What do you think?
Rate this book
The Grand Tour: Asteroid Wars #2
The Rock Rats
Visionary Dan Randolph is dead, but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, sits on the board of his conglomerate. Randolph's rival Martin Humphries wants to control Astro and drive independent asteroid miners like Lars Fuchs out of business. Humphries wants revenge against Pancho, and flame Amanda, now wife to Lars. Many will die. Many will thrive.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
22 people are currently reading
652 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
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
March 9, 2018
The second book in the Asteroid Wars subset continues the story of the human race moving out to exploit the resources of the asteroid belt. The two main corporations, Astro and Humphreys are still fighting for control with the prospectors and miners (the rock rats) caught in the middle. Things eventually escalate to violence and destruction.
most of this book as about corporate scheming and plotting, with a bit of action thrown in. The main villain is a never ending source of subterfuge and dirty tricks so I hope he meets a miserable fate at the end of this four book series.
Looking forward to the next book 'The Silent war'.
most of this book as about corporate scheming and plotting, with a bit of action thrown in. The main villain is a never ending source of subterfuge and dirty tricks so I hope he meets a miserable fate at the end of this four book series.
Looking forward to the next book 'The Silent war'.
December 18, 2014
This is not a solid scifi-work. Just look at the cast. All the relevant women are Venuses and the men are ruggedly handsome. The Venuses and the ruggedly handsomes have fantastic sex. Venuses ask "but why?", and ruggedly handsomes tell us what we already figured out. That is Bova's entire repertoire right there.
Well, I did finish the book. There's actually more to the book than Venuses and ruggedly handsomes, you just have to keep on reading... A bit of interesting politics / space opera in there if you look closely enough. Still not solid scifi, but I love the theme and the setting of the series.
Well, I did finish the book. There's actually more to the book than Venuses and ruggedly handsomes, you just have to keep on reading... A bit of interesting politics / space opera in there if you look closely enough. Still not solid scifi, but I love the theme and the setting of the series.
October 12, 2016
Would someone put Humphries out of my misery and out of Amanda's misery, too? But don't let her get back together with Lars. She does better without a guy. I swear, whenever one of her husbands leaves the room to scamper off on one of their business trips or adventures, her personality 180's from lobotomized, morally clueless damsel in distress to interesting, independent woman so fast I get tennis spectator neck strain.
I think BB just forgot everything he wrote about the Precipice characters and started from scratch in this book, because everyone's unrecognizable. Except Humphries, but excrement is boring, nauseating, and homogeneous.
I think BB just forgot everything he wrote about the Precipice characters and started from scratch in this book, because everyone's unrecognizable. Except Humphries, but excrement is boring, nauseating, and homogeneous.
January 5, 2022
Tämä oli se kirja miksi alunperin aloitin lukemaan/kuuntelemaan Ben Bovan grand tour-sarjaa, ja aikamoinen pettymys tämä oli. Aihe on mielenkiintoinen, mutta se vesitetään surkeilla henkilöhahmoilla ja turhauttavalla "avaruuspiratismi"/megakorporaatio-teemalla jossa yksi narsistinen mies päättää kaikesta lähes ilman minkäänlaisia rajoituksia. Ihan vain siksi koska hänellä on rahaa.
Ylipäätään turhauttaa sarjassa amerikkalaisuus, jossa on oltava hyvä ja paha, musta ja valkoinen; vaikka (tästäkin) kirjasta olisi saanut paljon mielenkiintoisemman pioneerihenkisen kirjan kuvailemalla asteroidivyöhykeen arjen ongelmia.
Nyt ei vaan paketti pysynyt kasassa, harmi.
Kuunneltu audiblen äänikirjana tammikuussa 2022.
Ylipäätään turhauttaa sarjassa amerikkalaisuus, jossa on oltava hyvä ja paha, musta ja valkoinen; vaikka (tästäkin) kirjasta olisi saanut paljon mielenkiintoisemman pioneerihenkisen kirjan kuvailemalla asteroidivyöhykeen arjen ongelmia.
Nyt ei vaan paketti pysynyt kasassa, harmi.
Kuunneltu audiblen äänikirjana tammikuussa 2022.
