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The Grand Tour #13
Saturn
Second in size only to Jupiter, bigger than a thousand Earths but light enough to float in water, home of crushing gravity and delicate, seemingly impossible rings, it dazzles and attracts us:
SATURN
Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks.
Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark on a one-way expedition, twice Jupiter's distance from the Sun, to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since.
But humans will be human, on Earth or in the heavens-so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting the tight moment. And hidden from them is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known to only a few....
SATURN
Earth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks.
Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark on a one-way expedition, twice Jupiter's distance from the Sun, to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since.
But humans will be human, on Earth or in the heavens-so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting the tight moment. And hidden from them is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known to only a few....
413 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
49 people are currently reading
887 people want to read
About the author
Ben Bova
715 books1,037 followersBen Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
June 28, 2013
This is the story ostensibly about a mission that's ostensibly about studying Saturn, but is actually about anthropology. Both the book and the mission. Unfortunately, it kinda sucks at it, on both levels.
They reach Saturn only very near the climax, and make a fantastic discovery that's kind of treated as an afterthought. Most of the book is actually about the people and politics on the mission itself, as the oppressive religious government that's taken over most of the world tries to suborn a crew dedicated to science.
Unfortunately, Bova isn't very good at writing people. Every character is a paper thin caricature, with no arc to speak of. Worse, they're nearly all dislikable. I didn't actually care about the fate of a single one. Particular favorites were the one African character, who is a homicidal maniac whose main goal in life appears to be murder with a side of torture, and the evil repressed lady who, it's hinted, is a lesbian. Yes, that's the only non-straight character. Although we do have another guy who gets off on torture porn.
There are a series of Chekov's guns that never go off--the very wealthy sister, the girl who was physically born 90 years ago and mentally born only a couple years ago (none of which seems to matter), the possibility of landing on Titan, the dramatic rescue of a guy from Jupiter who really could have just started on the ship for all the character arc he gets. Events are repetitive, with very little tension, and a lot of them just seem to happen for no reason other than, "oh, something should probably happen now". The two climaxes don't so much intertwine as collide randomly--there's really no link between them besides physical.
It's not abysmally written, there is a plot that's logical enough even if not super-compelling, and none of the science makes me slam my head against a desk, so it gets two stars. But it's really not worth your time.
They reach Saturn only very near the climax, and make a fantastic discovery that's kind of treated as an afterthought. Most of the book is actually about the people and politics on the mission itself, as the oppressive religious government that's taken over most of the world tries to suborn a crew dedicated to science.
Unfortunately, Bova isn't very good at writing people. Every character is a paper thin caricature, with no arc to speak of. Worse, they're nearly all dislikable. I didn't actually care about the fate of a single one. Particular favorites were the one African character, who is a homicidal maniac whose main goal in life appears to be murder with a side of torture, and the evil repressed lady who, it's hinted, is a lesbian. Yes, that's the only non-straight character. Although we do have another guy who gets off on torture porn.
There are a series of Chekov's guns that never go off--the very wealthy sister, the girl who was physically born 90 years ago and mentally born only a couple years ago (none of which seems to matter), the possibility of landing on Titan, the dramatic rescue of a guy from Jupiter who really could have just started on the ship for all the character arc he gets. Events are repetitive, with very little tension, and a lot of them just seem to happen for no reason other than, "oh, something should probably happen now". The two climaxes don't so much intertwine as collide randomly--there's really no link between them besides physical.
It's not abysmally written, there is a plot that's logical enough even if not super-compelling, and none of the science makes me slam my head against a desk, so it gets two stars. But it's really not worth your time.
September 20, 2019
This is by far the nadir of Bova’s writing. Utter crap.
June 16, 2018
Chronologically book 12 of the Grand Tour series. This one all takes place on an experimental colony ship on a two year mission to Saturn. What almost nobody realizes is they are all part of a vast social experiment instigated and funded by the New Morality. If you have ever watched any reality TV, it's that kind of social interaction, but on a vastly larger scale. Of course, nobody is voted 'out' but the dynamics that evolve are somewhat similar.
Only one character has any significant connection to the previous books so most of the rest are new names and faces. That's not a problem as this book stands alone quite well. Pacing was pretty good and the ending was defiantly page turning material. I'm not sure I was convinced by Bova's ideas about the rings of Saturn, but it was certainly an original idea.
There's an obvious sequel to this book, 'Titan', but there's also a sequel to 'Jupiter', which I read a few weeks back. Not sure which one I want to read first.
Only one character has any significant connection to the previous books so most of the rest are new names and faces. That's not a problem as this book stands alone quite well. Pacing was pretty good and the ending was defiantly page turning material. I'm not sure I was convinced by Bova's ideas about the rings of Saturn, but it was certainly an original idea.
