Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but unsatisfying
Review: Bova paints an imaginative picture of the new frontier out in the asteroid belt. He throws in cliches such as shoddy law makers, grubby prospectors, powerful bad guys, powerless good guy and of course love triangles. This book focuses on Lars & Mandy vs our favourite Humpy the bad dude. It would have been nicer to develop more the impact of the fusion drive, the asteriod mining on the world. He tries to throw in tantalizing bits of information in the way David Brin's Earth was written but does a woeful job. I wonder why I thought his previous book was good...
Rating: 
Summary: Good science, wretched characters
Review: Earth is self-destructing into global warming, new morality, desertification, and starvation. The moon is independent but civilized. Now, the real frontier is the asteroid belt--an area where a man can dream about the big find that will make him rich--and where most of the money is collected by the merchants, the companies that transport ore back to Seline and Earth, and by the barmen and entertainers. When Amanda Cunningham marries Lars Fuchs, Martin Humphries conceives of a clever plan--give the couple a spaceship as a wedding present and send Lars out on a wild goose chase. While he's gone, Humphries is certain that he can persuade Amanda to join him in his bed--and as his wife. When Amanda decides to join Lars on the ship, Humphries has to scheme more deeply, setting off piracy and violence in the anarchic asteroid belt. With his resources, this isn't difficult for Humphries--and he knows that Lars will react just fine. THE ROCK RATS continues author Ben Bova's near future saga with a number of recurring characters. Bova's science--from asteroid hunting to nanotechnology to global warming to using the gravity of an asteroid to conserve fuel--seems sound and provides an intriguing backdrop to the story. Similarly, his new morality movement on Earth as well as occasional references to terrorism are interesting extrapolations from today into the near future. Where Bova falls short is in his characters. Amanda spends much of THE ROCK RATS whining about wanting to return to Earth--apparently unconcerned that she and Lars provide the only competitive supply source for the thousands of explorers and miners who are their friends--and the hope of humanity's survival. Lars lets hatred and jealosy motivate his behavior and drive him into simply unforgiveable acts. Pancho Lane, a major character in THE PRECIPICE (see our review) is a cameo character without a lot of depth. Even Humphries' beautiful and deadly assistant Diane Verwoerd becomes terminally stupid toward the end of the novel. Frankly, although Humphries is the badguy, he's the only sympathetic character in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: When you set out to create a monster...
Review: Even worse than part one. Two-dimensional characters and formulaic. Mildy interesting science. Why do I bother with the man?
Rating: 
Summary: Utterly awful
Review: Even worse than part one. Two-dimensional characters and formulaic. Mildy interesting science. Why do I bother with the man?
Rating: 
Summary: enjoyable outer space adventure
Review: Humanities only hope for survival remains with the ore rich Asteroid Belt. However, the rivalry for control of the vast richness continues between Martin Humphries and Lars Fuchs. Martin wants to exploit the mineral wealth as a means to make him dictator of the solar system. On the other hand, Lars feels that there is room for everyone to benefit and welcomes competition including from the independent ROCK RATS, miners like him living and working amidst the asteroid orbs. However, the antagonism between Lars and Martin has turned even more personal and ugly as the former has married Amanda Cunningham, a woman that the latter obsesses to make as one of his more precious possessions.
Lars sells supplies to THE ROCK RATS, but Martin destroys his competitor's warehouse, kills innocent rock rats, and steals their find. He also tries to murder Lars. A desperate Lars counters Martin's assault by attacking his malevolent opponent's ships and bases. Though distant from earth, mankind's latest economic battle is turning deadly with war seemingly inevitable.
THE ROCK RATS, book two of the Asteroid Wars, shows why Ben Bova is one of science fiction's all time greats, as he delivers an exhilarating tale that will please his fans and those readers who relish outer space stories. The story line is fast-paced, loaded with action, and makes life on Ceres and elsewhere in the Asteroid Belt feel authentic in an everyday sense. Though Martin appears a bit extreme as a maniacal industrialist, he and the other key cast members remain as strong as they did in the entertaining first novel, THE PRECIPICE. Readers will enjoy this outer space adventure. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: High on action, low on character development
Review: I read THE PRECIPICE along with THE ROCK RATS back to back. I must say I should have waited until the final book comes out and read them back to back to back. THE ROCK RATS picks up directly where THE PRECIPICE ended, Dan Randolph is dead, Lars and Amanda married, Pancho Lane on the board of Directors of Astro Corporation and Martin Humphries all [angry]. Humans have established a port out in the asteriod belt and Lars and Amanda have begun a life together out there. Soon Humphries puts a diabolical scheme into place to send Lars over the edge with jealousy and thoughts of revenge and at the same time, assuming control of the Belt for himself. I enjoyed THE PRECIPICE much more than THE ROCK RATS. The interactions between Dan Randolph, Pancho Lane and Humphries was much more enjoyable in THE PRECIPE. Of the main characters in THE ROCK RATS, I found Humphries to be the only interesting one. In terms of plot, the story is exciting, with lots of action. The only problem was after reading VENUS a couple of years ago, I knew that Lars Fuuchs would survive the book. Let's hope Pancho Lane figures into the third book more, she is a much more interesting character any of the "Rock Rats." I haven't read too many of Bova's novels (MARS, VENUS, JUPITER and this series) but I will dedinitely check out the MOON books.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry, It doesn't measure up
Review: I've been a fan of Ben Bova for years, but Rock Rats doesn't measure up to his other novels. Rats was very disappointing, indeed. None of the characters are well-devoloped. Most of the asteroid miners are so dumb that they shouldn't be allowed to pilot spacecraft. And the chief badguy, the would-be monopolist Martin Humphries, wouldn't have lasted a day at Enron or Worldcom. The characters just blunder along from one silly encounter to the next. And the dialog is only one step above "Plan Nine From Outer Space". Seriously, did Ben Bova really write this novel? Or is he ill and the publishers hired a ghost writer?
Rating:
Summary: "Dallas" in space
Review: Martin Humphries continues in the role of the "man you love to hate", acting as a late-21st Century "J. R. Ewing", in this 2nd installment from the "Asteroid Wars" trilogy.
This book is a definite improvement over the first from the series ("The Precipice"), in almost all areas. While the science is still a bit sketchy, and there are actually less climactic moments in this book than the first one; this book is more consistant, and the story holds together better than the first book; which had the idiotic "invisible suit" gimmick that was thankfully left out this time around.
If the author could somehow steer away from the original silly premise of mankind-caused global catastrophic environmental upheavals, these books would rate much better. The "Greenhouse Cliff" premise is silly enough (and thankfully was not brought up much in this book, as in the last), but the implied idea that mankind's "follies" could somehow cause ongoing and massive earthquakes is simply ridiculous.
Rating:
Summary: When you set out to create a monster...
Review: Some people aren't going to like it!
I found it to be the defining book of the series so far.. Lars IS a wretch.. Amanda IS a whiny thing in some ways but oh... the setup for what looks like to come.
Those that read Venus will recognize the 'jump or be damned' Lars that is to come years later.. not a fun read but a good Bova!
Rating:
Summary: Slightly better than The Precipice
Review: The second book of The Asteroid Wars is slightly better than the first, primarily because there's more action, but it suffers from the same flaw as the first, namely characters that just aren't that interesting. I'd put Bova in the same general class as Tom Clancy: good when writing about hardware, but unable to write characters with any real depth. If you want to read a good book by Bova, start with Jupiter or Venus which focus much more on science and hardware than this book.
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