Saturn Rukh

by Robert L. Forward

In the near future five intrepid men and women have been paid a billion dollars each to risk the first voyage into the upper atmosphere of Saturn. The to convert atmospheric chemicals into fuel to power interplanetary spaceships.

But no one anticipates a crash landing on one of the enormous flying creatures known as rukhs that live in Saturn's atmosphere.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novels

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Lull Forward, commonly known as Robert L. Forward, (August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer. His fiction is noted for its scientific credibility, and uses many ideas developed during his work as an aerospace engineer.

Reviews

[Sarah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many, many years ago and I never forgot the title. So I was delighted to find that my library still had a copy as I just had to read it again. There's just something very special and unique about these gigantic creatures that fly in the skies of Saturn. They are called Rukh (pronounced Rook) and each is the size of Central Park. They are an intelligent species and this is a story of first contact.

A group of six humans are sent to Saturn to collect a special type of fuel called meta. But soon after arriving on Saturn, disaster strikes! Soon the humans are depending on an alien Rukh for their very survival. The problem is very complex and there's no easy solution. And as things grow worse the plot races towards a climax with an even worse surprising threat!

I just loved the interaction between the humans and the Rukh. And we get to learn about the Rukh, including their entire life cycle. That's when the story really starts in my opinion - when they meet Petra the Rukh. Before that, the long trip out to Saturn and the process of climbing down the rings, was rather slow story-wise. But this is hard sci-fi so it's something how detailed it all is. The book even had drawings and diagrams in the back to show how it's done. I just wish I would have known those diagrams we're there earlier!

The end was very touching and made me a bit misty eyed.

Without a doubt Petra was my favorite character.

I'm giving 4 stars for the slow start.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there were a science-fiction university, Robert L. Forward would be the dean of the Xenobiology Department. As he deals with alien beings in a heavy gravity environment for Dragon’s Egg, he now deals in Saturn Rukh with creatures that float through gaseous clouds in the same way that whales and manta rays swim through the oceans. Frankly, I’m often too lazy to read hard science-fiction. My earliest science-fiction memories are the fantasies of Ray Bradbury and the pulp writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I’m much more inclined toward space opera than hard science-fiction. Outside of the work of Ben Bova (and possibly the real scientific/mathematical insights found in Rudy Rucker’s and Neal Stephenson’s work), I’m not sure I’ve read much science-fiction with solid scientific foundations in the last decade. In spite of my usual preferences, though, this meaty novel was everything I usually want in a novel and more.
The premise is ideal. Earth can convert a super fuel by running the methane in Saturn’s atmosphere through an atomic reactor. In truth, Earth could do that on our own planet, but the problem becomes how to dispose of the atomic waste. In this case, believing Saturn to have no intelligent life forms, it became logical to create the meta fuel on Saturn and dump the waste in the “wastelands” of that planet. The mission is risky to begin with (using a fascinating idea about how to use the mass of moons and asteroids to save fuel), but the reward matches the risk. Naturally, however, it wouldn’t be much of a novel if everything went according to plan.
The first kink in the plan is the discovery that there is more than “saganlife” on the planet. The second kink in the plan develops from the interaction between these creatures and the crew of the space mission. The creatures, or more properly, alien beings are fascinating. Forward’s hypothesis about how intelligent life that, in order to survive, must remain continually on the move is fascinating. The implications, which I cannot reveal without providing an unwelcome spoiler, are logical and somewhat disturbing. Nevertheless, we get to see these alien beings with regard to survival, society, breeding, and more. It is so refreshing to see massive creatures (the rukhs are named after the giant birds in Arabian folklore, mispronounced as “rocs” in our English translations) as more than foils for the laser rifles and plasma cannons of space opera. Both danger and opportunity are present in the existence of these massive beings.
Even without the obligatory firefights of most escapist stories set in space, there is plenty of danger. Even without being overtly hostile to the crew, the planet has significant dangers. There is death and there is serious injury in this adventure. Neither death nor injury is handled as “business as usual.” Rather, the author uses them as an opportunity to reflect on very real experiences of grief and loss. Sometimes, I have argued that I dislike “realistic” science-fiction because the authors get so caught up in the science or hypothetical science that they lose track of the human element. In this case, Forward captures issues of marital problems and fidelity, promiscuousness versus commitment, grief and loss, ambition and avarice, and responsibility versus irresponsibility. I felt like I really cared about all of these crew members as individuals: the ambitious pilot, the promiscuous pastor’s daughter, the romance-novel reading tree-hugger, the alcoholic engineer, the dutiful engineer, and the relationship-challenged doctor. Listing them in such a way seems to trivialize their individual struggles, but the delightful part of the book for me is that they all have very real challenges.
The story resolves itself in ways that make sense from a historical perspective as well. There are moments in the book where events unfold very much like discovery of the “New World” must have occurred in the 15th century. Plus, as you’d expect in solid scientific speculation, the solutions that don’t work are often as interesting as those that do work. This excellent book will make me think twice about grabbing the next space opera over one of Forward’s books.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 5 out of 5]