There's an obvious sequel to this book, 'Titan', but there's also a sequel to 'Jupiter', which I read a few weeks back. Not sure which one I want to read first.
November 23, 2024
I actually was not expecting what I got in this book. While it does keep the tone and feel of the other Grand Tour books, this one feels a little different, and is written more like a political thriller.
The Mars Trilogy and the Jupiter Duology are very much Hard Sci-Fi exploration books, while Farside is like a action thriller. Saturn is very much focused on the political elements and the experimentation of the process.
The political idea of having 10,000 people go on a 5 year journey to Saturn and forming their own government along the way was fascinating. I love the idea of getting to see how humans interact in this new frontier system. And we got a new character in Malcolm Eberly, who is like the definition of Machiavellian in his tactics and purpose, and he was so captivating to read about. I couldn't help loving and hating him at the same time.
The main character of Holly was actually a pretty standard character design for Ben Bova. He actually has some comentary using her about abuse of power, about trusting governmental individuals, and ideolizing people. Unfortunately, the themes about permiscuousness weren't as pointed or effective as they were in "Farside".
The book also has a murder mystery to it, which also ties to the political thriller aspect, that really differentiates the book from the others in the series.
There is also a familiar face in the book that I won't give away, but if you've read Farside you will recognize this character instantly!
This book also tackles the themes of not interacting with life on other planets and asteroids, while at the same time dealing with the need for humanity to achieve more and allocate more resources in the galaxy. Those same themes can easily be applied to today.
The book is very thrilling and moves along at a good pace. The last 150 pages in particular was excellently plotted, and I didn't want to put the book down at all!
Overall, Ben Bova turned in another fantastic book. I am looking forward to reading "Titan", the sequel to this book next month. 9 out of 10!
The Mars Trilogy and the Jupiter Duology are very much Hard Sci-Fi exploration books, while Farside is like a action thriller. Saturn is very much focused on the political elements and the experimentation of the process.
The political idea of having 10,000 people go on a 5 year journey to Saturn and forming their own government along the way was fascinating. I love the idea of getting to see how humans interact in this new frontier system. And we got a new character in Malcolm Eberly, who is like the definition of Machiavellian in his tactics and purpose, and he was so captivating to read about. I couldn't help loving and hating him at the same time.
The main character of Holly was actually a pretty standard character design for Ben Bova. He actually has some comentary using her about abuse of power, about trusting governmental individuals, and ideolizing people. Unfortunately, the themes about permiscuousness weren't as pointed or effective as they were in "Farside".
The book also has a murder mystery to it, which also ties to the political thriller aspect, that really differentiates the book from the others in the series.
There is also a familiar face in the book that I won't give away, but if you've read Farside you will recognize this character instantly!
This book also tackles the themes of not interacting with life on other planets and asteroids, while at the same time dealing with the need for humanity to achieve more and allocate more resources in the galaxy. Those same themes can easily be applied to today.
The book is very thrilling and moves along at a good pace. The last 150 pages in particular was excellently plotted, and I didn't want to put the book down at all!
Overall, Ben Bova turned in another fantastic book. I am looking forward to reading "Titan", the sequel to this book next month. 9 out of 10!
November 6, 2016
Saturn: A Novel of the Ringed Planet was a good read, but I had to keep putting it down and coming back to it because it was a bit drawn out without much going on at some points. While I love Bova's work, and consider him to be one of the great Science Fiction Authors, I considered the book to be a little lackluster considering the possibilities of the plot.
The novel presents a great social experiment, a human colony of 10,000 people who will be living in a massive ship in orbit of Saturn. The major religious organization on Earth plans to take over the colony, via carefully planted people, who will save these secularists and scientists from themselves and bring them into the fold of the church proper with the help of a charismatic ex-con.
If you're a fan of Bova, you'll enjoy this book, but it is somewhat long winded.
The novel presents a great social experiment, a human colony of 10,000 people who will be living in a massive ship in orbit of Saturn. The major religious organization on Earth plans to take over the colony, via carefully planted people, who will save these secularists and scientists from themselves and bring them into the fold of the church proper with the help of a charismatic ex-con.
If you're a fan of Bova, you'll enjoy this book, but it is somewhat long winded.
March 26, 2017
It's one of those sci-fi novels that screams "make me into a film". A thrilling story, with a cast of dozens that is nevertheless easy to follow,. A thriller full of mysteries & conspiracies, with some shocking yet pointed moments of violence, all leading to a satisfying climax.
November 14, 2021
A complex science fiction novel, with real science, and a political thriller style plotline. Look forward to more Bova in my read list.
