Customer Reviews

Empire Builders

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is really a unique novel. I don't recall reading anything by Ben Bova before this book. After reading this novel I decided that Mr. Bova wrote a good novel and I bought several more of his titles to see if he is consistent. Well, that is not the point of this review. This is a review of `Empire Builders' not Ben Bova.

What a really good novel this was. The protagonist Dan Randolf is a wonderful creation on Bova's part, as a previous reviewer noted. I don't know how much of the science involved in the book is realistic but it was written in such a way that I found it believable. The motives of the key players were logical and the plot made sense. What more can you ask for.

Amazon did an adequate job of giving the plot overview so I won't waste your time here with the same. I will only add that this novel succeeds in nearly every particular. As you are reading the novel you are constantly confronted with actions and reactions that are surprising to you, as the reader, but seem like the only logical event after reading them. A definite recommend on my part.

Rating System:
1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten
2 star = poor; a total waste of time
3 star = good; worth the effort
4 star = very good; what writing should be
5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others

STORY: From back cover - "Dan Randolph, has become Dan Randolph, empire builder. His staff has found evidence that the greenhouse effect has been gathering speed and that soon, Earth will be on the edge of the greenhouse "cliff". Millions will die unless humankind changes its ways immediately."
On the run from the world government and other forces, Randolph battles to regain all that he has lost and save the world at the same time.

MY FEEDBACK:
1) At first I was groaning at the thought of some extremist "tree-hugging" storyline. Yet Bova handles the subject matter VERY well without getting overly preachy.
2) Some nice plot twists and believable opposition established
3) A complaint (not the only one) is that the end seemed to get wrapped up a little too swift and nicely. It ignored some issues that normally would carry on a lot longer considering the "history" Bova built between characters and the world they live in.
4) The character of Dan Randolph was enjoyable to read and the people who help him at various turns are a nice mix to watch
5) The audio book reader does a good job and even had different voices for different characters, which I always prefer.

OVERALL: It was interesting and entertaining. The "hard science" of the book was ok...nothing spectacular. It is worth the effort if you don't have anything else pressing to read.

The best thing about this book is how Bova is able to please the entire political spectrum on the enviromental issues that are addressed in the book. Left wingers will be pleased that the plot includes pending enviromental catastrophe caused by humanity's excesses while right wingers will be pleased that the solution is more freedom, not less. Dan Randolf, the main character of the book, is the best protagonist Bova has ever created.

As a bit of background for my review, I am attempting to read all (currently 17) of the Grand Tour novels in chronological order (which is not the order they were published in).

Empire Builders is the 2nd (or 3rd, depending on which books one includes in the Grand Tour series) book in a long, loosely affiliated group of books begun with Privateers (or PowerSat) and takes place about a decade after the events in Privateers. Many of the main characters from Privateers are back for a return engagement, including protagonist Dan Randolph as the playboy CEO of Astro corporation and antagonist Malik, Russian council member for the GEC (Global Economic Counsel, responsible for all space industry regulation). Jane Scanwell, former president of the United States and on again/off again love interest of Randoph is also back, along with Randolphs Japanese allies in Yamagato industries.

While Bova is usually classified as a sci-fi writer, Empire Builders (and its chronological predecessors PowerSat and Privateers) could also fall into the category of near future techno-thriller. While there are sci-fi elements, most of the somewhat limited space/technical details in the book are possible in the present day. In Empire Builders, the world stands on the brink of ecological disaster and only Randolph and his nemesis Malik are initially aware. Malik insists that the only way to avoid the greenhouse cliff is to have the GEC take control of the "Big 7" space companies along with major energy corporation on Earth. Randolph is out maneuvered legally and forced to go on the run on both the moon and Earth as the Malik and the GEC take control of his company. However, to avert the threat of a greenhouse disaster, all will eventually have to work together against international crime syndicate intent on leaching funds and supplies away from the GEC in its attempt to avert disaster.

