Customer Reviews

The Precipice (The Asteroid Wars, Book 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Precipice (2001) is the first SF novel of the Asteroid Wars series. In this volume, Earth has reached the greenhouse cliff, the threshold where the world's climate changes drastically in a very short time. Although the greenhouse effect had been hotly debated, the current evidence could not be rebutted. The icecaps were melting and storms tore savagely at human infrastructure.

Dan Randolph is one of the victims of the new weather patterns. Jane Scanwell died trying to rescue people stranded by the flooding of the Tennessee River. Dan had not known how much he loved her until she was no longer there.

Randolph is determined to alleviate the greenhouse effects as much as possible by moving industry into space and providing raw materials from the Belt. Only one asteroid has ever been brought to Earth in the past; of course, the operation bankrupted Sam Gunn, but it was successful. Now Dan needs a less expensive way to mine the Belt and Martin Humphries shows him such a method.

Lyall Duncan has developed a small fusion power source. Unlike most such sources, the Duncan fusion device is small enough to fit into an old cruise missile used as a test vehicle. The results of this test suggest that a large version would be capable of powering a manned vehicle to the Belt in record time.

Although Humphries has offered to underwrite the initial voyage, Dan just doesn't trust him. Humphries has made his billions by merging smaller companies into his Humphries Space Systems and Randolph's company, Astro Manufacturing, seems to be the old Humper's next target.

While Randolph tries to get other concerns -- public and private -- to fund the first fusion drive spaceship, Pancho Lane has been taken off her piloting duties and assigned, with Amanda Cunningham, to the new fusion drive project. Humphries has recruited her to spy on Randolph, but Pancho doesn't really know anything; besides, she has already confessed her extracurricular activities to Randolph, whom she is beginning to admire. Humphries, however, is still unaware of her new role as a double agent.

Randolph finally exhausts his list of earthside contacts and takes his case to the Moon. Douglas Stavenger, founder of Masterson Aerospace and leader of the Lunar succession from the old United Nations, is still chairman emeritus of Masterson and is government head of Selene. Stavenger has made full use of nanotechnology for maintenance of his body and thus looks much younger than Dan. As they talk, Randolph learns that Humphries has blocked any deal with Masterson by buying a majority interest in the company. Stavenger, however, points out than Selene is quite willing to partner with his company in the development of nanomachines to make fusion drive units.

This novel is one of many works in the Grand Tour universe. Most of the major players in this novel are also found in other unrelated stories. Moreover, three other novels are direct prequels to this work.

Bova has been writing Science Fiction for several decades and was editor of Analog magazine and fiction editor of Omni. Since 1992, he has been concentrating on the Grand Tour novels, with a common political background and an expanding technology. These novels relate the exploration and settlement of the Solar System, from Mercury to Saturn, using engineering solutions based on today's knowledge and speculation.

Highly recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interplanetary adventure, political intrigue and cutthroat capitalism.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Continuing the story of Dan Randolph, the hero of Ben's books Privateers and Empire Builders, I found this book to be very enjoyable. Ben Bova writes the clearest, most epic, and most believable near future fiction I've ever encountered. The Precipice is most interesting, though, because it combines storylines from many other books besides the Dan Randolph series, notably Moonbase and Moonwar, allowing me to become reacquainted with some characters I'd long forgot about. Also, Ben's book Venus alludes to the Asteroid War, and since The Precipice is just book one of a chronicle of the War, I'm going to be eagerly awaiting the next books.

Dan Randolph has spent his life in a failed attempt to save the earth from her own errors. Now, global warming has accelerated, the seas are rising, and starvation is a real threat. Worse, politics prevents the earth from taking full advantage of space technologies and Dan's company teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. When a rich, if crooked entrepreneur suggests using fusion ships to mine the asteroid belts, Dan sees a way to finally make a difference, or lose everything.

Set in a near-future earth, author Ben Bova presents a frightfully realistic view of how the world may go. In the face of obvious disaster, the Earth has changed--but not in always constructive ways. The dominant New Morality movement sees anything that changes the present as a threat, and Dan's old enemies unite to prevent him from achieving his dreams. Only by using forbidden nano-technology, and by relying on a wild pilot/thief, can Dan have a chance to achieve his dream.

