Customer Reviews

Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus

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In this third novel in the Lucky Starr series (originally published under the pseudonym Paul French), the hero and his partner, John Bigman Jones, travel to Venus to discover why another Council member has been declared a traitor and to investigate a number of unusual occurances. In so doing, they discover a telepathic species that can control the actions of others as well as a plot to gain power. Asimov, in an introduction written in 1978, apologizes for the scientific inaccuracies that had come to light since 1954. In the book, Venus is a water world with a carbon dioxide atmosphere (as was believed in 1954). Later studies and probes have shown that this second planet in our solar system does indeed exhibit a "greenhouse effect" with a carbon dioxide atmosphere (approximately 96% CO2 and 3% nitrogen with a small fraction of other gases). But, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is about 94.5 times that of Earth's. Interestingly, there are at least four distinct cloud or haze regions in the atmosphere. In some of these regions, it appears that there are aerosol particles consisting of sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide! The surface of the planet appears to have been dominated by volcanic conditions and is definitely not a water world. But, Asimov was accurate for 1954 and it is a good adventure story for teenagers.

Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus / 1421049260

I enjoy Asimov's Lucky Starr series very much, but this novel is definitely my favorite. I particularly love the "Sherlock Holmes meets Space Opera" feel of the series, right down to tall, wiry Starr/Holmes and his beefy, obtuse sidekick Jones/Watson.

The plot of "Oceans of Venus" follows the usual-yet-delightful Lucky Starr mystery format. Something is quite wrong at the lovely underwater station on Venus -- Lucky Starr's friend and fellow councilman has been accused of serious crimes, and the Venusian settlers are behaving very oddly. Can Starr solve this mystery under the sea without being drowned or crushed to death by the ocean's immense pressure?

The details of Venus, though in retrospect wrong, are delightful to see here in Asimov's vivid writing; it's extremely interesting to see how science has marched on and what it has learned in the meantime about Venus' surface and climate. The fictional Venusian ocean is beautiful and exotic, and will draw the reader in instantly with its rich, vibrant life -- it's almost a shame, really, that Asimov's original vision didn't pan out to fit with the facts as we know them now.

I truly love this novel as a wonderful nostalgic treat on a rainy day. If you like scifi and Sherlock Holmes and haven't been introduced to the beauty of Lucky Starr, definitely check this novel out. I only wish it were available in eBook form.

~ Ana Mardoll

When I lived in Los Alamos, NM, in 1956/7 I read all the Asimov SF books for children published under the pseudonym "Paul French" (mas o menos). Even though the Space Age quickly dated these books by providing information which, for example, rendered the vision of oceans on Venus as impossible... it was fun to read at age six and undoubtably contributed to my career selection. Eventually, I expect to find another copy of this book and the others, just to time travel back to a simpler time, when 'high tech' meant fluoride in the toothpaste.