July 29, 2021
Lars Fuchs and his wife Amanda have left Selene to mine the asteroids - become Rock Rats - to make some money but mostly to keep Amanda away from Martin Humphries, the wealthy space industrialist, who has fixated on having Amanda for himself. To this end Humphries has started a campaign to bankrupt or even kill Lars so that Amanda would finally be his - against all common sense. The hiring of mercenaries and the piracy of miners becomes so endemic that Earth wants to intervene - for their own pecuniary interests - but Selene and the Belt won’t be run by Earth. Ceres reluctantly sets up a form of loose government but the truce hinges on bringing Lars Fuchs to heel - as he becomes so deranged he is waging a one-man vigilante war against his bitter rival. Innocent deaths on both sides make it hard to sympathise with any character in this book and Amanda’s behaviour is as unfathomable as the others. Ben Bova paints a nice picture of rugged individualists in a wild west style of Asteroid Belt. Part of his Grand Tour series.
February 28, 2021
The plot has a real “the beauty of Helen of Troy launches a 1000 ships” vibe about it. The problem is that it has the same one-dimensional characters as Ancient Greek myths, and the authors view of gender relations also seems almost as ancient. Every character is driven by a singular undeniable motivation with little complexity. However, in the end, I’m curious what these single-minded fools are up to in their asteroid wars so I’ll probably read the next book at some point.
July 5, 2019
The Rock Rats continues the story of The Precipice, following the story of humanity's expansion into the Asteroid Belt and all the atrocities that entails.
Characterwise, this book is all over the place. Pancho is great fun, but we don't see nearly enough of her. Lars is ... kind of crazy and revenge driven, a long descent from liking him well enough in The Precipice. Amanda is pretty great, but only when she's away from either Lars or Humpries. Of all the marriages in the series thus far, why does this have to be the one to stick beyond a single book? They really don't make much sense together... Trite as the saying may be, she could do better.
And then there's Martin Humphries. Man I dislike Humphries. I get that's entirely the point of the series, but he's so cartoonishly evil. His entire raison d'etre is to control the solar system and for the most part he's laughably bad at it. The only reason he is as powerful as he is is he's ridiculously and nothing he does seems to have any lasting consequences. There's enough of that going around in the real world, I don't really want to deal with it in a book--unless he some day finally gets what's coming to him I guess.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but I miss Dan Randolph...
Plotwise, it's mostly corporate infighting, with the first bits of actual ship to ship combat. That at least is interesting enough, since the science is a lot more grounded than many series you'd read. Lasers are adapted from mining lasers. They don't pew pew so much as invisible heat beam of death.
Overall, I fully intend to read the entire Grand Tour. And if you like the more corporate politics books, this might be what you're looking for. I'd personally rather go back to the more sciencey exploration novels with the corporate/political stuff as a secondary plot (like Mars and Jupiter). So it goes.
Speaking of which, the chronological ordering of these books is strange. There are hints in this book that the station around Jupiter hasn't been built yet. It doesn't overly matter to the plot of either book, but it does still feel strange.
Characterwise, this book is all over the place. Pancho is great fun, but we don't see nearly enough of her. Lars is ... kind of crazy and revenge driven, a long descent from liking him well enough in The Precipice. Amanda is pretty great, but only when she's away from either Lars or Humpries. Of all the marriages in the series thus far, why does this have to be the one to stick beyond a single book? They really don't make much sense together... Trite as the saying may be, she could do better.
And then there's Martin Humphries. Man I dislike Humphries. I get that's entirely the point of the series, but he's so cartoonishly evil. His entire raison d'etre is to control the solar system and for the most part he's laughably bad at it. The only reason he is as powerful as he is is he's ridiculously and nothing he does seems to have any lasting consequences. There's enough of that going around in the real world, I don't really want to deal with it in a book--unless he some day finally gets what's coming to him I guess.
I can't believe I'm saying it, but I miss Dan Randolph...
Plotwise, it's mostly corporate infighting, with the first bits of actual ship to ship combat. That at least is interesting enough, since the science is a lot more grounded than many series you'd read. Lasers are adapted from mining lasers. They don't pew pew so much as invisible heat beam of death.
Overall, I fully intend to read the entire Grand Tour. And if you like the more corporate politics books, this might be what you're looking for. I'd personally rather go back to the more sciencey exploration novels with the corporate/political stuff as a secondary plot (like Mars and Jupiter). So it goes.
Speaking of which, the chronological ordering of these books is strange. There are hints in this book that the station around Jupiter hasn't been built yet. It doesn't overly matter to the plot of either book, but it does still feel strange.
December 21, 2019
Rock Rats continues the story from Precipice. I found the technical and economic trouble of living and prospecting the belt really interesting, but I'm not a fan of Martin Humphries as a villain. He has a kind of ridiculous, Menelausian quality to him where he's unwilling to let go of losing a woman, except in this case, he never had her. That insane, juvenile conflict drives the entire narrative and justifies wanton treachery and murder and ultimately turns Lars Fuchs into a sort of space pirate. This is fairly interesting but I think would have been better without Humphires' pining obsession. Maybe jilted rage would have served as a less shaky foundation for his actions.