April 27, 2011
Ben Bova is an uneven writer. He can churn out masterpieces of hard sci-fi, such as his Mars trilogy and Asteroid Wars quartet, then waste his talents and readers' time on giant novels of cardboard characters, embarrassing dialogue, and repetitive scenes of uninspired plot, such as Saturn & Jupiter.
'Saturn' begins promisingly with the premise that the New Morality-dominated Earth has gathered 'revolutionaries' and other anti-New Morality politically-minded pariahs of the world and placed them on an enormous spaceship/habitat that will be sent to Saturn to become a new saturnine satellite and an experiment in social engineering. Excellent.
But then Bova introduces his main character, Holly Lane, a black woman who, years earlier became incurably ill, was frozen in liquid nitrogen by her sister, then revived 20 years later when a cure was found. Unfortunately, when she was revived she lost all memory and motor skills and had to be taught to walk, speak etc. Were the teachers of the new Holly '60s flower children or valley girls? Because that is how Bova writes Holly's dialogue. It took great leaps of imagination on my part while reading to sustain the image of Holly as a black woman, or any woman! Towards the middle I finally gave up and pictured her as a lilywhite blonde-haired flower child.
The main plot centers on Malcolm Eberly's desire to become dictator of the habitat. Eberly is an excellently drawn character. He is both charming and evil. And he is smart in the way he manipulates people and situations to better his standing.
"Saturn" is more of a political thriller that just happens to be played out in space. That disappointed me. Only towards the end do science and sci-fi themes enter and take a hold of the plot. And that leads into the sequel, 'Titan,' another massive tome that I hope Bova wrote in the tradition of MARS.
'Saturn' begins promisingly with the premise that the New Morality-dominated Earth has gathered 'revolutionaries' and other anti-New Morality politically-minded pariahs of the world and placed them on an enormous spaceship/habitat that will be sent to Saturn to become a new saturnine satellite and an experiment in social engineering. Excellent.
But then Bova introduces his main character, Holly Lane, a black woman who, years earlier became incurably ill, was frozen in liquid nitrogen by her sister, then revived 20 years later when a cure was found. Unfortunately, when she was revived she lost all memory and motor skills and had to be taught to walk, speak etc. Were the teachers of the new Holly '60s flower children or valley girls? Because that is how Bova writes Holly's dialogue. It took great leaps of imagination on my part while reading to sustain the image of Holly as a black woman, or any woman! Towards the middle I finally gave up and pictured her as a lilywhite blonde-haired flower child.
The main plot centers on Malcolm Eberly's desire to become dictator of the habitat. Eberly is an excellently drawn character. He is both charming and evil. And he is smart in the way he manipulates people and situations to better his standing.
"Saturn" is more of a political thriller that just happens to be played out in space. That disappointed me. Only towards the end do science and sci-fi themes enter and take a hold of the plot. And that leads into the sequel, 'Titan,' another massive tome that I hope Bova wrote in the tradition of MARS.
August 18, 2015
First of all I want to say that "Saturn" was the first (hard) science fiction book that I read. Not much of a welcome to the genre but it did its job.
If I were to judge Bova as a writer based solely on his novel "Saturn", I would say that he is more of a science writer than anything literature. Having said that, I think that his ideas as scientific concepts were very good, and overlooking the awful worldbuilding, Saturn is engaging enough to read.
As for the rest, I had three main problems:
a) the writing was very sloppy at times
b) the characterization was kinda poor and the characters weren't memorizable at all
c) the worldbuilding. The setting in which the story unfolds is very vaguely described and not sufficiently explained. For some reason we do not know, Earth is in a political and environmental crisis and the consequence of that is a huge space ark filled with people going to Saturn? Even though the purpose of the ark's mission is revealed at the end of the novel, everything else is never explained. I don't get why authors think creating some kind of dystopian future and leaving it unexplained and vague to make the story feel more dramatic is a good idea. Friendly tip: it's not.
The plot wasn't very fast-paced, but it was thankfully fast enough for the reader not to be drooling in boredom. The premise was very interesting and I liked the various scientific details incorporated in the plot.
The reason why this gets 3 stars instead of 2 is because overall it was readable (is that a word?) and had an interesting plot. Had Bova been able to give personalities to the characters and more details on the story's background and cut the weird writing style, Saturn would have made a really good novel.
If I were to judge Bova as a writer based solely on his novel "Saturn", I would say that he is more of a science writer than anything literature. Having said that, I think that his ideas as scientific concepts were very good, and overlooking the awful worldbuilding, Saturn is engaging enough to read.
