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Summary: Everything you want to know about "why we should be on mars"
Review: Even the details of going to the bathroom ....in a trans-Mars trip are touched on...
The "what if book" of Manned space travel...i really endorse
this book..A novel that reads like a history primer...
Mark
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Summary: Excellent story. I highly recommend it.
Review: I am a fan of 'Sciene Probable'. That is to say, science fiction that is based on fact and known science.This book hits that mark dead on. The adherence to the technicals and history of the Apollo program is well done and worked seemlessly into this alternate history. The description of science is detailed enough for those so inclined while not going so overboard as to bore the less technical reader. The structure of the writing is perfect for a story that must cover such a long period of time. Baxter is able to carry the story over decades without ever losing momentum or the interest of the reader. The character development is great. The story is progressively told from the perspective of different characters, in the third person. Overall, I highly recommend this book. One of the best I've read.
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Summary: Don't ya just WISH it had ACTUALLY happened??
Review: I am relatively new to the world of Stephen Baxter, and I picked a pretty good book to start off my getting to know him, I think. 'Voyage' is not so much science fiction as it is a novel of alternate history, a history I might add actually COULD have happened had NASA made a few better choices in the 70's. There are few moments that I was more proud to be an American than when watching Armstrong & Aldrin walk on the surface of the moon, and I KNOW that feeling would return if we made that leap and went out to mars. 'Voyage' gives us several point-of-view's regarding this undertaking. First off, Kennedy survived his assassination attempt, but sustained a severe injury. We also get the view of the astronauts as they BEGIN the mission in the present, while the rest of the novel skips around to the politics surrounding just WHO will be the first humans on another planet, HOW we'll manage to pay for such a tremendous undertaking and the most important question: just HOW will we be able to pull it all off? Serious questions arise. Methods are tried, some fail, some do not, but it all seems pretty risky--and some even die in the pursuit of an experimental rocket that turns out to be less than reliable. This is how it COULD have happened. I wish it had. I wish it WOULD. But by the time that eventually happens, most of us might be long gone. Maybe a trip back to the moon would be more appropriate at this point. All I know is that 'Voyage' made me think a LOT about the space race and where will we be going next should we actually TRY to go ANYWHERE. Fantastic space opera and I honestly believe the reality of this story is almost unheard of in this day and age. The science holds up and even though it's a bit dated because of the time the novel takes place, it just add's to the realism this novel develops throughout. Great story and an even better idea of 'What If?'
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Summary: Better than I thought
Review: I came to know Baxter's writing through his more SF type books such as Ring and the Time Ships and in those respects he seemed a natural successor to HG Wells and the others who used ideas to drive their novels. And then I see this book. The first thing that tipped me off is that there's no mention of his other SF books in any of the author bios, even though some of them have won awards and stuff and been generally acclaimed, in fact if you didn't see the listing of his novels in the front of the book you'd think that this was his first novel. So, geez, I thought to myself, a SF writer trying to play down his science fiction past in order to make himself more appealing to the mainstream, nothing I hadn't seen before but since I had faith in Baxter I figured I'd give the book a try. And you know what it's not bad, the history extrapolation are just as good as anyone else's but the premise is good and the feelings that it ignites in you, the actual thought of us going to Mars, if there's anything that rekindles that desire to get there, this could be the book. The book focuses more on actually getting there as opposed to what we would do there which is a small complaint, I would have at least like to see what happens to the characters when they got back to Earth and got on with their lives, I mean face it after going to Mars everything else is certainly downhill from there. That and the characters are a tad stock at times, of course the woman is a no nonsese lady with a chip on her shoulder and the African character is always angry and all the astronauts are "just one of the boys" and you do realize this during the course of the book but really when you take everything together it's a good effort. It does the job which is show how we could get to Mars and manages to be entertaining along the way, encompassing truimph and tragedy and showing the lengths that people are driven to realize their goals. Baxter's next book after this was something else along this line as well (Titan) and while I hope he gets back to his older stuff I can make do with this for the moment, it goes down quite easy.
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Summary: It really could have happened
Review: I can remember, as a child of 10 or so, watching the ghostly pictures on television of Armstrong and Aldrin walking on the moon. I was hooked on the adventure and became an avid Apollo watcher until December '72 when the last mission flew.
