Saturn

Rating:
Summary: Just not Bova's best. . .
Review: . . .but certainly not his worst either -- and far better than the 3rd and 4th entries in the Clarke's "Rama" series.

After tackling the Moon (two or three times), Mars (twice), Venus and Jupiter, I suppose that Saturn was the next logical adventure. However, unlike the previous books (even "Venus" which I disliked) there is very little about Saturn actually in the book!

The book deals largely with an artificial habitat sent from Earth to Saturn, and the interactions and machinations of the persons living on that habitat. Once again, as in "Jupiter", Bova takes whacks at religious fundamentalism -- but without the benefit (or relief) of any sympathetic religious character. Issues of sex, politics, manipulation, and violence are played out -- with varying amounts of success. The life-form? eventually discovered
in the rings of Saturn are certainly more believable than the silliness in "Venus", but really are a bit far-fetched.

Passable, but certainly not extraordinary.

Rating:
Summary: Comic Book Characters
Review: Although it held my interest for 400+ pages, I have to say that ultimately I was disappointed by this novel (the first I've read of Bova's). The premise is interesting, if unlikely: send a group of 10,000 scientists and free-thinkers to Saturn in a habitat, away from Earth and a repressive fundamentalist government.

Unfortunately, the protagonist (Malcolm Eberly) is not very likable and spends much of his time thinking thoughts like "I must have more power!" or "How can I control everyone?". He has the depth of a comic book character. The main female lead (Holly Lane) is even worse, stumbling through page after page trying to get Eberly to notice her in a romantic way. Why the heck would she want such an unlikable character in the first place?

Other sub-plots include a murder, a stuntman (ala Evel Knievel) who has tryst's with 3 women on the habitat, a murderous Rwandan security official, and eventually (after almost 400 pages) the rings of Saturn.
 
Had the book had realistic characters, it would have been a much better read.


Rating:
Summary: Less The Planet Than The People Headed There...
Review: Before writing this review, I should probably confess that the only other book in Bova's Solar System meta-series that I've read is "Jupiter", and I started "Saturn" immediately after finishing it. I understand that "Jupiter" is one of the best books in the series, so my review might therefore be a little biased...

Anyhow, "Saturn" tells the story of a giant habitat full of scientists, 'liberals' and other free thinkers sent out to permanently study Saturn by the fundamentalist governments of Earth - with, of course, a few spies thrown in for good measure. The trip takes two years and, in fact, also takes up three quarters of the book. Along the way, Malcolm Eberly, the head of Human Resources on the ship, plots to take over the running of the station in a behind-the-scenes coup of social engineering.

Much of the story is told from his perspective and from that of his assistant Holly who very much highlight the evil, scheming fundamentalist/naive, good scientist dichotomy in the book. It's not a dichotomy I have a problem with in theory, but much of the book reads like a great experiment in pseudoanthropology with Saturn used mainly as a backdrop. Even the actual meat of character interaction comes off a little forced between many of the characters. He does a convincing enough job having people with very large egos interact with each other, but once any human interaction gets past that, the book seems a little two-dimensional.

Once the action does switch to the planet itself (and I won't give away any of the major surprises), the payoff is surprisingly trite given the way "Jupiter" ended. "Saturn"'s ending is also awfully abrupt by comparison - not that "Jupiter" took that long to wrap up. Presumably Bova means for a sequel to follow this. I hope so as there were major plot points left unfinished.

In all, it's an okay piece of science fiction, but it does stumble into a few potholes along the way - as well as making nearly pointless the title of the book. If you're a huge fan of the series no doubt you'll go out and get this one, too. If you're not, you're probably better off waiting for the paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Solid science and the worst of human nature
Review: Ben Bova ranks near the top of all science fiction writers in sticking with hard science in his stories and in his understanding of human nature. In this tale, a self-contained colony of 10,000 humans is moving out to an orbit around Saturn. The people of the colony are largely intellectual and social malcontents, free thinkers who are moving away from the religious and political oppression that currently dominates Earth.
While some are leaving of their own choosing, many are being exiled for their religious, social or political beliefs. However, the forces of intolerance are not left behind, as there is a group who wishes to establish an authoritarian religious government in the colony. This group is small and ruthless, which is reminiscent of the Bolshevik party in Russia right before the revolution. The vast majority of the colony inhabitants are politically agnostic, preferring to ignore the struggles for power.
As is always the case with groups of humans, there are factions, none of which has the power to dominate, which is a necessary precondition for a small group to ascend to power. The descriptions of how the power struggles are waged is a lesson in political science and a recapitulation of many episodes in human history. The science of how to move such a massive object through space and get it into orbit around a distant planet is also first rate. Everything is well within the current realm of what could be done with technology extrapolated from the current capability.
This is a story that combines the best of social commentary with what is technically feasible in the near future. Creating colonies that must be self-supporting in distant lands has always been a challenge and many have languished due to factional bickering, necessitating the emergence of a dictatorial presence. I enjoyed this story and will not be surprised if similar circumstances arise when the first such colony is established near or on another planet.