As for the rest, I had three main problems:
a) the writing was very sloppy at times
b) the characterization was kinda poor and the characters weren't memorizable at all
c) the worldbuilding. The setting in which the story unfolds is very vaguely described and not sufficiently explained. For some reason we do not know, Earth is in a political and environmental crisis and the consequence of that is a huge space ark filled with people going to Saturn? Even though the purpose of the ark's mission is revealed at the end of the novel, everything else is never explained. I don't get why authors think creating some kind of dystopian future and leaving it unexplained and vague to make the story feel more dramatic is a good idea. Friendly tip: it's not.
The plot wasn't very fast-paced, but it was thankfully fast enough for the reader not to be drooling in boredom. The premise was very interesting and I liked the various scientific details incorporated in the plot.
The reason why this gets 3 stars instead of 2 is because overall it was readable (is that a word?) and had an interesting plot. Had Bova been able to give personalities to the characters and more details on the story's background and cut the weird writing style, Saturn would have made a really good novel.
May 2, 2013
While Ben Bova is a prolific science fiction author, he tends to use the genre as a backdrop for whatever particular soap opera he's propagating. Such is the case with the novel Saturn.
Saturn is set on a huge Dyson Sphere like ship that has set out to explore Saturn in the not so distant future. This is pretty much where the science fiction ends.
The rest of the story details the personal dramas of those on board the ship (ala the Love Boat in space) ranging from the tedious to the truly silly. A very clunky injection of intrigue into the plot only serves to detract further from the story and the final arrival at Saturn does nothing for the climax.
I finished this book slightly disappointed that Saturn didn't nova and take the ship (and book) with it.
While I have a really hard time giving 5 stars to a book, I feel the same way about giving 1 star. But I came really close with this title.
Saturn is set on a huge Dyson Sphere like ship that has set out to explore Saturn in the not so distant future. This is pretty much where the science fiction ends.
The rest of the story details the personal dramas of those on board the ship (ala the Love Boat in space) ranging from the tedious to the truly silly. A very clunky injection of intrigue into the plot only serves to detract further from the story and the final arrival at Saturn does nothing for the climax.
I finished this book slightly disappointed that Saturn didn't nova and take the ship (and book) with it.
While I have a really hard time giving 5 stars to a book, I feel the same way about giving 1 star. But I came really close with this title.
April 21, 2013
A interesting story with interesting characters, a well done setting and an intriguing plot.
The version I got of the audio book had a pair of narrators one female and one male (Amanda Karr and Stephan Rudnickithat). They alternated in reading the chapters. I think that distracted from the story. They also gave the characters different regional accents. If they had split the characters with a narrator speaking just for the characters they chose it would have been better. Notice I did not say she does the females and him does the males. She actually did some of the male characters much better the he did.
The version I got of the audio book had a pair of narrators one female and one male (Amanda Karr and Stephan Rudnickithat). They alternated in reading the chapters. I think that distracted from the story. They also gave the characters different regional accents. If they had split the characters with a narrator speaking just for the characters they chose it would have been better. Notice I did not say she does the females and him does the males. She actually did some of the male characters much better the he did.
September 28, 2009
This book was ok but not great. Lots of different shifts in terms of the power struggles that go on in the book. There are also lots of changes of perspective so you're never really sure what the whole purpose is -- until the end.
September 9, 2018
Contemplated giving it two stars, but only because I got the e-book for $1.99. Should have bought a coffee instead.
August 1, 2019
Saturn was something of a bummer, especially coming off Jupiter and the Asteroid Wars, The Aftermath in particular. It might as well have been called 'adventures of a colony ship', since it's only in the last fraction of the book that we actually make it to Saturn. The rest of the book is spent by power hungry religious zealots trying to take over a ship ostensibly populated by ten thousand people trying to escape exactly that sort of behavior.
On top of that, I don't really care about any of the characters. They're all either cartoonishly evil or inept or scientists that need concepts they should know cold explained to them. It's kind of a bummer also that the main character went through the cryogenic freeze/thaw that we've seen discussed in other books, leaving her having to rebuild her life from scratch. But it really doesn't actually go anywhere. A missed opportunity.
About the only really cool things that redeem this book were the discovery of life and the set up for even grander future books.
For the former, it's sort of Bova's / The Grand Tour's thing that life is found absolutely everywhere, so it's no surprise that Saturn is no exception, but the way it's done was pretty cool. I would much rather have read a book about life in ... And they didn't even make it to Titan. I guess that's why Titan is a thing.
For the latter, I fully expect a generation ship to show up at some point. With Saturn, it's within the realm of technically possible. Really, if Saturn had taken place on such a generation ship, I think it would have made a much stronger story. So it goes.
Overall, another skippable book in the Grand Tour, unless you really want the full set.
Onwards (and backwards?) to Leviathans of Jupiter!