There was a lot of speculation that the Americans would follow up their moon triumph with a push at the big one and go to Mars. Despite the good reasons, I was always disappointed that it didn't happen. I'm sure many others were too and, especially if you are one of them, it is therefore with some excitement that you should approach this book. Stephen Baxter has created a wonderful 'could have been' story of the first manned flight to Mars in the mid 1980s. It is all so plausible - and there are even some real life characters. Anyone who has read Andrew Chaikin's "A man on the moon - the voyages of the Apollo astronauts" or Henry Cooper's "Thirteen: The Apollo flight that failed" will find resonances from these factual accounts in Baxter's story. The characters are very well crafted and, after reading the book, you will find it difficult to separate Stone, York and Gershon, Baxter's astronauts, from Armstrong, Conrad, Schmitt and all the others who really did fly in the great adventure.
Read this book - a very believable and gripping tale
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Summary: "A novel of what could have been" - perfect description
Review: I just finished this superbly written, spellbinding novel. Stephen Baxter's technical background clearly shows and makes this novel so enjoyable for true SCIENCE fiction fans. There is nothing worse than a story involving fantastic "inventions" of new technologies which make no sense at all. Any technologically minded reader will enjoy this book as much as I did, simply because the scenarios are believable and, as we saw from the actual unmanned Mars probe efforts, feasible. The political undercurrent, based partly on actual and partly on fictional events, adds even more factuality. The minute details with which Baxter describes the engineering feats performed by NASA's subcontractors, as well as the many successes and failures prior to the Mars Mission launch itself, emotionally involve the reader in the storyline. The characters are not your glorified hero-types but as close to normal as they can be under the circumstances. The gritty descriptions of the tests and routines ascans have to go through may be objectionable to some "sensitive" minds, but they open up your eyes to the demands placed on the human body during space flight, and do not gloss over the physical and mental strains as many other science fiction books or movies do. Baxter's story fluidly interweaves the characters' past with the present and presents a well-rounded story which made it hard to put the book down.
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Summary: Good Book, Disappointing ending
Review: I likd the book a lot. I wish he had written more about them being on Mars insted of writing so much about how they got there.
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Summary: Some others of Baxter's sources
Review: I liked the book a lot; even if I felt, as some others have, that maybe a world with Mariner 10, Viking, Voyager and Hubble is actually a richer one than one with a single-shot Mars mission. Part of his achievement is that he makes you really ask yourself what you'd rather have seen happen. However, I don't think the political mechanism he invents is as plausible as the technology. Others have noted that aspects of the novel draw on Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox's excellent "Apollo". Readers may also like to seek out "Angle of Attack" by Mike Gray, as this book on Harrison "Stormy" Storms of North American appears to have informed the J K Lee character; and "The making of an ex-astronaut" by onetime NASA scientist-astronaut Brian O'Leary, which contributes a couple of threads to the Natalie York character.
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Summary: From the Earth to Mars: An Alternate History
Review: I loved Tom Hanks HBO mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon." If you did, buy this book! Mr. Baxter takes the reader through an alternate history of the exploration of space where Nixon followed Cap Weinberger's suggestion to keep the space program focused on going to Mars instead of trying to build a reusable shuttle. A more Soviet approach of continuing improvements in Apollos and Saturns, ever lowering launch costs and keeping aerospace workers employed results. Further developments along the path to Mars that we never took are explored in this wonderful and technically believable story and a cast of characters that is well above the average of the typical alternate history novel. As a long time believer that we made a mistake in not going to Mars in the '80's, (Von Braun planned a trip in 1982) I finished the book believing we are better off in our space exploration because we didn't take this trip at that time. I don't think that was the intention of the author, but he's laid the story out so realistically, the conclusions of the reader are just like in real life! It's a rare novel that changes my point of view so fundamentally. I think you'll find it surprising as well.
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Summary: Baxter does it again!
Review: I must say I have found Baxter very worthwhile reads and this one is exceptional. He has thoroughly researched his subject and presents a compelling and totally convincing scenario of what might have been. The characters and events are woolven in a tapestry which neither paints astronauts as clowns nor as Glennian heros but as real complex people caught in a bureaucratic hell called NASA. The contractors are just like people I have met in my own life. Like few writers of science fiction Baxter has a sense of Realpolitik and existential angst about his work which makes his stories totally compelling to anyone who has lived in this world a more than a couple of years. I recommend this book highly.
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