Customer Reviews

Mercury

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Mercury (2005) is the fourth SF novel in the Planet Novel series, following Saturn. In this novel, Mance Bracknell was exiled from Earth when the Sky Tower that he constructed split at the geostationary level and the lower portion fell on the planet. Coming down to the west of its base at Quito, the tower wrapped around the Earth, with the far end coming down into the mid-Atlantic. Over four million people were killed as it fell.

During the trial, Mance was desolate, blaming himself for the disaster. He became agitated when Elliot Danvers, the New Morality minister at the site, stated that he had reported something like nanomachines being used to construct the tower. Then he became angry when his associate Victor Molina implied that Mance had ignored warnings about this new construction method.

Years after exile to the Belt, Mance learns from Danvers that his fiancee, Lara Tierney, had married Molina. Later he discovers that the Yamagata Corporation had sabotaged the tower. He becomes obsessed with plans of vengeance on Danvers, Molina and Yamagata. After his ship is destroyed by Yamagata assassins, Mance alters his name and face, opens a construction consulting company on Selene, and looks for an opportunity for revenge.

This novel is a study of ambition, vengeance and jealousy as well as loyalty and atonement. The three targets are brought together on Mercury with Mance, in his new identity, setting the stage. First Victor is led to believe that there is life on Mercury and then the plot unfolds.

Recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space ventures, ambition and betrayal.

-Arthur W. Jordin

After reading numerous blurbs about how Ben Bova's novels were a return to the "hard" science fiction popularized by Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke (my personal favorite), I have to say I was really let down by this book. While the science may be more or less sound, the fiction leaves much to be desired.

The main problem is that Mercury is essentially a story about betrayal and vengeance that, almost as an afterthought, happens to take place on or around the planet Mercury. The main revenge plot is spelled out for the reader early on, so there's no real mystery and only a minor bit of suspense to keep the story moving.

Other reviewers have stated that the book is not Bova's best, and I might be willing to give him another try. Hard sci-fi has been on life support (or maybe suspended animation?) for years. I'm just grateful that, as of this writing, we still have Arthur C. Clarke alive and still writing.

Mance Bracknell is the chief engineer on the Sky Tower in Quito, Ecuador - a construction mega-project which will lift payloads to the altitude of geosynchronous orbit via elevator at a cost of pennies per pound instead of the current cost of hundreds of dollars if the load is lifted by standard rocket launch into orbit. But when the tower collapses killing over four million people and causing untold billions of dollars of property damage in a globe-girdling disaster, Mance Bracknell is found guilty of negligent homicide and exiled for life to a criminal penal colony in the asteroid belt. After a serendipitous encounter with an injured scientist fleeing for his life in which he learns the Sky Tower's collapse was the result of terrorist sabotage, Bracknell escapes and wends his way to a scientific outpost on the planet Mercury where he plots his revenge.

The good news is that "Mercury" is a soundly entertaining story that reads like a blockbuster five-star motion picture screenplay. The elements are all there - disaster, a love triangle, explosions, terrorism and sabotage, murder, the inscrutable Oriental tycoon, jealousy, hatred, suicide, right wing fundamentalist religious groups, mobs, courtroom trials and prisoner riots! The bad news is that the science and the setting of the book in the asteroid belt and on the surface of the hostile planet of Mercury is all but incidental to the plot. I can't help but feel that Bova had a plot in mind. All he actually needed to force fit that plot into the "Grand Tour of the Universe" theme was a planet which had virtually no chance of harboring life forms at any stage of development. Mercury fit the bill so Mercury got selected!

There is some inescapable science to be sure which is reasonably well done - a passable explanation on the geometric structure of bucky-ball molecules; the distinction between slow inertial coasting routes or high speed accelerated routes for interplanetary travel; the idea of a space elevator; the unique mechanics of Mercury's orbit that causes a false dawn, a brief retrograde sunset and then a return to full day - but, if you're looking for the "hard" in "hard sci-fi" at the level that Bova achieved in Mars or Venus, for example, you're doomed to be disappointed. On the other hand, if a fast-paced easy reading brain candy tale in the style of Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, or Irving Wallace tickles your fancy, then you're in luck. "Mercury" will definitely work for you.

Provided you adjust your expectations appropriately, a recommended easy going read for a few days!

Paul Weiss

Okay, I'm type A compulsive. I've been a Bova fan since Heinlein died; while he is a bit less political now than he was in the 80's and 90's, Bova has also become more predictable.

In trying to do the kind of future history saga others have attempted (Asimov most successfully, I think), Ben seems to have gotten a bit tired with this one. The plot echoes several of the previous ones; character development is kind of lacking. The hard science part is not new; there's quite a bit of repitition from some of the previous planetary stories in the series.

I got the sense he wrote this one becauise he felt he needed to; I guess "Neptune" and "Pluto" will follow (well, maybe not Pluto since it seems to have lost planetary status). And I'll read them because I'll want to finish the series. But this is not thought-provoking, and at best is very light summer time reading in the backyard hammock, or maybe airport reading while waiting for the delayed plane to eventually take off.

(By the way, how come there never seem to be delays in his flights?)

Ben Bova trots out some very standard sci-fi devices in Mercury. With an appreciated nod to Arthur C. Clarke, we've got a sky-tower. We've got the whole, asteroids/outer planets as penal colonies going. Lots of global warming and climate change mixed in. All-in-all, it's hard to find an original bit in here.

Even less original is the overall theme, which isn't even really sci-fi. The Sci-fi elements just serve to prop up a very weak love triangle and revenge plot. The characters are shallow and one-dimensional. We know very little of the female love interest in the story who is worthy of such passion from two men that results in their ludicrous jealous and retaliatory behavior. The Japanese characters are bad stereotypes as is the main religious character and all the behavioral aspects attributed to religion and politics in the book.