On top of that, I don't really care about any of the characters. They're all either cartoonishly evil or inept or scientists that need concepts they should know cold explained to them. It's kind of a bummer also that the main character went through the cryogenic freeze/thaw that we've seen discussed in other books, leaving her having to rebuild her life from scratch. But it really doesn't actually go anywhere. A missed opportunity.
About the only really cool things that redeem this book were the discovery of life and the set up for even grander future books.
For the former, it's sort of Bova's / The Grand Tour's thing that life is found absolutely everywhere, so it's no surprise that Saturn is no exception, but the way it's done was pretty cool. I would much rather have read a book about life in ... And they didn't even make it to Titan. I guess that's why Titan is a thing.
For the latter, I fully expect a generation ship to show up at some point. With Saturn, it's within the realm of technically possible. Really, if Saturn had taken place on such a generation ship, I think it would have made a much stronger story. So it goes.
Overall, another skippable book in the Grand Tour, unless you really want the full set.
Onwards (and backwards?) to Leviathans of Jupiter!
March 16, 2024
Average science fiction novel with an interesting setting and nice use of scientific ideas. The Goddard makes a for potentially great story location, but the weaknesses of the novel get in the way. The overall story is fairly interesting but the pace is uneven. The greatest weakness however lies with the characters, who are generally unlikable, one-dimensional, or even cartoonish. There is some interesting world-building, but much of it ends up being incidental to the plot. The book also explores some of the social-political challenges inherent in establishing a space colony far from Earth and with a relatively small population.
November 17, 2022
I really enjoy Ben Bova's Space Opera.
Saturn is a book about an experiment, but the majority of the characters are completely unaware of it. A habitat is sent to study Saturn. The stated purpose is the Scientific study, but in reality a social experiment is afoot. The goal is to take a mixture of peoples, many of them outcasts from their own societies, and thrust them together and see how they manage to work out forming a new and coherent society. 10,000 people are treated like rats in a maze as they travel towards Saturn.
The monkey wrench tossed into the machine is a group of power-mongers, bent on creating and absorbing political power.
Bova fills the novel with some interesting Science information and this makes the story even more plausible. His characters are always interesting and there is always some sort of catastrophic problem to overcome.
A fine novel.
Saturn is a book about an experiment, but the majority of the characters are completely unaware of it. A habitat is sent to study Saturn. The stated purpose is the Scientific study, but in reality a social experiment is afoot. The goal is to take a mixture of peoples, many of them outcasts from their own societies, and thrust them together and see how they manage to work out forming a new and coherent society. 10,000 people are treated like rats in a maze as they travel towards Saturn.
The monkey wrench tossed into the machine is a group of power-mongers, bent on creating and absorbing political power.
Bova fills the novel with some interesting Science information and this makes the story even more plausible. His characters are always interesting and there is always some sort of catastrophic problem to overcome.
A fine novel.
July 31, 2021
_Saturn_ is one of the latest in Ben Bova's "Grand Tour" series, an excellent series of novels set in the future in our solar system. Interstellar travel does not exist yet but the solar system is being explored and is on the verge of colonization. Previous works in this series have explored Mars, Jupiter, Venus, the asteroids, and the Moon. The subject of this novel, as one might imagine from the title, is Saturn.
Or I should say one might think that it was Saturn. Though most of the other works in the series spent a great deal of time on the titular place of that particular book, we don't actually get to Saturn until around the last quarter of the book or so. Though Saturn - or I should say its rings - does get pretty good treatment towards the end (where there is a real surprise within the ring system), the book does not really embrace the planet the same way _Jupiter_ dealt with Jupiter or _Venus_ really immersed the reader in that particular planet. Saturn's moon Titan is discussed fairly often in the book but the action never moves at all to that fascinating satellite.
Instead, the focus of _Saturn_ is the space habitat _Goddard_, a massive tubular construction that was designed to provide a home for 10,000 people for 5 years in orbit around Saturn (taking around 2 years to arrive). Inside _Goddard_ are villages, streams, forests, fields, and farms, all built along the inside of the rotating space habitat. Essentially except for the endcaps the entire interior surface of the cylindrical space station is covered in buildings and vegetation, designed to provide an Earth-like home to its inhabitants as well as food, oxygen, and all the other necessities. Of the ten thousand people a significant portion are scientists and technicians though there are also farmers, administrative personnel, factory workers, security guards, medical personnel, and food service workers.
More to the point the focus of _Saturn_ are the people and politics of the space habitat. The majority of the ten thousand on the habitat are people who for one reason or another are unhappy with the religious and generally authoritarian regimes on Earth, either seeking to flee it or having been asked to leave by their government (in a matter not unlike the Pilgrims leaving England in the 17th century perhaps, or maybe the convicts sent to Australia). Earth, at least in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, is ruled by religious fundamentalist regimes, having come to power after the chaos and environmental disruptions caused by global warming.