The characters and plot layout of Empire Builders should be familiar to anyone who reads Bova. Randolph is, despite being at least 50 years old, still a billionaire playboy, sleeping with a different super model every month. Malik is still the throw back to the old Soviet Union. Many of the female characters are beautiful but have slept their way into their current positions, although Empire Builders does include one prominent female role where the character has not slept with every male who bats an eye at her. Empire Builders, like many other Bova books, leaves me wondering who Bova is writing for. Does he want to be Dan Randolph, or does he think all his male readers want to be Randolph? While Empire Builders does show Bova's support of environmental causes, the characters are often cliche enough induce wild eye-rolling.

Also like many Bova books, Empire Builders introduced plot elements that seemed to have no purpose. For example, near the end of the book a sub-plot where an earthquake takes place in the Gulf of Mexico creeps in. If there were more of a tie between greenhouse/pollution issues and earthquakes, it might make more sense, but as it stands it's like having the last 30 minutes of the movie Armageddon spliced into your favorite movie in five minute chunks. It probably wouldn't ruin your favorite movie but you'd be left wondering what the heck it was doing there. Perhaps a massive hurricane would have been a better fit, as hurricanes have some probable ties to global warming.

Criticism aside though, Empire Builders had a great pace and there's rarely a dull moment. There might be one or two too many self-reflection moments in which one of the characters reflects on the dumb thing they just did and why they shouldn't have done it, but otherwise Empire Builders builds pace and plot into a real page turner that was, to use a cliché, hard to put down. For a book written nearly 17 years ago, Empire Builders feels only slightly dated and the technological bits seem well done and realistic. There are no sweeping plasma cannon battles in space, but we are given a look at what humanity might be capable of 20-30 years from now.

I'd recommend Empire Builders strongly as long as you don't mind a book that is not terribly deep, the tolerance to put up with a mildy misogynistic protagonist and the understand that in 2011 we know quite a bit more about global warming than we did in 1994.

This is really a unique novel. I don't recall reading anything by Ben Bova before this book. After reading this novel I decided that Mr. Bova wrote a good novel and I bought several more of his titles to see if he is consistent. Well, that is not the point of this review. This is a review of `Empire Builders' not Ben Bova.

What a really good novel this was. The protagonist Dan Randolf is a wonderful creation on Bova's part, as a previous reviewer noted. I don't know how much of the science involved in the book is realistic but it was written in such a way that I found it believable. The motives of the key players were logical and the plot made sense. What more can you ask for.

Amazon did an adequate job of giving the plot overview so I won't waste your time here with the same. I will only add that this novel succeeds in nearly every particular. As you are reading the novel you are constantly confronted with actions and reactions that are surprising to you, as the reader, but seem like the only logical event after reading them. A definite recommend on my part.

For those who like space opera, this will be a bit of a disappointment. The first two installments of the Grand Tour opus have remarkably little science, and instead focus much more on political machinations in a world dominated by the USSR (Privateers) and then by a a global economic organization which seems to be the target of organized crime. Throw in a bit of sex, some greenhouse issues (explained in a very elementary way), and you have quick, light reading. Suitable for a beach or subway ride, perhaps an airplane trip? But not Bova at his best.

The best thing about this book is how Bova is able to please the entire political spectrum on the enviromental issues that are addressed in the book. Left wingers will be pleased that the plot includes pending enviromental catastrophe caused by humanity's excesses while right wingers will be pleased that the solution is more freedom, not less. Dan Randolf, the main character of the book, is the best protagonist Bova has ever created.

This book, my first by Ben Bova, started out very well. Dan Randolph was an amusing character and the overall setting was interesting. Bova generally did a good job of detailing the Grand Tour universe and began to develop a sense of doom from the impending environmental crisis. However, ultimately, the book was let down by three problems: 1) Jane Scanwell was a terribly weak character, especially for who seemed to have been a master politician, and it was hard to understand why she appeared to hate Dan so much at the beginning; Kate Williams wasn't that much better; 2) the irrelevant submarine earthquake; 3) the ending simply degenerated into a feel-good Hollywoodian James Bond rip-off.

A good start, but ultimately disappointing and unsatisfying.

Everything in this novel is too simplistically told - the greenhouse cliff that could be avoided by a conversion within 10 years to all fusion engines, to Dan Randolph who double dammed and said rain don't make applesauce too many times for me. The characters of Fletcher and George were better drawn.

Give me Bova's Mars book.