So, why not a lower rating than 3 stars? Well, despite the overbearing anti-religious preachyness, the book doesn't take itself too seriously. Given that it's part of a series that seems determined to explore every planet, I didn't expect much from it and it basically delivered on that premise. It's also short and faced paced and any time dealing with less than stellar material, I'll upgrade the rating for something that at least gets over fast.

Generally, I don't read much series-based fiction any more. This is a good example why. It reads like the author or an assistant cranked this out in a few weeks, it's just another product in the series, not really intended to be high art.

Ben Bova seems to have come, by default, to "own" the solar system the way that Bradbury came to "own" Mars in the 50s and 60s (the way that Burroughs came to own Mars in the decades preceding Bradbury). Mercury is a deftly written adventure that never does let up and even shows Bova stretching artistically. His plotting is very tight and he even uses flashbacks efficiently, something that he rarely does. If there is a downside to the book, it's that many of his characters have appeared in other books and might not be all that familiar to the casual reader. But Bova doesn't rely on any earlier novel in order to build this book. (You may want to go back and read about the Asteroid Wars after Mercury, though.) I have liked all of the Grand Tour books except Saturn. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is missing their "hard science" in science fiction. I'm hoping, though, that Bova will get to Pluto one of these days. I'd love to see what he'd do with that.

Mance Bracknell had a dream--a sky hook, an elevator reaching from Earth's surface to geosynchronous orbit--and beyond. Such an elevator could transform the economics of space. Rather than costing hundreds of dollars per pound carried into orbit, material could be lifted for pennies. With bucky-ball materials, such a sky elevator could finally be built--and after years of work, Mance was project director for first nearly complete system, engaged to a beautiful woman, and at the verge of achieving everything. Then the sky elevator fell, millions were killed in the fall, and Mance was ruined. A decade later, like the Count of Monte Cristo, Mance is back--seeking revenge for those who caused his destruction--and seeking the return of the woman he loved.

After years in a monastery, Saito Yamagata too has a dream--giving mankind the stars. By planting solar collectors near the sun, Yamagata believes he can dramatically increase the efficiency of solar power collection. That will certainly help with Earth's never-ending demands for power, but it will also provide the energy needed to send ships out of the solar system, winging for Alpha Centari--and beyond.

Back on Earth, the conservative religious movements that took over after global warning destroyed much of the planet's infrastructure fear recovery and wealth. Stopping the sky tower, the solar collectors, any trip to the stars is a key part of their agenda.

Author Ben Bova creates a powerful retelling of the classic Monte Cristo revenge story. It's easy to sympathize with Mance as he attempts the destruction of the truly evil people who ruined his life, who killed millions, and who denied humanity its best reach for space. Yet Bova reminds us that destruction, whatever the cause, carries a heavy price.

I've been disappointed by some of Bova's recent works, but he pulls everything together in MERCURY. Interesting characters, complex motivation, fascinating science, and real social themes add up to a compelling story. Highly Recommended.

I'm a big Ben Bova fan, ever since I first read Mars. I love his hard science settings and his deeply flawed central characters that you still end up rooting for. Sadly, Mercury isn't his best work - when I reached the end I felt vaguely dissatisfied due to several fundamental problems:

1. The book lacks a "hero" figure. None of the main characters are likeable, or even interestingly loathsome. Although you feel some sympathy for Mance, his character is too one-dimensional for you to really care about.

2. The location is almost an afterthought, save the inevitable heat-death at the end, but it could easily have been set in Death Valley and achieved the same ends. Mercury is not developed as a decent backdrop and most of the book is set elsewhere.

3. The key plotline - Yagamata's desire to reach the stars - is barely touched on. The actual mechanics of how he planned to get there is vaguely intimated, but then he's killed off before he even gets close to his goal, so the blurb on the back of the book is slightly misleading.

4. The book ends with no real resolution with a lot of loose ends flying around. I know in real life things are rarely wrapped up in a neat little package, but by the last page the "main" character is dead, along with the only visionary character in the book. The sole (barely developed) female character finds she's trapped in a sham marriage to a man responsible for her true love's downfall, four million people have been murdered in a horrific case of industrial sabotage, the real culprits have got away scot free but we just don't CARE. The entire novel adds very little - if anything - to the Grand Tour arc.

Love your work, Ben - but you're much better than this.

"The rim of the slowly rising sun was like molten lava...." is just one of the hackneyed cliches you will encounter in this novel. I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrators kept it somewhat engaging. I don't think I would have finished it otherwise.

This was my first Ben Bova novel. From what I had heard of him, I was expecting some hard Science Fiction a la Arthur C. Clarke. Science? Maybe a little, when Mercury was described near the beginning. Fiction? I was actually hoping to hear about what life would be like on Mercury. Very little of that too. It was mostly a lame, predictable, love-triangle soap opera with laughable characters. That is, for the male characters. The only female character that had a name seemed to exist only so there would be a triangle. There were a few other female characters mentioned here and there, but none of them had names or a life outside of the paragraph in which they existed. I re-checked the copyright date because I was hearing the level of sexism that existed in the science fiction of the 50s or 60s.

I have overlooked the presence of realistic female characters in other science fiction in the interest of reading a good story. I didn't find a good story here or anything at all to recommend it. Just some very well-worn themes from romance novels set against the backdrop of a planet that played a very minor role in this drawn-out, tedious, and trite story. Perhaps if you are a Ben Bova fan or a reader of romance novels, you will like this. Otherwise, my advice is to stay far, far away.

The story got maudlin to the point that I refused to finish it. I don't like soap operas. I knew better than to pick this up. From now on I'll listen to my inner 'don't go there'. It's not the book, it's me.. nah, it's the book