Though the religious governments - notably the Holy Disciples in Europe - want these intellectual malcontents out of their hair, they don't want them to have a "godless" government on the habitat either. One of the main characters of the novel is Malcolm Eberly, someone the Disciples recruit from a prison in Vienna. An adept schemer and manipulator, they instruct him to gain control of the government of _Goddard_ as it reaches Saturn and steer is population towards a politically correct path. Once on the habitat though Eberly seeks power himself, not through rough coercion but through adept politics, subterfuge, and manipulations of individuals and of the people of _Goddard_ as a whole.
Much of the book focuses on Eberly's struggle for power and those who aid or oppose him. One such persion is Ruth Morgenthau, a Holy Disciples spy sent to control and "guide" Eberly in his political machinations and when he eventually gains control of the habitat. Colonel Kanaga, a Rwandan security officer, along with the treacherous, power hungry Dr. Sammi Vyborg in the Communications Department form a coterie with Morgenthau and Eberly in their attempts to control the habitat, an effort that eventually devolves into murder. James Wilmot is the official head of the habitat, ostensibly opposed to them, an anthropologist by trade who has a somewhat odd, detached view of politics and society on _Goddard_, viewing the entire operation as a grand experiment, the reasons for this being revealed at the end. A more active opponent is the station's chief scientist, Dr. Urbain, an arrogant though honest and politically naïve man opposed to Eberly.
The protagonists of the book - though I would like to add it wasn't always clear whether or not Eberly was a good guy or a bad guy, particularly at the end - include Holly Lane, a "reborn" person (someone who endured cryogenic sleep after dying from a deadly illness, being reawakened in the future once a cure existed but like all cryogenic patients having no memory at all, having to relearn even to walk and speak) who is on the habitat to get a new life for herself, away from her sister on the lunar city-state of Selene. My favorite character was the womanizing stuntman Manuel Gaeta, journeying to Saturn on _Goddard_ to film his descent to the surface of Titan, hoping to be the first man to ever do so (an effort bitterly opposed by the habitat's scientists, chiefly Dr. Urbain). Gaeta is also being employed by Holly's sister to watch over her, fearful over her future on _Goddard_. Another protagonist is Dr. Kris Cardenas, the solar system's brilliant expert on nanotechnology, a technology greatly feared and banned on Earth, who joins the expedition en route.
Having said that the book does not focus much on Saturn per se I still enjoyed. I liked several of the characters and found them fairly engaging. I was riveted by the power struggles on the habitat - though fair disclosure, I read the book while traveling in a car for ten hours this past weekend - and was quite interested to see how it turned out. With the few surprises thrown in at the end I enjoyed _Saturn_. Not the best of his "Grand Tour" series, I still liked it. If you have read others in this series I think you will enjoy it too.
Or I should say one might think that it was Saturn. Though most of the other works in the series spent a great deal of time on the titular place of that particular book, we don't actually get to Saturn until around the last quarter of the book or so. Though Saturn - or I should say its rings - does get pretty good treatment towards the end (where there is a real surprise within the ring system), the book does not really embrace the planet the same way _Jupiter_ dealt with Jupiter or _Venus_ really immersed the reader in that particular planet. Saturn's moon Titan is discussed fairly often in the book but the action never moves at all to that fascinating satellite.
Instead, the focus of _Saturn_ is the space habitat _Goddard_, a massive tubular construction that was designed to provide a home for 10,000 people for 5 years in orbit around Saturn (taking around 2 years to arrive). Inside _Goddard_ are villages, streams, forests, fields, and farms, all built along the inside of the rotating space habitat. Essentially except for the endcaps the entire interior surface of the cylindrical space station is covered in buildings and vegetation, designed to provide an Earth-like home to its inhabitants as well as food, oxygen, and all the other necessities. Of the ten thousand people a significant portion are scientists and technicians though there are also farmers, administrative personnel, factory workers, security guards, medical personnel, and food service workers.
More to the point the focus of _Saturn_ are the people and politics of the space habitat. The majority of the ten thousand on the habitat are people who for one reason or another are unhappy with the religious and generally authoritarian regimes on Earth, either seeking to flee it or having been asked to leave by their government (in a matter not unlike the Pilgrims leaving England in the 17th century perhaps, or maybe the convicts sent to Australia). Earth, at least in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, is ruled by religious fundamentalist regimes, having come to power after the chaos and environmental disruptions caused by global warming.