Bova is a long-time master of science fiction and writes a smooth and convincing tale. Both Dan Randolph and space-jock Pancho Lane are well developed and motivated characters. Bova, however, missed a chance to move his novel up a notch by making villain Martin Humprhies one-dimensional rather than allowing him a misguided heroism of his own.

Unlike many other novels of the near-future dystopia, Bova believes that the heroic individual can make a difference, and that makes THE PRECIPICE an enjoyable read. The novel is the first of THE ASTEROID WARS series, but may be read independently.

Three Stars

I really wanted to give this book 3 1/2 stars. Why I chose 4 is that it seems to give a realistic view of the near future where the moon has been settled to the point where it is now an independent nation. The Earth is beginning the cataclysmic effects from global warming. Nanotechnology has evolved to new heights to the point where nanobots can be implanted into humans to enhance the immune system to the point where human bodies no longer grow old. Religious fanatics have banned all such persons from the Earth because they feel that eliminating natural death is tampering with G-d.

Dan Randolph (from some of Bova's previous novels) has become a do-gooder enterprenur who wants to build a fusion powered rocket and begin mining the Asteroid belt for the benefit of humanity. He is teamed with Martin Humphries, the prototypical "evil capitalist" who will provide the funding to make a great deal of money with the ultimate goal of double-crossing Randolph and taking his company.

Randolph plans to use two women pilots to fly his expedition, the tough as nails Pancho (her real name is Pricilla, but she will sic her snake on anyone that calls her that) and Amanda, who is a combination of looks and brains. Humphries has plans to make Amanda his third wife and wants to prevent her from flying to the belt, because of the danger involved.

Why I didn't rate this book higher is because the characters seem to be stiff and the male/female relationships are extremely boring.

I've enjoyed all of Bova's books that chronicle the exploration of our solar system. Compared to his other books, however, this one wasn't quite as interesting. The strength of his stories is always in the science. This story had more focus on characters, which he doesn't handle quite as well. If you liked Moonrise and Moonwar, this book is worth reading since it's the next step in the progression of that story, but if you're just starting with Bova, his books Mars, Venus, and Jupiter are much more entertaining.

As a disclaimer for my review, I'll mention that I'm trying to read all of the Grand Tour (17ish) books by Ben Bova in their chronological order - which is not the order they were written in. The Precipice is the eighth book in the chronological order and the first book of the Asteroid Wars, a four book series that takes place in the Grand Tour universe.

Like many of the Grand Tour books, The Precipice takes place a few years after the events of its predicesor, Moonwar. While I won't try to read the mind of Ben Bova, it appears to be the first book to really try to fuse the books that revolved around Dan Randolph (PowerSat, Privateers, Empire Builders) with those that revolved around Doug Stravenger (Moonbase, Moonwar). The Grand Tour universe is not a seamless environment, and this might affect the enjoyment of people who like their fiction worlds to be well controlled and precise. If you don't mind a little suspension of disbelief in terms of timelines and the questionable age of some of the people involved, read on.

In The Precipice, the Earth stands on the brink of collapse. Massive climate change has killed millions, the world is over populated and resources are stretched to the breaking point. Religious fundamentalist of The New Morality continue to strengthen their hold over national and international government bodies, creating a massive, often backwards bueracracy. Dan Randolph, CEO of Astro Corporation is near the end of the rope financially, as Astro's corporate profits continue to fall. However, when he is approached by a man with a solution (Humphries), he can't say no, even though he suspects Humphries is trying to gain control of Astro Corp and oust him from the board of directors. Humphries has developed a new engine that will greatly reduce transit time to the asteroid belt from months to weeks, making mining the vast metal, mineral and water resources there a real possibility, one that will not only bring in huge stacks of cash, but give the resource deprived Earth a chance to recover from the effects of runaway climate change. Randolph, Humphries and Doug Stravenger (as representative of the people of the new Moon nation of Selene) form a three way partnership to build a fusion drive space craft and test its capabilities to reach the asteroid belt, save the Earth, and make a lot of money.