The plot moves at a brisk pace and the characters are generally engaging, but there was enough off putting stuff—paeticularly Humphires and his actions and demands of his supporting cast—that I think this one is one of the weakest in the grand tour I've yet read.
I'm hoping the Silent Wars is better.
The plot moves at a brisk pace and the characters are generally engaging, but there was enough off putting stuff—paeticularly Humphires and his actions and demands of his supporting cast—that I think this one is one of the weakest in the grand tour I've yet read.
I'm hoping the Silent Wars is better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2017
Follow up to The Precipice, this one picks up after Dan Randolph's death as many are racing to the asteroid belt to claim the riches that it entails. Many familiar characters from the previous novel return as Martin Humphries continues his evil ways to prevent anyone but him from gathering the resources everyone so covets. It is debatable what Humphries wants more, the money or the woman he clearly cannot have, Amanda, who happens to be married to one of the ones Humphries is trying to knock off. Bova manages once again to mix politics, science fiction, and human emotion in ways that he is so well known for. Of note also is Bova's treatment of Pancho, who was tapped to succeed Randolph after his untimely death. Pancho pretty much inserts herself into the line of fire as the leader of those who oppose Humphries, much to her peril. Bova has another winner here.
December 12, 2024
Slightly disappointing. Pancho Barnes hardly features at all and the death of Dan Randolph seems to have been consigned to the "nobody cares anymore" folder, even though it is touted as one of the driving forces behind the narrative.
Ben Bova was a competent writer and his Grand Tour novels are very readable, but I just expected a little bit more. It doesn't help that most of the characters here are pretty unlikable.
Nevertheless, you can still do far worse without even trying too hard. There is just enough action, backstabbing and asteroid field piracy here to collect three stars. Here's hoping The Silent War sets the record straight.
Ben Bova was a competent writer and his Grand Tour novels are very readable, but I just expected a little bit more. It doesn't help that most of the characters here are pretty unlikable.
Nevertheless, you can still do far worse without even trying too hard. There is just enough action, backstabbing and asteroid field piracy here to collect three stars. Here's hoping The Silent War sets the record straight.
August 21, 2024
Bova's Grand Tour books are all of pretty consistent quality and Rock Rats is no different. The Asteroid Wars as a whole seems constrained by the nature of them being a prequel to Venus (one of the best in the series) removing some of the tension of plot elements and ensuring every character is in the correct place for the beginning of Venus. The character who falls prey to this most is Amanda who loses a lot of her agency for the sake of story
Despite it's relatively minor flaws, the book is still a fun and engaging read
Despite it's relatively minor flaws, the book is still a fun and engaging read
February 26, 2019
Good book, it is a quick read especially since it look me less than a week. I found it to be a nice follow up to the initial one. The only continued problem I have is with the elementary approach at time with the obsessive ‘relationship’ one key character has with the other, there was also a somewhat distracting subplot of a clone baby but in the end it resolved itself adequately but it was a bit of a left turn too. Looking for to seeing how the story ends in the third installment.
August 4, 2020
Got this for a buck fifty during a quarantine special at my local bookstore. Feel like I should’ve read the whole series and not just second (?) book as I am a bit lost at the ending. While it was a fairly captivating read, I don’t feel the need to read the rest of the series. Maybe if my TBR like wasn’t so large already.
January 16, 2025
Very entertaining.
Ben Bova can spin a good yarn. I like the degree of science involved, and yet his books are sprinkled with quotations from famous works of literature.
I'll read what the local library has and then ask for interlibrary loans, as time goes by. I am intrigued especially by the series based on the different planets.
Ben Bova can spin a good yarn. I like the degree of science involved, and yet his books are sprinkled with quotations from famous works of literature.
I'll read what the local library has and then ask for interlibrary loans, as time goes by. I am intrigued especially by the series based on the different planets.
September 1, 2017
Competent space opera, continued next week.
June 5, 2018
Great space opera, really epic.
February 16, 2019
Standard-fare Bova space opera. Not great, but not bad either; comes with the territory of reading through the huge Grand Tour series: some books will be great (Mars, Jupiter) others not so much.
July 12, 2019
I probably would have given this 4 stars if the wife didn't annoy me so much. She was so whiny!!!
January 29, 2021
Not much to say. I enjoyed it, but I'm not wild about it.