Rating:
Summary: Seeding the future
Review: First- this isn't bovas' best work, but I still think it was a good read. It expands nicely into the grand tour idea. For me I saw it as a way for him to seed the future once he was done with the solar system. It wets the whistle for a chance to revisit the colony and the rings of saturn. For those who want to read Bova for the first time its not a good place to start I would suggest Mars or Jupiter.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable SF story
Review: Holly Lane loves her sister Pancho, but she needs to find her own way and man's first voyage to Saturn looks like the perfect opportunity. Besides, Holly has fallen in love with the human resources director, Malcom Eberly and she'd follow Eberly anywhere. What Holly doesn't know is that New Morality, the theocratic government that has taken over running Earth, has decided to ensure that the freedom-loving and anarchistic scientists and engineers on the Saturn mission don't take too many freedoms. Morality will be preserved no matter what the cost, and Holly Lane's innocence, or even her life, is a small price to pay.

Author Ben Bova creates a fascinating near-future. Man has reached for the planets and moons, but Earth still holds much of the power and Earth is afraid of the future. Watching Eberly take control of the mission while he is simultaneously professing a great faith in freedom (to be surrendered only in times of emergency) is interesting and Bova makes it convincing.

SATURN is part of a continuing series of Ben Bova stories about Pancho Lane and the rebels who have created a future when most of humanity was running from it. Fans of the series will be pleased to see a combination of new characters and old favorites. SATURN may be read independently without any loss of enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: Politics and Science Add Up
Review: I found Ben Bova while browsing through the SciFi section at Barnes & Noble; I had never heard of him or any of his books before. They looked interesting, so I read all of the back covers. What attracted me to "Saturn" was that it seemed to focus heavily on politics, one of my passions. So I bought it and read it in a few days.
The book started out slow, and most of the science and exploration involved Titan and Saturn's rings rather than Saturn itself, but the book was overall very well-written and enjoyable. The focus on politics kept it from droning off into scientific observation, but it contained enough space exploration to make it a nifty scifi novel.

Rating:
Summary: Political novel, with little science fiction
Review: I had high expectations for this book, but the more I read it became apparent it was nothing more than a space-based story of politics. Very little science fiction. A huge disappointment. So bad, it inspired me to write this review to warn others not to buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Story-lite & science-lite
Review: I have -finally- finished plodding through Ben Bova's "Saturn". This latest installment in his Grand Tour story cycle is pretty predictible as it follows the ideas and tropes laid down by Heinlein (Orphans of the sky), Clarke (the Rama novels), Zebrowski (Brute Orbits), Benford (Heart of the Comet) and many others dealing with closed world environments.

I found none of the characters particularly engaging as they were either two dimentional (Vyborg and Urbain are classic examples) or paper thin, totally lacking in the complexities that define real people. The plot is one-dimensional - no complexity, no background, no color. The story arc was so predictable I was tempted to fast forward to the end. The inter-chapter science lessons were annoying and a very pale imitation of Pohl's Gateway.

Even the science was low-cal. There is some mention of nanotech, which might be Bova's latest interest - particularly as it pertains to human longevity, and that's about it. Passing references to orbital mechanics, life in Jupiter's atmosphere and on Titan do not add much as its so fleeting the reader might miss it rather than be snapped up short to wonder - Now what was that?

Finally, I find hard to believe that a future society that is exploiting Jupiter's atmosphere for rocket fuel, and can build a sturcture in space large enough to house 10,000 people and propel it to Saturn on a 2-3 year trajectory had not sent anybody to Saturn prior to the voyage of Goddard? That they would be the first ones to see the rings and Titan up close? Get real.

Rating:
Summary: review of others reviews
Review: i own nearly all of ben bova's works of science fiction and consider myself a hardcore fan of his. although i say not all of his books are that great. i personally didn't like VENUS, but perhaps i need to read that one again. Jupiter was better and the Asteriod Belt war in the trilogy The Precipice, The Rock Rats and SOON TO BE NAMED LAST BOOK will hopefully satisfy me. Ben's recent book SATURN was my favorite of the the planet books. I couldn't put it down and read it in 2.5 days. I don't understand these other customers' reviews who say it was bad, what book were they reading? i can see if you haven't read the other books that lead up to this future of humanity, you wouldn't be able to appreciate Ben's masterful writing. Your ignorance appals me.