Denna var väldigt söt. Kruxet är "Människa mot natur" - i detta fall människa och saturnus-rukh mot natur. Jag rekommenderar den starkt.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got to admit that Robert Forward writes the most imaginative heard SF I know of, this one taking place soaring around the tumultuous clouds of Saturn. The creatures are well done and the science is meticulous, although often feels like a boring lecture. Real people don't talk to each other in a dry textbook like format, but since a large appeal of hard SF is this type of detail, I guess I can forgive it.

Also, unfortunately, the characters are usually quite flat. Especially the women. There is a fair about of sex in this book, but it seems to be the female characters that are the most insecure and sexually driven. Robert Forward seems to have a thing for long fingernails scratching a bare back as pretty much has each character dwells on how it would feel to have one female character (ironically named Chastity) scrape her long painted fingernails along their back during sex. Ah well.

[Nevaeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn´t sure where this was headed when I started it. The introduction of the characters was very expositional and didn´t really make me like them. Also, and as much as I like Forward´s writing, the dragged out descriptions of the space ships is a bit boring. But the moment they arrive at Saturn makes it clear why Forward is just SO good! The alien race is incredibly interesting and so different from his other books and they are instantly the most precious beings!

It was also pretty action packed and after the description of the ship was over there wasn´t another boring moment in the book. I recommend it highly!

[Steve Scanlan · Rating 2 out of 5]

An expedition sets out for Saturn where it is hoped that fuel can be successfully mined from the planet's atmosphere. If the operation is a success, permanent factories will be set up in the near future.

On entering Saturn's gaseous atmosphere the explorers come in contact with a number of floating and flying alien lifeforms. These range from the microscopic to the enormous. One encounter leaves the human expedition stranded with little hope of returning to Earth.

This book you might classify as hard sf, but certainly not the type I enjoy. I've never read a book where I had such little regard for the central characters. I'm not sure why I persisted with this one. I thought about moving on to something else, but held out hope for things to improve. Well, they didn't. There were some interesting and exciting aspects to the story, but not enough to encourage me to further explore Forward's work. The Rukhs were an interesting alien species that had to put up with a boring and wooden bunch of humans.

2.5 stars

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saturn Rukh was a lot of fun, and between this and Camelot 30K (another Forward work set in the outer solar system), I probably enjoyed this one more. While the characters could occasionally seem awkward or clunky, they were generally well-developed and distinct from each other, and faced real consequences of their decisions. The alien characters and their flock, with its culture and the way they react to the humans, are my favorite part of the book. The book managed to balance some of the trappings of hard science fiction (perhaps leaning towards overexplaining, as if it were written with a younger audience in mind) with a decent amount of action and a satisfying climax. I would recommend this book to any science fiction fan.

[Des · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusually interesting and accessible science for a "hard" SF novel. Alas, it does suffer from one of the most common issues where hard SF is concerned: flat, wooden characterizations. Characters are brief two-to-three item lists of quirks and traits, rather than actual, fleshed-out people.