Though the religious governments - notably the Holy Disciples in Europe - want these intellectual malcontents out of their hair, they don't want them to have a "godless" government on the habitat either. One of the main characters of the novel is Malcolm Eberly, someone the Disciples recruit from a prison in Vienna. An adept schemer and manipulator, they instruct him to gain control of the government of _Goddard_ as it reaches Saturn and steer is population towards a politically correct path. Once on the habitat though Eberly seeks power himself, not through rough coercion but through adept politics, subterfuge, and manipulations of individuals and of the people of _Goddard_ as a whole.
Much of the book focuses on Eberly's struggle for power and those who aid or oppose him. One such persion is Ruth Morgenthau, a Holy Disciples spy sent to control and "guide" Eberly in his political machinations and when he eventually gains control of the habitat. Colonel Kanaga, a Rwandan security officer, along with the treacherous, power hungry Dr. Sammi Vyborg in the Communications Department form a coterie with Morgenthau and Eberly in their attempts to control the habitat, an effort that eventually devolves into murder. James Wilmot is the official head of the habitat, ostensibly opposed to them, an anthropologist by trade who has a somewhat odd, detached view of politics and society on _Goddard_, viewing the entire operation as a grand experiment, the reasons for this being revealed at the end. A more active opponent is the station's chief scientist, Dr. Urbain, an arrogant though honest and politically naïve man opposed to Eberly.
The protagonists of the book - though I would like to add it wasn't always clear whether or not Eberly was a good guy or a bad guy, particularly at the end - include Holly Lane, a "reborn" person (someone who endured cryogenic sleep after dying from a deadly illness, being reawakened in the future once a cure existed but like all cryogenic patients having no memory at all, having to relearn even to walk and speak) who is on the habitat to get a new life for herself, away from her sister on the lunar city-state of Selene. My favorite character was the womanizing stuntman Manuel Gaeta, journeying to Saturn on _Goddard_ to film his descent to the surface of Titan, hoping to be the first man to ever do so (an effort bitterly opposed by the habitat's scientists, chiefly Dr. Urbain). Gaeta is also being employed by Holly's sister to watch over her, fearful over her future on _Goddard_. Another protagonist is Dr. Kris Cardenas, the solar system's brilliant expert on nanotechnology, a technology greatly feared and banned on Earth, who joins the expedition en route.
Having said that the book does not focus much on Saturn per se I still enjoyed. I liked several of the characters and found them fairly engaging. I was riveted by the power struggles on the habitat - though fair disclosure, I read the book while traveling in a car for ten hours this past weekend - and was quite interested to see how it turned out. With the few surprises thrown in at the end I enjoyed _Saturn_. Not the best of his "Grand Tour" series, I still liked it. If you have read others in this series I think you will enjoy it too.
March 23, 2021
The idea of sending an isolated community far out of reach with many well known extremists, criminals, murderers and religious fanatics seems like a terrible idea. And turns out it was. The cast of characters are a varied bunch, a zealot pulling strings from the shadows, a con artist vying for ultimate control, his supporters are psychopaths, killing whoever is in their way, and expecting a blind eye to be turned away concerning their excesses. The heroine is an extremely naive child stuck in a woman’s body with an eidetic memory and a heart of gold. Disaster builds steadily, and is averted through some luck, and a sudden about face of the main antagonist. Entertaining, funny at times and overall a worthwhile read. The science and fiction involved are well mixed and come together to add to the Grand Tour splendidly.
December 3, 2020
Despite the 3 star rating, I actually quite enjoyed this book. Bova has a way of taking your for a ride on what the human race would do colonizing and populating worlds in our solar system.
I found the story just good enough to be something I didn’t want to stop reading, but not good enough to be one I couldn’t put down. It has a bit of crime, mystery, exploration, and discovery all in one, which makes for a good story.
What I didn’t like about it, is that the last 100 pages seemed to have editing errors all over the place. Also, the build up from leaving Earth to travelling to Saturn seemed to forgettable.
Otherwise, if you enjoy Bova books, or science fiction in general, you’ll enjoy this book.
I found the story just good enough to be something I didn’t want to stop reading, but not good enough to be one I couldn’t put down. It has a bit of crime, mystery, exploration, and discovery all in one, which makes for a good story.
What I didn’t like about it, is that the last 100 pages seemed to have editing errors all over the place. Also, the build up from leaving Earth to travelling to Saturn seemed to forgettable.
Otherwise, if you enjoy Bova books, or science fiction in general, you’ll enjoy this book.
December 13, 2022
This is the second book in this series that I have read. I think it will be my last. I enjoy the science and the story of exploring on Saturn. The book follows the tug of war between science and religion and the power struggle for control of the new community of 10,000 people who will start a colony outside of Saturn. This gets tedious as the factions vie for power. There is another group of scientists and a daredevil who add some excitement to the story. But it became more about the internal wrangling and less about the science and exploration. I don't think I want to go through another book with this basic struggle. Also the characters are not people with moral character and those that do are sort of self-doubting unsure people. Especially the women.