August 26, 2023
Duration: 10:09:54
May 22, 2024
🍝 space opera, business forward with well balance characters (men women races etc) I’m here for it and it’s very consumable
Read
October 25, 2025Why you might like it: Competition in the Belt. Rubric match: not yet scored. Uses your engineering/rigor/first-contact/world-building rubric. Tags: economics, conflict
May 21, 2013
Good Stuff: It's near-future SF. I'm a sucker for near-future SF. The conflict between characters takes center stage, personal motives are clear. The asteroid belt is an enormous wealth of resources, but this setting doesn't get enough attention in space SF. Good on Bova for that. The last quarter of the book is much better than the rest, enough to bring it up to a 2-star performance overall. Barely.
Bad Stuff: For the first three quarters of the story, the main characters are shallow, stupid and predictable, with lots of melodrama. The writer's craft is mediocre. Character viewpoint is sloppy, some scenes just leave you wondering why they are part of the story, and Bova is a case-study for why you should "show" rather than "tell" in writing. Too many times there are severe logical problems. For example, hero's spaceship is answering a distress call to rescue his buddy whose ship was crippled by a pirate. During the two days journey he doesn't bother to ask what happened. Then when he rescues buddy, they realize the pirate is probably still lurking nearby and they'd better alert authorities...but hey, let's have lunch first! With dessert! And nice hot showers! Oh no, we wasted too much time and now the pirate blasted our antennas off!
There are also some very basic logical problems with the premise, such as why Earth would be importing materials from the Belt rather than from near-Earth asteroids. This storyline would make sense in a more developed interplanetary society with a large space-manufacturing industry. There are problems with internal consistency, such as why they were building spaceships with nanobots in book #1 but apparently forgot how to use nanobots by book #2.
Bad Stuff: For the first three quarters of the story, the main characters are shallow, stupid and predictable, with lots of melodrama. The writer's craft is mediocre. Character viewpoint is sloppy, some scenes just leave you wondering why they are part of the story, and Bova is a case-study for why you should "show" rather than "tell" in writing. Too many times there are severe logical problems. For example, hero's spaceship is answering a distress call to rescue his buddy whose ship was crippled by a pirate. During the two days journey he doesn't bother to ask what happened. Then when he rescues buddy, they realize the pirate is probably still lurking nearby and they'd better alert authorities...but hey, let's have lunch first! With dessert! And nice hot showers! Oh no, we wasted too much time and now the pirate blasted our antennas off!
There are also some very basic logical problems with the premise, such as why Earth would be importing materials from the Belt rather than from near-Earth asteroids. This storyline would make sense in a more developed interplanetary society with a large space-manufacturing industry. There are problems with internal consistency, such as why they were building spaceships with nanobots in book #1 but apparently forgot how to use nanobots by book #2.
December 20, 2013
It's been several years since Dan Randolph died on the first voyage to the Asteroid belt in the first fusion powered spaceship. And it's up to the rest of his crew to carry on his vision. Pancho Lane, pilot and astronaut, now sits on Astro Corp's board as Randolph's heir, leading the charge to build a station around Jupiter. Lars and Amanda Fuchs have their own small business, selling equipment to the Rock Rats, those who mine the asteroids, and helping them build a government. But all isn't well as Martin Humphries makes his move to control the belt.
To that end, he sends war criminal now mercenary Dorik Harbin to start killing independent prospectors. Meanwhile, Humphries sets his sights on the Fuchs as a way to get at Astro, bringing the war to Selene's (formerly Moonbase) doorstep. It's all Doug Stavenger, the eternally young hero of the Moonwar, can do to prevent Selene from being dragged in. But his attempts at peace fail when Fuchs, having lost everything at the hands of Humphries, gathers a crew and starts a wave of piracy to fight back.
This was....not a good book. Bova clearly set up Pancho Lane in the Precipice as the next main protagonist, which is why it's really confusing to see Lars Fuchs as the main character. He wasn't particularly well developed (which was fine since he was a tertiary character in the previous novel). But for him to be the protagonist? In addition, this book had no direction. A space pirate vs a mercenary isn't a "War" and now we're done with two books of the Asteroid Wars WITH NO WAR. I really don't know what Bova was going for here. He had a good set up but he just couldn't deliver.
To that end, he sends war criminal now mercenary Dorik Harbin to start killing independent prospectors. Meanwhile, Humphries sets his sights on the Fuchs as a way to get at Astro, bringing the war to Selene's (formerly Moonbase) doorstep. It's all Doug Stavenger, the eternally young hero of the Moonwar, can do to prevent Selene from being dragged in. But his attempts at peace fail when Fuchs, having lost everything at the hands of Humphries, gathers a crew and starts a wave of piracy to fight back.