[Paul Bard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Optimistic, hopeful, healthy gender relations, unpolitical, hard science, great story.

The woke science fiction of today could learn a lot from this book on how to write good non-ideological stories.

Characters lacked depth but the rest was top quality.

[Krsiak Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding, amazing, eye-opening, awesome, want to read again, will read again. I mean it is so good. Easily one of my top 10 scifi books I ever read.

[BradMD · Rating 1 out of 5]

Average. Wordy. Mundane. Could be turned into a movie, but as a book it is boring.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Science Fiction! Too bad he never wrote much of it, being busy with real science stuff.
Hard to find too, but worth it if you can.

[Ben Arispe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had never read anything by this author before. The premise was pretty cool, get paid a billion dollars to study the atmosphere of Saturn and produce rocket fuel for cheap. I researched a little on this book before I read it, and it is apparently considered "hard" science fiction. That being said, I really didn't care for it. I don't know if it was because of the author or just the "hard" science fiction in general. I did appreciate the technical aspect that was explained in the operation and flight of the ship. But I really didn't care for the ship design. A few of the characters were memorable, however based on the introduction I expected more interaction between the humans and the new life forms we meet that are the indiginous species of the planet Saturn. Maybe I'm being overly critical, but I just felt the author was trying to show us how smart he is by showing us this technical knowledge he must have. I felt the story was really lacking in character development across the board. And in saying that, if there was any more character development than what we saw, the book would have been unbearable to read. Suffice to say, I doubt I'll be reading anything else by this author in the near future.

[Waldemahr · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is much more challanging to write things that not only make sense on the human level but also make sense from the perspective of the multiple laws of nature.
What Mr Forward excels at, and in my opinion hasn't been remotely equaled at, is his creativity in imagining new ways in which a living organism could accomplish its traits. In a sense, as the most inovative Xenobiolog, his invented life forms - or some closely similar - could very well inhabit some far-flung islands of the deadly Space.

[Cathy French · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a spoiler alert...when you are delving into the world as these astronauts know it you can look at the back of the book for diagrams to help you understand the layout of the ship Sexdent. I wish I had known that before I finished the book because trying to picture it in my mind was very frustrating. This book is okay and I enjoyed reading it but it started out very slow with a lot of technical jargon but I realize that was necessary so you would understand later on what was going on. Not a book I would reread but I'm glad I stuck with it instead of throwing in the towel early.

[Jon]

8 out od 10 : great story

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 04.10.06

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

First science fiction book I ever read. Has the best opening;

"Got a job for you. Pays a billion."

It only got better from there.

[Bee Batchelor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding and mindstretching

[Austin Nyhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

very fun read, good setting with a hard science fiction base made it very entertaining and stimulating.

[Ľudo Malinovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

sometimes too hard, but original

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saturn Rukh is an interesting hard science fiction novel, albeit with many flaws. It's is a novel about a group of paid scientists and engineers making a dangerous journey to Saturn to set up a factory for producing a cheap fuel called meta. Along the way, they encounter a life form on Saturn called the rukh.

The novel is filled with hard science relating to physics, aerospace engineering, rocket science, and astrobiology. The aspect I liked most was the science and the worldbuilding. Robert Forward creates a plausible and very interesting version of Saturn that has an ecosystem of life deep in the clouds. It's a novel about exploration, which is what I love most about science fiction. It explores an alien world, and the difficulties of a mission to Saturn.

The parts I did not like about Saturn Rukh, the reasons why I only gave it three stars, are the characters and their stories. The characters are very shallow and their actions sometimes strange. I typically expect shallow characters in a hard sci-fi novel, but this was particularly bad. One of the aspects that bothered me the most was the rampant sexism. The first fifty pages or so were the worst parts of the novel.

Despite the bad characters and sexism, I stuck with the novel because I did enjoy the worldbuilding, the exploration, and the science.