The Diamond Moon

Venus Prime #5

by Paul Preuss, Arthur C. Clarke

Sparta, Special Investigator for the Space Board, begins a special research mission to the ice moon of Jupiter and discovers evidence of an ancient alien civilization

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

282 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Paul Preuss is an American writer of science fiction and science articles, who also works as science consultant for film companies. He is the author of numerous stand-alone novels as well as novels in Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime series, based upon incidents, characters, and places from Clarke's short stories. (source: wikipedia)

Reviews

[L.N. Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fifth installment of the six-part series reminded me of The Poseidon Adventure. While I enjoyed the elements of surprise, as they related to space, I was continually distracted by my own fixation on the familiar plot elements. I associate the characters of this read with stories and I grew up watching in the den of grandparents' house as a child in the 70s. I was eventually able to forego obsessing over the older feel of this method of story-telling for the greater excitement of twists and turns in the space environment. Toward the end especially, I was far more shocked by the aspects of "suspenseful scenes in space" than I was annoyingly distracted by my flashbacks of single-digit youth. This was a read that caused me to visualize the scenes in black and white, because of my association with the memories of how these kinds of stories were told on television back in the mid-twentieth century. I am glad I did not put the book down and declare DNF. I treated this book as necessary study for my own writings. Very pleasing conclusion; made me want to read volume 6 !

[B. Barceló · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muchos de los misterios que nos han perseguido durante toda la saga se descubren en estas páginas. Por fin vemos los motivos que han impulsado a las dos grandes organizaciones secretas que buscaban el Conocimiento.

La trama en si me parece muy interesante y decir que toda la parte de la expedición a Amaltea me recuerda mucho a la película Abyss. Aún así, la última parte de la historia tiene varios saltos en la trama muy bruscos, haciendo que, por un momento, no sepamos dónde nos encontramos. Da la sensación de que el autor ha recortado en ciertos puntos por algún motivo.

A pesar de todo, el final abre el apetito. Deseando tomar la última obra de la saga y ver cuál es el final que ha pensado el autor.

[Bill Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this 5th book in a really fun and interesting series. Story was a little weaker, a little harder for me to engage my necessary “suspension of disbelief”, and a little less fun, than #1 - #4. Still a nice read with a good ending, including a nice hook at the end making me grab #6 off of my old library shelf to start rereading immediately.

The larger story arc over the complete series remains very interesting and exciting.

[S D Lawrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book continued the series well, but of Sparta, there was almost nothing. I'd like to read the last in the series, but as it is physical book form only, I won't be. I no longer have the room for books, and only read on a tablet. Shame.

[Jiri Eischmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far the best book of the series. Tempted to give 4 stars. In some parts I couldn't stop reading which is something I never experienced with previous books of the series.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What are they letting us off?" Marianne demanded, gulping more champagne.
"Formalities always take a few hours. I imagine we'll be down below by morning."
"Morning, whenever that is. Ugh."

[Paul Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 5 was probably the strangest novel yet, but so good! I particularly enjoyed the antagonist Sir Randolph Mays.
As mentioned in my previous reviews, there's an Indiana Jones type mystery with a sci-fi twist to these books and the 5th book is no exception.

[Tomasz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inertia appears to be the main aspect of this series, really (and the factor that keeps me going past vol. 3, I guess :( ). Oh well, just one more remaining.

[Paul Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

by Paul Preuss, published in 1990.

Venus Prime 5, as the title suggests, is the fifth book of the Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime series written by Paul Preuss. It is based off of the short story ‘Jupiter V’ written by Arthur C. Clarke about the moon Amalthea which orbits Jupiter.

In Venus Prime 5: Diamond Moon, Amalthea is something entirely other than just a moon, but I won’t give away that information as it is key to the whole work so far. Sparta or Linda or Ellen has recovered from her addiction and is once again in the hands of the Space Authority and reunited with her parents who she thought killed long ago.

This time, for her mission to Amalthea if she chooses to go, she had herself altered, but in a way which does not reveal itself until near the end of the novel. And what a reveal!

At the end of Venus Prime 4: The Medusa Encounter, the creatures (Medusas) have beamed a signal to the moon Amalthea and Amalthea starts to spew water geysers throwing its mass outward and away. Amalthea is starting to transform and in a big way.

What can possibly be going on to cause this? And expedition is sent consisting of Forster, Blake and others and at first Sparta does not go with them. Also in the background is a truth seeker called Mays, and he will stop at “literally” nothing to get the information on what is really going on.

This novel is one of ‘nothing is as it seems’ and works pretty well as that. Major revelations occur throughout and by the end you have a good idea of what Sparta is, her role in the bigger game and what is really taking place around Jupiter and why/what happened in the previous four novels as well. Great stuff for a rainy day.

And just as Vernus Prime 4 ended with a big cliff hanger, so to does Venus Prime 5. These novels are plain fun to read and this one in particular reminded me of Clarke’s ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ a great deal. I’ll say no more so as not to give it away.

Get this series and give it a read if you are into space adventure thrillers.

The six books in the Venus Prime series all written by Paul Preuss are:

Venus Prime 1: Breaking Strain
Venus Prime 2: Maelstrom
Venus Prime 3: Hide and Seek
Venus Prime 4: The Medusa Encounter
Venus Prime 5: Diamond Moon
Venus Prime 6: The Shining Ones

[Claudio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Por fin se llega a algo mas allá de la anécdota del marinero espacial que queda varado y es salvado gracias al uso ingenioso de la física y la mecánica celeste. Ansioso por ver cómo culmina en el libro 6.

[Chris Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

So after four books following a similar vein with Sparta / Ellen / Linda trying to find her origins whilst catching the bad guys as an inspector of the Space Force, this one takes a sudden leap onto a completely different track. Still a good read but took some time to switch mind sets.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Clarke scifi read. Stimulating and imaginitive. What happened to dreaming of science and space? Oh yeah, TV.

[Jeff Rudisel · Rating 4 out of 5]

VENUS PRIME ARTHUR C. CLARKE
TIE-TOGETHER SERIES OF SIX CLARKE STORIES INTO NEW SERIES BY PREUSS.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit more humor than the previous 4 but lacks the feeling of ACC.

[Happycomfort · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome series