headed for the great ringed planet. The inhabitants are a motley collection of volunteers, ones who have been asked, and ones who have been forced, to leave Earth and begin the voyage to Saturn. They don't agree with the regimes which have taken over Earth's governments. The plan is to see if a self-governing, self-sustaining habitat can be set up far out in the end reaches of the solar system.

Among the group is Malcolm Eberly. He has been recruited by the Holy Disciples from a Vienna prison with instructions to see that the population chooses a path of righteousness. Eberly agrees and is confident he can impose his own rule upon the others. However, the Holy Disciples have also placed spies, namely Ruth Morgenthau and Sammi Vyborg. Each has their own desire for power, and they are determined to get it.

Also aboard is Holly Lane. Holly is an assistant of Malcolm's who has developed very strong personal feelings for him. However, these feelings will end up getting Holly in very deep trouble as the story progresses. Other characters include stuntman Manny Gaeta, who has been assigned by Holly's sister to keep an eye on her; James Wilmont, the current director of the habitat, who holds some dark secrets of his own; Kris Cardenas, a scientist specializing in nanotechnology; Eduord Urbain, the leader of the scientists who has developed a probe to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan; and Nadia Wunderly, another scientist who has discovered the possibility of life existing in Saturn's rings. All of the interactions of these characters make Bova's story of Saturn highly readable.

Although I'd rate this book slightly below the others I've read in the planetary series, it still has plenty of action to keep the reader interested. I feel that Bova does a pretty good job of developing the characters, especially Eberly and Holly. The story itself is enjoyable to read, although some of Bova's trademark science flair is missing from the book. Despite this, I still enjoyed reading this book very much.

I've become a big fan of this series of books, and I plan on reading more in the future. I recommend this book and this series to fans of science fiction. You won't be disappointed in any of these great sci fi novels.