The Astral Imperative: Vol I The Dream

by Robert Dresner

Destiny meets the Starship Aelita . . .

A remarkable journey across the galaxy begins in 2037 as Earth emerges from a ruinous decade of war and terror. There is a widespread shortage of energy and a surge in global warming. And even while at peace, old loyalties and animosities between countries rack the political landscape. The first manned mission to Mars in the Starship Aelita—a technological marvel commanded by the heroic but deeply flawed Captain Adam Sietzer—proposes to further reunify the world and lead the way into a harmonious and robust future.

But then an unnerving string of events, including sabotage, an attempted murder, and the emergence of the first sentient machine, challenges the crew to look within themselves for the courage and wisdom to survive. Enormous sacrifices are made until their path to self-discovery is joined to the interplanetary quest for knowledge.

The Astral To find the source, to traverse the heavens, and penetrate the mind of God.

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 24, 2009

Reviews

[Jamie Barringer (Ravenmount) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and since I have always loved sci-fi I figured there would be a good chance I would enjoy this book. Well, I was wrong. The core plot, the development of the first sentient AI creature, was great, but it was buried in a very dull narrative of the first manned trip to Mars. This novel, published in 2009, shows no awareness of the many Mars missions that had already been ongoing by the time this book came out, including landers that have been roaming the surface of Mars and sending back data for years. There is a peculiar scene near the beginning of this grand adventure where somehow the astronauts are having a drunken party with significant quantities of beer, on the orbiting space station, something that I doubt very much would occur in real life as a part of any space mission, let alone such a high profile mission as the first manned Mars mission.

All the scenes involving NASA or the US government seem unprofessional and unrealistic, as well, as if the author didn't really have much of an idea how professional politicians, media correspondents, or NASA professionals speak and act while working. As a rough sketch or draft of a novel, this book works well enough, but it reads as a draft, with too little emphasis on AI, the actual point of the novel's plot by the end of the book, and too much emphasis on sex, romance and political maneuverings by the US President's wife and the wife of the Mars Mission's captain. As written, the scenes involving the wives seem like they belong in a separate novel, and the monemtum the space scenes try to build fizzles each time the book shifts back to the wives. Since this book shifts gears so much, very little solid character development occurs, too, leaving all the characters flat enough that it is hard to care about any of them. And, since the AI creature develops out of a 'science' project that sounds more like a team-building art project, with no supporting development in the novel of AI concepts, it is hard to care about the AI creature either.

If this was a new book with the rest of the series still to be written I might be hopeful that more readers gave similar feedback in time so that the author could polish up volume 2 and end up with a decent set of novels following this one, but since it has been a few years and the trilogy is all published already, I am not sure I want to know how bad the rest of the series is. Maybe the sequels are better, though, now that we know that the point of book 1 was AI, not really Mars as such.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I acquired this book thanks to a GoodReads.com Giveaway. I liked it, but as a whole the climax came late and there wasn't any real resolution. Instead of 3 separate 300 page books, I am guessing, it would have been better as one large novel.

It could have used some better editing and proof reading. There were numerous sentences I had to re-read to figure out there were extra words that shouldn't have been there. It killed the momentum.

All that being said I will definitely be looking for some used copies of Vol II & Vol III today, the story just started to get good and then it came to an abrupt end.

If all 3 Volumes were in one hardcover, properly proof read and edited, for about $25-30... I'd give it 5 stars.

[Michael Barnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was given to me by Mr. Dresner having won a drawing. There were essentially two threads to the novel. The first was an interesting story about the NASA launch of the first manned flight to Mars. The second was confusing tale about the pilot's wife and spiritual advisor and their ongoing dialog about how the Martian expedition would lead the world to a spiritual awakening. While I found the sci-fi portion and its character development of the mission members very interesting, I was not at all enamored with the very overtly religious portion of the novel. It really seemed to be a reach for me. I will give the next story a chance just because I am interested in how the mission to Mars ends.

[Wayne Schuster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad ,not great , it will be interesting to see where this story is going. A little too much jumping back and forth for my taste. I would rather have learned more of the difficulties of the trip itself than all the political stuff but it definitely held some interest and I will be reading the next one.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story, but it lacked substance and depth. Flat characters, thin site development. Typos. Still, the story idea was good enough that it made me think about getting the next volume. Maybe his writing will improve; he's new.