March 26, 2019
Another good Space Opera from Bova: fast-paced, fun and even informative (I learned a couple of actual science facts about Saturn I wasn't aware before, in the course of searching Wikipedia and similar after being prompted by some points in the story. And also a couple of Spanish "palabrotas" from the story's colorful Spanish-speaking character). Also, great twister at the very end of the book!
The story itself is very good, not as great as others from Bova like Mars and Jupiter, but good enough to deserve a 3.5 which I decided (given GoodReads "chingado" rating system *still* not allowing fractional ratings) to round up to 4.
The story itself is very good, not as great as others from Bova like Mars and Jupiter, but good enough to deserve a 3.5 which I decided (given GoodReads "chingado" rating system *still* not allowing fractional ratings) to round up to 4.
November 2, 2020
For a good many years, when I was in my teens, twenties and thirties, Ben Bova was at the forefront of the science fiction field, publishing many great novels which I eagerly read and collected. A couple of years ago, after a long hiatus, I began to read some of his recent books which I had missed, and enjoyed a couple of the earlier ones, but at some point Bova, quite frankly, just started "mailing it in". His books are no longer very creative, his plotting and characterization are weak and filled with the latest memes and clichés, and Saturn was only able to hold my interest for about fifty pages before I gave up.
Another giant in the field is simply publishing on his laurels.
Another giant in the field is simply publishing on his laurels.
May 28, 2019
While the concept was interesting (in particular the truth about the rings) I felt like this book laboriously meandered towards the ending and the end was rather uneventful and left me wanting more. I think the "secret purpose" of the mission could have been left obviously. Once it was explicitly stated I was like "Duh".
The saving grace that prevents me from giving this book a one is the very interesting story surrounding the truth about Saturn's rings. That kept me on the edge of my seat once that part of the story started to gain momentum.
The saving grace that prevents me from giving this book a one is the very interesting story surrounding the truth about Saturn's rings. That kept me on the edge of my seat once that part of the story started to gain momentum.
February 17, 2023
10,000 scientists are sent to Saturn to study the planet. The vehicle is the space habitat Goddard. On the journey, Malcolm Eberly tries to take control of the Goddard for fundamentalist forces on Earth. Eberly methods are subtle and he has time before the Goddard is at Saturn. At the same time scientists make some interesting discoveries in Saturn's rings. This is more of a politically thriller. One hopes that Eberly will be stopped rather than the Goddard being as authoritative as Earth is in the Grand Tour series. Again the science aspects of this story are great.
May 22, 2022
I read this when I really needed a distraction from other things at the end of the day. Even so, I took a long break during reading because the negativity of the characters and the ludicrous unexamined motivations of some of them were just too much. Seeing this marked as #13 in some sort of series, I'm glad I have not read the prior 12.
Pretty much terrible with some semblance of plot so I did finish it- it's now in the thrift store box.
Pretty much terrible with some semblance of plot so I did finish it- it's now in the thrift store box.
January 30, 2024
This was the first of Ben Bova's books that I had read and I was pulled into the Grand Tour from then on. While the concepts are the best part of the story. The characters in his books can often span several books but he manages to integrate them so you don't need to have read any of the previous ones to engage. Saturn is fun, if not a little slow. Manny is great and the ending is rewarding. It builds up into a place that you'd want it to. Miss you have Ben.
November 15, 2025
This is more a study in social interactions, than any exciting sci-fi adventure. As stated by Prof. Wilmot at the end, "This experiment was intended to test the ability of a self-contained community to survive and develop a viable social system of its own." Bova presents us with insights into people and motivations and the problems of societies dealing with greed and other interests and prejudices, all while on a journey of 10K people to saturn.
January 24, 2020
This book was so sloooooow. SPOILER ALERT: They don't even arrive to Saturn to the very end. The characters are one dimensional and stereotypical. I was so frustrated with this book that I skipped to the end and I called the ending. The story is too busy with politics and corruption than space exploration.
May 24, 2020
Flat and undeveloped characters. Could have been an interesting platform for studying the sociological problem of a large closed community but ended up about as thought provoking as a ~1979 episode of Buck Rogers. I now have 5 data points on Ben Bova, and every book can be summarized as “people go into space and have sexy soap opera entanglements.” No more Ben Bova for me.
May 1, 2023
On a ship traveling to Saturn with a cohort of Earth's misfits, rabble rousers, religious zealots, and a crew that is the only part of the passenger list with a ticket back, we have murder, political scheming, true love, dare-deviltry -- what more could you ask for? I found this book to be a lot of fun, but there's some political fine print in there that I deliberately ignored. Recommended.
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