Rating: 
Summary: Trappings of classic space opera, but superficial science
Review: The more I read in this, the better Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress looked. Whatever Bova may know about nanotechnology,politics,politicians or military strategy, he didn't show much of it here; the nanos are no more than unseen little guys that work magic (at one point the hero gets his throat cut by a professional assassin, and survives thanks to the nanos in his body. Sure.), the politicians show no cleverness in manipulating the media, and the military types are devastatingly unsoldierly. The character building doesn't come off too well either, when you consider that one of the protagonist's love interests is raped and murdered (or murdered and raped, it's not completely clear--which gives you an idea of what the good guys are up against here) while he watches, but after a momentary shock, our hero forthrightly goes on about his business, mentioning her once or twice in passing. the characters are simplistically drawn, the science and technology are almost invisible, and worst of all, the story has some serious lags--particularly between the failure of the first assault and the mounting of the second, during which characters scurry around, but nothing important to the main plot happens. Bova's always readable, but I didn't see much effort put into this.
Rating: 
Summary: Never Ending adventure
Review: This book is opening a great advenutre story. This book is really a thrilling and blood cloated adventure stroy.Once we take this book for reading we would be a hero.
Rating: 
Summary: Bova scores another hit!!!
Review: This second novel in Bova's Moonbase saga is great. Very well written with some unexpected twists. If you are a Ben bova fan you don't want to miss this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Seedy, immature, sloppy
Review: Very standard b-grade thriller fare, cf. Tom Clancy. Maybe it has a big turnaround, but I couldn't push myself much past the first hundred pages. Cardboard characters that are described as massively intelligent and resourceful, yet are lucky to exhibit the maturity and insight of adolescents. The arch-villain is supposed to be smart enough to have fooled basically everyone on earth to run a virtual world government, yet he's utterly transparent. Oh, and he casually hits on a sexy reporter, forcing her to sleep with him to get access to a story she wants - as if he's not actually handing her a much bigger story/blackmail threat. It's gratuitously playing to the seedy crowd. The premise is that only our hero and his supporters on the moonbase understand that the new 'nanotechnology' - viruslike micro-organisms that can be used to build rocketships and furniture and cure diseases - is good, but the whole world has been fooled by the villain into thinking they're bad. It only works for that high-school Adrian Mole stage where you do still think that no-one understands except you. Oh, and of course this nanotechnology gibberish means that Bova can suddenly pull out any magic trick - 'hey, they can make us invisible' - as if it's part of a coherent plot. As with fantasies where wizards can suddenly pull out spells we've never heard of at no cost, ultimately there is no suspense. And the only thing going for this book (no character, no humour, no insight, no wit - maybe he does good action that I never got to) is suspense (even down to titling each chapter as a countdown). The SF aspect just gives Bova a chance at a particular market - perhaps wise financially, but he abuses the genre to give more licence to sloppy plotting.
Rating: 
Summary: Good comic book stuff
Review: While Ben Bova's premise and plot is interesting enough in its own right that I actually finished this book (Moonwar), it was not a satisfying reading experience. The characters were very flat and predictable good guy/bad guy stock characters from the movie seriel and melodrama traditions. The only almost complex character was Bam, the good hearted assassin, and even here the plot falters trying to make sense of his place in the story. When Doug tells him, in essence, 'sure you cut my thoat and tried to kill me, but I sense that we could be friends', the reader wants to say 'WHAT?'. It makes one wonder about the hero's grip on things. And the dialoge generally is laughable. One could imagine these lines in an old Flash Gordon film. Over the top with a straight face. I found it hard to take.
Rating:
Summary: Future History?
Review: With the advances Mankind has made in the last 50 years, much less the last 100, who is to say what the NEXT 50 to 100 years may bring? When read in sequence with its prequel "MOONRISE", this is a compelling tale of what MIGHT come in our near future. Even though it's not quite Classic Heinlein or Asimov, this tale is far superior to most of the Comic Book Trash being foisted on the readership nowadays. I found myself reading these when I should have been doing other things, and wishing there was more when I had finished.
Rating:
Summary: MOONWAR is a real trip!
Review: Yes, boys and girls, MOONWAR is truly excellent. A satisfying and believable cast of characters and intrigue -- not to mention seat-gripping suspense and action! Ben Bova is truly a master storyteller in the SF arena. And he respects his readers enough to present really likeable heros and keeps them (well, most of them) alive for the ending credits. A salutary attribute, sadly, that he shares with few other writers these days. I can't wait for another installment of this saga. But I'll have to content myself with reading MOONRISE next, as I read MOONWAR before reading this first volume in Ben's outstanding MOONBASE series.
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