The Silent War : Book III of The Asteroid Wars

Rating:
Summary: Great sci-fi ideas, one-dimensional characters
Review: "Why was I so into this series again?" was the question I asked myself as I read this book. The first book must have been really engaging, because I was eagerly on the lookout for the second book, and read it as soon as I could. It wasn't as good as the first one, but I decided to keep on reading the series to see how it wraps up. I have read it, and my reaction is "meh."

The characters seem straight from a 1950's western or lurid love tale. Their descriptions are pretty vacuous and they all are more like caraicatures than characters. The sci-fi aspect is pretty good, but I couldn't escape the feel of a "Dallas" vibe throught the story, and a corny "Dallas" vibe too.

If you must read it to see what happens to all the characters and stuff, do what I did and borrow it from a library. Either that, or buy the used paperback edition when it comes out cheap. Otherwise, you'll think it was a waste of money. Something about the first novel in this series made me want to continue reading the series, but Bova lost that "something" in the second and third novels. He left the door open in this novel for a sequel of sorts, he had better find and reclaim that "something" if he wants that sequel to be good.

Rating:
Summary: Engaging look into the next 100 years in space
Review: Commercial motives; Human nature; Creative thinking; This story combines the three for a caricatured look at what the next 100 years in space may be like. Engagingly told in the down-to-earth style the author does well. I had not read the other trilogy books but that was not an impediment. This book is more about people in a future than the future.

Rating:
Summary: terrific conclusion to the action-packed Asteroid Wars
Review: Earth still remains in the cataclysmic grip of economic failure coupled with crippling environmental disaster. Little hope remains on the planet with the best chance to renew the orb being the vastly rich asteroid belt. Though the potential wealth seems astronomical, two rivals have merged trying to gain control of the resources (see THE ROCK RATS). Pancho Lane heads Astro Corporation while Martin Humphries leads Humphries Space Systems with the former wanting to share the affluence in an effort to save earth and humanity while the latter wants to control everything and everyone.

Pirate Lars Fuchs lost his beloved spouse Amanda to Humphries when she offered herself in exchange for his freedom several years ago. Not long afterward, Amanda dies giving birth. Humphries assumes that the child is of his seed and so does Lars who is still mourning his loss and seeking revenge by killing Humphries. Meanwhile on a solar system level, the conflict between Astro Corporation and Humphries Space Systems flares encouraged by a third interested party, Yamagata Corporation, who plans to gain control of everything once the two giants pound each other into stardust.

This exciting tale is a terrific conclusion to the action-packed Asteroid Wars (see THE PRECIPICE and THE ROCK RATS). The story line moves faster than the speed of life until the final confrontation. Though Martin remains as an extreme example of a mega maniac as one will see embrace a novel, the rest of the cast does not seem as one dimensional. Fans will appreciate this fabulous tale as well as the rest of a wonderful futuristic solar system that seems so bleak except for a one sparkle of starlight.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: terrific conclusion to the action-packed Asteroid Wars
Review: Earth still remains in the cataclysmic grip of economic failure coupled with crippling environmental disaster. Little hope remains on the planet with the best chance to renew the orb being the vastly rich asteroid belt. Though the potential wealth seems astronomical, two rivals have merged trying to gain control of the resources (see THE ROCK RATS). Pancho Lane heads Astro Corporation while Martin Humphries leads Humphries Space Systems with the former wanting to share the affluence in an effort to save earth and humanity while the latter wants to control everything and everyone.

Pirate Lars Fuchs lost his beloved spouse Amanda to Humphries when she offered herself in exchange for his freedom several years ago. Not long afterward, Amanda dies giving birth. Humphries assumes that the child is of his seed and so does Lars who is still mourning his loss and seeking revenge by killing Humphries. Meanwhile on a solar system level, the conflict between Astro Corporation and Humphries Space Systems flares encouraged by a third interested party, Yamagata Corporation, who plans to gain control of everything once the two giants pound each other into stardust.

This exciting tale is a terrific conclusion to the action-packed Asteroid Wars (see THE PRECIPICE and THE ROCK RATS). The story line moves faster than the speed of life until the final confrontation. Though Martin remains as an extreme example of a mega maniac as one will see embrace a novel, the rest of the cast does not seem as one dimensional. Fans will appreciate this fabulous tale as well as the rest of a wonderful futuristic solar system that seems so bleak except for a one sparkle of starlight.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: 1st class action and world-building but weak characters
Review: The conflict between Pancho Lane and her Astro Corporation and Martin Humphries of Humphries Space Systems has always been ruthless, but now the two find themselves pushed beyond competion into outright war. As corporations, both Astron and Humphries depend on profit and loss--but the old antagonism between the two leaders, and the secret manipulations of the Japanese consortium, Yamagata Corporation. Corporate warfare means mercenaries, armed spaceships, blockades, and convoys, as well as innovative use of weapons as modern as nanotechnology and as ancient as assassination. With neither Pancho nor Humphries prepared to back down, and neither willing to listen to reason, the war threatens to spill out of control.

Author Ben Bova is at his strongest when he deals with the near-future universe in which THE ASTEROID WARS is set. Earth, beset by global warming and the floods caused by melting icecaps, is in desperate need of the metals, energy, and complex manufacturing that can only take place in space. Humphries and Astro were the early developers of commercial space technologies. For decades, the two companies have been butting heads, yet the two occasionally cooperate as well. Yet Earth is hardly grateful for their efforts and much of what modern science offers is outlawed on the planet itself. Bova's descriptions of space travel, nanotechnology, and the economics of solar system exploration and exploitation all ring true.

Bova is weaker when it comes to characters. Humphries is almost completely one-dimensional. He is interested in himself, period. Even his wife, purchased at great sacrifice, ultimately means nothing to him. Pancho is little better--and in THE SILENT WAR, she has become almost Humphries' mirror rather than a real alternative. The Yamagata family shows promise, but quickly descends into evil, plotting the destruction of both Astro and Humphries without a good explanation on why this is the most efficient way to expand Yamagata influence.

Although I wish that Bova would give his characters more life and a fundamental story question to help them through the novel, the modern world-building and the old-fashioned space opera action keeps me coming back to this series and to Bova.

Rating:
Summary: more action than sci-fi
Review: this book was pretty disappointing. on the back cover some comments seem to compare him to the likes of asimov, but after reading this book, let me say that he does not remotely touch the works of asimov. this books feels like a big-budget hollywood sci-fi movie. there really isn't a good underlying theme from the story, there's a lot of action, sex, some violence, and lots of cliche. there was a decent build up of the story in the first half that was pretty exciting, but then it lets down w/ the resolution. the background description was pretty intriguing and decently set up. at the end he does kind of insert some commentary, but all in all instead of being a good sci-fi, this book feels a bit cheap and trashy. hopefully this is not representative of his other works