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Title: Moonwar by Ben Bova ISBN: 0-380-78698-2 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.29 (24 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Politically correct, disappointing sci-fi yarn
Comment: I enjoyed Bova's Mars and Moonrise, but found this a huge disappointment. The characterisation is so one-dimentional and stereotypical that after the first few chapters, I was too busy playing "spot the cliche" to get into the story. As soon as we get the description of the chief baddy - the (non-American of course!) "smarmy" "pudgy", "pear-shaped" secretary general of the UN, who sports a villain's moustache and is blatently sexist to boot, I was wondering when he would say "curses, foiled again!". When Ms "Tart with a heart" Elgin trots out the old "got to give some head to get ahead" adage, I'm afraid I groaned out load. Bova's feminist and anti-racist agenda is admirable of course, but when it is rammed down the reader's throat at the expense of any decent plot, it just becomes hard to stomach. For the undemanding reader, Bova certainly pulls all the right strings - there's a fair dose of action and tension here, but I fear that the more discerning reader will find that Moonwar insults the intelligence on more than one occasion. I dunno, maybe I've just been spoiled, having read some excellent Iain Banks sci-fi recently?
Rating: 3
Summary: Murder and War between the scientists and the fanatics
Comment: Moonbase has expanded, and now is host to over two thousand employees and researchers. Doug Stavenger lives on Moonbase as Earth is too dangerous for him because the Luddite extreemist factions are out to kill anyone who uses nanotechnology.
The UN is determined to stamp out use of Nanotechnology on the surface, but thier ulterior motives are to gain controll of Nanotechnology for use as they see fit.
Moonwar is a bit predictable, and the 'bad guys' are just way too disfunctional as people to have attained the positions of power in government they have achieved. The 'New Morality' which is quickly gripping the world in a theocracy, opposes nanotechnology, and will use Murder and terrorism to attain thier goals.
Soon, forces culminate into a battle at Moonbase, those in Moonbase thwarting two different attacks and flushing out suicide bombers. It's a bit too easy for them though.
Overall, a nice book if you've read the first one, but not as realistic as it could be, and not very beliveable.
Rating: 3
Summary: Ben Bova at his best and worst...
Comment: MOONWAR exemplifies Ben Bova at both his best and his worst. As a sci-fi thriller, it is near first-rate. Moonbase continues to face resistance from Earth's nano-Luddites-religious fanatics who fear the nano-tech used to sustain the luna colony-and from U.N. Secretary General Georges Faure, who has an agenda of his own. Bova keeps the action and suspense rolling, as the hero of both this and the previous Moonbase novel, Doug Stavenger, struggles to counter these overwhelming odds. Bova proves something of a master of page-turning suspense, keeping his reader on the edge of the seat. Unfortunately, Bova seldom develops his characters beyond anything more than the bare bones, one-dimensional heroes and villains in whom it is very difficult to invest emotionally, even when their lives are on the line. Faure remains a moustache twirling villain throughout the novel when he could well have been developed into a complex figure of real politick. Stavenger proves a near Christ-like entity, finding himself resurrected again and again thanks to the nano-bugs introduced into his system in the previous novel. Worse is Killifer, a vindictive former Moonbase employee, who becomes so monstrous in his actions that he rivals Greg Masterson, Doug's ludicrously evil half-brother from MOONRISE. It is frustrating that a writer with such a great sense of pace and suspense should indulge again and again in such unsatisfying plot devices. As a prose stylist, Bova has his strengths-terse and immediate at times, lavishly descriptive at others-but weaknesses, as well. His physical description of characters especially-laden with tried and stale observations-almost always make me wince. One female character is "vigorous and feisty" with "steel-gray eyes," another has "Texas cheerleader's looks," another is a "petit brunette with video-star looks." On the other hand, Bova's descriptions of the luna surface and of Moonbase's infrastructure are often masterful and enthralling, though there is more of both in the first novel than the second. Both Moonbase titles are quick, decent reads, but lack the sense of real wonder that Bova captures in his Mars novels.
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Title: Venus by Ben Bova ISBN: 0812579402 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Return to Mars by Ben Bova ISBN: 0380797259 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Jupiter : A Novel by Ben Bova ISBN: 0812579410 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 18 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Empire Builders by Ben Bova ISBN: 0812511654 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Precipice by Ben Bova ISBN: 0812579895 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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