Customer Reviews

The Return

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

 

 

THE RETURN covers techno thriller territory familiar for readers of ENCOUNTER WITH TIBER. Many of the same elements are in both hard science-fiction novels: a family involved for generations in spaceflight, a divorced couple driven apart by the demands of aeronautics, a disaster aboard an American space shuttle, an emergency on an orbiting outpost, bad guy communists. Some ideas are identical: realistic rocketry, an evaluation and projection of the next decade of manned exploration, ShareSpace as a advocate for civilian space travel, the struggle for the soul of the space program. Some plot devices are new: a courtroom drama, an international nuclear incident, and covert operations. The result is something of a storytelling salad - a little of everything is thrown into the bowl, and it's all good for you. After a slow start, RETURN becomes a quick, exciting read, with technical details explained in simple terms and characters given human dimensions.

But unlike TIBER, which literally spanned time and space in first person narratives, Return follows a more constrained literary approach. Only three narrators are used, childhood friends who have drifted apart and reunite as adults. As a result the overall scope of RETURN is less grand than TIBER, but certainly more readable. Aldrin is at his best with the details of the space exploration business, with the lift capabilities, PR coups, long hours, and exhilaration and exhaustion. Barnes does an outstanding job in taking Aldrin's space strategies and spinning them into the story, around the high cost of machines and the higher costs to men and women as marriages fail and friendships are sacrificed. The authors are unique in their qualifications to comment on the current state of the space program and to speculate with fictional events on what politics or profit-margins will be prophetic.

There have been crises large and small to test the confidence and commitment to an American space program: the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 "successful failure," the Challenger explosion, the troubles of the Hubble Space Telescope, the problematic space stations Skylab, Mir and ISS, the disappearance of Mars probes. These historical hardships lend credence to the reaction surrounding the untimely tragedy in chapter two of THE RETURN -- the death of basketball superstar MJ on orbit. Our protagonist, former astronaut Scott Blackstone and CEO of ShareSpace, is set up to take the blame. In short order, Scott is fired and sued by MJ's mother for $1 billion, while a nation grieves a slain celebrity and debates the risks of the conquest of space. The "Citizen Observer" program was to bring Americans from all walks of life along on selected shuttle missions, so that schoolteachers, shop mechanics and newscasters who dreamed of flying could go where senators, Saudi princes, and Scott Blackstone have been. There are those who do not want it to succeed for a variety of reasons: some sinister, some short-sighted. When no legal eagles will mount a defense for Scott, his older brother Nick pulls strings at aerospace company Republic Wright to dig deeper lest the well get poisoned for any rocket builder. This brings Nick back into contact his childhood clique of Eddie Killeret, now at competitor Curtiss Aerospace, and Scott's ex-wife, attorney Thalia "Thally" Pendergast. Scott, Nick, Thally and Eddie are preteen pals who dubbed themselves the Mars Four, vowing to get to the red planet by the year 2019. Nick hires Thalia to represent Scott and works surreptitiously to re-unite the couple as a family with their 10-year-old son, Amos. But the family's safety is threatened by anonymous threats, mourners, sabotage and security breaches. When a preliminary NASA report would acquit Scott, a cover-up begins that culminates with a communist Chinese conspiracy detonating a proton bomb. The bomb unleashes enough hard radiation to fry every satellite in low-earth orbit, including the International Space Station. A daring rescue mission by the Mars Four would not only save the ISS astronauts, but also an aggressive space program, and American idealism itself. THE RETURN concludes on a note of hope for a return to Apollo-era fervor space exploration.

The first chapter of this book is AWFUL: a press conference with a smug first-person narrator just cramming back story down our throats. But it really does pick up after that, although I wasn't the least sorry to see one insufferably perfect character die in chapter two. After that, though, it really does get moving nicely, and by the end you do share Aldrin's enthusiasm for getting us back into space. As I said, a slow start but ultimately a worthwhile book --- and perhaps the most beautiful book I've seen in a while, with a transluscent dustjacket overtop of a glossy hard cover.