This was....not a good book. Bova clearly set up Pancho Lane in the Precipice as the next main protagonist, which is why it's really confusing to see Lars Fuchs as the main character. He wasn't particularly well developed (which was fine since he was a tertiary character in the previous novel). But for him to be the protagonist? In addition, this book had no direction. A space pirate vs a mercenary isn't a "War" and now we're done with two books of the Asteroid Wars WITH NO WAR. I really don't know what Bova was going for here. He had a good set up but he just couldn't deliver.
April 4, 2013
Lars and Amanda Fuchs are barely surviving as prospecters in the Asteroid belt, but they want a better life for themselves and their fellow Rock Rats. They begin to build a habitat and open a supply depot, and they are a moderate success. But Humphries doesn't like this as it drastically interferes with his plans to rule the belt himself. He hires assassins to prey on the independant contractors and soon piracy is a common occurance. When Lars gets no help from the authorities, he takes matters in his own hands and decides to fight back. If all out war isn't going to break out, a lot of people will have to compromise - when all they want is to prove themselves in the right.
I quite enjoyed this. It isn't a complex story, like a lot of the SF I usually read, but it is a good adventure/thriller. I don't really 'get' why Amanda agrees to what she does in the end, although I guess it's to set it up for the last two novels in the series, but it does seem slightly odd. Still, I suppose I'll have to read those to find out if Humphries finally gets his comeuppance.
I quite enjoyed this. It isn't a complex story, like a lot of the SF I usually read, but it is a good adventure/thriller. I don't really 'get' why Amanda agrees to what she does in the end, although I guess it's to set it up for the last two novels in the series, but it does seem slightly odd. Still, I suppose I'll have to read those to find out if Humphries finally gets his comeuppance.
May 18, 2012
Wish I had known it was part of a serial. Didn't miss not knowing earlier books, but now stuck in following furter books in series.
Story by itself stands alone with an openend downer ending - which is typical of a series -- but I confess to almost giving up on the story when I saw where it was heading toward a crappy ending, but came back to it after I cooled down and the writing was good throughout. I read this book on recommendation, but I should have been informed it was part of series, as I like to start on book 1 of any series - as the story and interest starts to wain as the series dissolves into further books with new characters and killing off or dropping old characters - reminds me of my experience with the TV series LOST.
Story by itself stands alone with an openend downer ending - which is typical of a series -- but I confess to almost giving up on the story when I saw where it was heading toward a crappy ending, but came back to it after I cooled down and the writing was good throughout. I read this book on recommendation, but I should have been informed it was part of series, as I like to start on book 1 of any series - as the story and interest starts to wain as the series dissolves into further books with new characters and killing off or dropping old characters - reminds me of my experience with the TV series LOST.
March 27, 2014
Prospectors, espionage, pirates, space battles...oh, and Amanda. This would have gotten a higher rating from me except for one single character. She is described as both beautiful and intelligent but she certainly doesn't behave like an intelligent woman. The character of Amanda is a goop. She marries a guy she isn't that crazy about just to avoid another man's affections. She desperately wants to return home but she lives in shabby conditions on Ceres for years to please her husband. When he eventually abandons her she uses it as an opportunity to marry a man she detests. Half long-suffering martyr and half talking Malibu Stacey doll, Amanda seems determined to be miserable. She is a spineless tea-towel and a weepy doormat. Why? Don't ask her, she's just a girl...
September 20, 2012
Ben Bova writes enjoyable, character driven hard sci-fi. This is the grimmest of his books that I have read so far. Most of his other stories have focused on exploration. This one focused on the lengths that people will go to get what they want. I think that this book has one of the best examples of how space combat might actually work. I did read the book "Venus" before reading this one. It has the same characters but takes place at a later time so there were some things in the story that were spoiled for me.
March 25, 2011
Part two of the Asteroid Wars. I used to keep coming back to Bova and his Grand Tour of the Solar System. Maybe I’m just a sucker for near future tales of men and women trying to tame the solar system. This book made me stop. It is just plain boring. Amanda may be beautiful but she and the other characters feel about as emotional as puppets. Furthermore, I simply don’t buy the story. After slogging through about half the book, I gave up.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=494
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=494
February 21, 2012
I love Ben Bova's books. This was no exception. The rock rats mine the asteroid belt for valuable metals to quench humanity's never ending hunger for the stuff. Politics and some attention to real science made the story very interesting to me. Bova's politics seemed slightly petty at times, or so I thought when I originally read the series. I couldn't say that now. I think he was prophetic in that regard.
I've always wanted to travel to space. This book took me as close as I'll ever get.
I've always wanted to travel to space. This book took me as close as I'll ever get.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews