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Title: The Winds of Altair by Ben Bova ISBN: 0-8125-3227-9 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Quick, Entertaining Read
Comment: I was expecting something slighty different when I started reading this book. Maybe just a little bit more complex. I had read a handful of Ben Bova novels before this one, and I had always been impressed by them. I think I read this in one day if I remember correctly. None of the other characters besides the main one were memorable, but the plot quickly moved itself forward and never bogged down. It's definetely worth a look.
Rating: 3
Summary: Average sci-fi novel
Comment: I first read The Winds of Altair in an airport when I was nine or so. It was my first truly sci-fi book, and I was thoroughly impressed. I read it again recently (seven years after my first read) and found it to be a disappointment. Not to say that this is a bad book, but it failed to live up to the five star novel that I had remembered it as. I couldn't really place my finger on what was disappointing: the plot is interesting, the length is fine. But a previous reviewer nailed it: the style of writing is juvenile. The descriptions aren't terribly inventive, the characters aren't very well developed, and the conflicts seem almost too easily overcome. I haven't read anything else by Ben Bova, so I can't compare Altair to his other, possibly better books. However, this seems to be a book geared more toward pre-teen readers. But if you want a quick, reasonably satisfying science fiction read, The Winds of Altair isn't too bad.
Rating: 2
Summary: A disappointing book by an accomplished writer
Comment: A disappointing book by an accomplished writer.
"The Winds of Altair" portrays a future where the Earth teems with 17 billion mainly poor inhabitants. Crime and vice are rife on a world running out of resources. After making the leap to local space travel, humans discover a mechanism for faster-than-light travel A search begins for planets in other star systems that can be terraformed to allow some of the Earth's masses to be transported elsewhere, thereby alleviating terrestrial crowding. An expedition to the 6th planet surrounding the star Altair sponsored by a strict doctrinaire church and sanctioned by the World Government begins the preliminaries to terraforming a world that is occupied by alien life forms. The church leaders of the expedition see no problem with exterminating the existing life forms that could not survive in an earth-like atmosphere. The problem is complicated by the discovery that one of the species there may be intelligent.
The writing style is surprisingly simplistic for someone like Bova. The prose and structure is more appropriate for a "juvenile" level work than an adult novel. The characters are not well developed and appear shallow. For instance, the protagonist is a member of the church that sponsored the mission. The church has no black members, although it preaches racial tolerance. On meeting an African female member of the scientific team, he is initially perturbed by her black skin and exotic appearance. Soon, he comes to feel that she is beautiful despite being black. She is kind and friendly to him, and he then comes to believe that he is in love with her. Nothing is wrong with this evolution of events. The problem is that the development is sophomoric. A more fundamental problem that strains credibility is the idea sending Earth's unwanted away to terraformed planets at enormous expense. A few thousand or a few million people transported to another planet will not help when the problem is billions of poor. A flawed plot combined with puerile writing makes for an uninspiring novel.
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Title: Empire Builders by Ben Bova ISBN: 0812511654 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Kinsman Saga by Ben Bova ISBN: 0380793172 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Watchmen by Ben Bova ISBN: 0671875981 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Colony by Ben Bova ISBN: 0380793156 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Moonwar by Ben Bova ISBN: 0380786982 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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