"The Return', the second colaboration between John Barnes and Buzz Aldrin doesn't quite work as well as the first. This one is more of a thriller than a sci-fi book. In this book, a former astronaut named Scott Blackstone heads up a company trying to make space more accessable to everyone. He sends up a celebrity named Michael James, who is really a Jordan with a name change and a height change. James is killed by a freak accident, or so everyone thinks. Back on earth, Scott is sued by the family of the basketball star, and he ends up being defended by his ex-wife, who is the only one willing to take up his case. Meanwhile, his brother tries to finish a new type of rocket that doesn't need those detachable boosters. Soon, they all find themselves in the midst of an international plot, as a powerful nuclear bomb is set off in the atmosphere, and it is up to the Blackstones to rescue some astronauts stranded in the I.S.S(International Space Station). O.K read.

This story from Buzz Aldrin reads almost like an alternate US space history - one in which the government allowed private business to take up the space tourist business. What makes this story a little more poignant is that the space shuttle Columbia places a significant role in the story. The pace keeps the reader flipping from page to page, and the storyline makes you want to believe that this type of R&D is really happening in the private sector. My only gripe is that Aldrin could have been a little more creative in creating one of the main civilian characters instead of simply using a caricature of Michael Jordan.

It's a shame - the authors have a great SF drama here, solidly based in hard science. This story could have happened, and the insight that Mr. Aldrin has into the aerospace field really shines here.

As a fan of John Barnes' work, I was expecting better writing, though. The characters all have the same voice, and it's coming from behind a cardboard cutout - a reader, presented with a couple of paragraphs of the narrative that don't show detail of the characters situation will not be able to tell which of the three first-person characters is being presented - and will have a difficult time really caring.

It's worth a read - it is, after all, a good tale, and particularly interesting to the people for whom the space program's failure to launch is distressing. But people who have read Mother of Storms by John Barnes should be warned that the characters do not become people here. The central characters remain monotone cardboard cutouts, and the secondary characters show even less personality. Mr. Aldrin's expertise shines here - Mr. Barnes' does not.

I'd hoped for better - perhaps a flaw in my expectations. I've read considerably worse, though - keep your expectations down, and look past the flaws, and you'll not regret that you picked this one up.

Although somewhat light in detail of characters and plot, "The Return" is a fine read of what the U.S. Space Program COULD be leading to. The ideas and dreams of one of America's Finest show, in a well thought out, suspenseful tale of International intrigue that leads from Low Earth Orbit through the morass of the Media and the National legal system, to the intricate spiderweb of Worldwide interagency espionage and skullduggery!
An excellent means of entertaining oneself on a weekend away from it all, at home or on vacation, or sending self off to one's own Dreamland!

I picked up Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes' _The Return_ from a remainder table for $.99. It deserves a better fate than that!

Aldrin, a famed astronaut, and Barnes, an established writer, team up here for the second time to tell a story that is interesting, entertaining, important and timely. As I write this, NASA has announced yet another delay in getting our patched-up space shuttles flying again. While robotic spacecraft are sending back new discoveries from Saturn every day, our ability to send humans into space is languishing. Aldrin, of course, is a strong advocate for the human exploration of space, and _The Return_ is an enjoyable way to follow his thinking in the form of a reasonably dramatic, fun-to-read story. It's a quick read, it makes you think, and it has a happy ending. What more could you ask for?

Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation_, and _Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome_.

I really wanted to like this book. Space travel, near-Earth exploration, Buzz Aldrin--what's not to like? Unfortunately, the story itself is dull and heavyhanded, an extended essay on the need for a continued US presence in space. The characters are one-dimensional, the major characters speak as though they're reading voiceover for a not-very-well-made documentary, and the plot itself is borderline plausible. I'm rather glad I bought this for $1 used.

The story, clearly fiction, partially quaint, provides insight into important aspects of the space industry and the thought processes needed to develop and prepare for future exploration. It a nice set-up story for the future settlement by humans on places like Mars. The technological story line in The Return gives the hint on how this is actually all going to happen within the nearer future (2019 was mentioned, even though, in my personal opinion, 2033 is more likely). It doesn't matter that MJ is a lightly veiled caricature of a well-known superstar, or that a country and a person are identified as evil. It is important that the issues are identified; family relationship are inextricably intertwined into every reality, private versus public funding of space tourism needs to be carried out, space law and liability issues do need to be addressed, public relations needs to be handled, the dreams of youngsters need to be re-established. This is a story whose technical tidbits become fun and, upon reflection, important for open discussion.

The Return, by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes is a well-written, captivating techno-thriller that should have topped the best-sellers lists.