There are several significant issue I had with The Precipice. First, it's just kind of boring. Perhaps it's because I'm on my 8th Bova book in a row, but The Precipice was like reading the most average parts of all seven of the previous Grand Tour novels. I've said this a few times in my reviews of The Grand Tour books, but it's just so very Ben Bova. Part love triangle, part hard sci-fi, part action thriller...except this time the love triangle is at its most infantile (Evil Humphries falls in love with beautiful Amanda, pilot of the Astro Corp ship going to the belt, who falls in love with geeky tertiary-character scientist...will Humphries risk Amanda's life just to make more money? Of course he will, he's the bad guy), the thriller is at its least thrilling, and the hard sci-fi provides just enough kick to make me turn another page (although I will say that the brief number of pages spent covering the exploration of a pair of asteroids are pretty cool). I don't like it when people accuse authors of "phoning it in" just to crank out a new book, but honestly, I can picture Bova sitting behind his word processor thinking to himself that no one will read more than a few of the Grand Tour books and that he can just keep writing the same three books over and over again.

Beyond that, one of the problems with the Grand Tour series of books is that, while the good guys always seem to win in the end, things on Earth keep getting worse. As is the case in PowerSat, Privateers, Moonbase, Moonwar, etc. our protagonists always come out ahead to one degree or another in the end, but starting with the next related book, things always get worse. Finally, as a techno-thriller, The Precipice just didn't have the thrill element that made previous Grand Tour books page tuners. While there is a tense moment here and there, it just never really came together to leave me eager for the climax, despite the fact that two long term Grand Tour characters die in this book.

The Precipice isn't horrible by any means, but in terms of its quality compared to other books in the Grand Tour series, it was pretty weak.

I recently picked this up after noticing the library had quite a shelf load of Bova. I'm glad I did and will get back to the rest of his works very soon. This is set in the near future where things have changed from what we know (global warming has happened, nanotechnology) but not enough to make it unrecognizable or far-fetched. The story involves the decision to start mining the asteroid fields in order to replace earth's deplenished resources. Characters include rich execs, scientists and spacers all vying for the opportunity to help mankind or line their own pockets. Looks like I've been missing out on a good hard SF writer. It's an omission I plan to rectify.

The Grand Tour is Dr. Ben Bova's series of books on the human exploration of the Solar System. This book is the first in a trilogy called The Asteroid Wars as human development reaches to the asteroids to get raw materials for space based manufacturing in the face of severe global warming. It is the story of the struggle between two wealthy individuals Dan Randolph (who we've met in several books) and Martin Humphries. These two characters are a bit simple minded. Randolph is the good guy, thinking of the best ways to save the Earth's economy. Humphries is the evil villian out only for himself.

One aspect of good science fiction is the science aspect that makes a prediction for the future that should be logically possible. At this Dr. Bova does an excellent job.

This recording runs for twelve hours, it is on ten CD's, read by Scott Brick, Amanda Karr and a cast of lessor characters.

For those of you who don't like Sci-Fi books (like myself) I urge you to try this one. I picked it up at the library by mistake and when I saw what it was about decided not to read it. BUT curiosity got the better of me and I did ENJOY it very much. As a kid I loved Flash Gorden but lost interest along the way. If you want good detail read the other reviewers who really understand the subject. I enjoyed the idea of living under the surface of the moon, the fast commutes betweenearth and moon and the idea of mining the Asteroid Belt for energy sources, That women were capable of piloting an exploratorytrip to the Belt (unauthorized ofcourse) had me thinking "Go Girl"just to prove it could be done.Ben Bova provided an excellent adventure and I think just maybe I will deliberately bring home another one of his books. Do give it a try if you have been avoidingspace travel or colonazation but remember there is always the bad guy waiting for you.

This was my first Bova book, and will probably be my last. I finished it only because I had "made it this far, so I might as well", and also because I was waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen involving some sort of action sequence. But no....there was nothing.
Though there are some positives: the science for the most part seems legit and interesting, although the extent of the negative impacts of global warming may be more speculation on Bova's part. (no political affiliation here, just my opinion!) Also, one or two of the characters was likeable at times(although most of them were quite annoying!)
For somebody to give this book a 5 is laughable! As some other reviewer noted, seemed more like a "soap opera" to me. In fact, all you need to do is change the cover, and you could put this one in the romance section! Oh and by the way, this guy has some serious sexual tension built up inside.