Customer Reviews

Threshold

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eric Flint has another very good novel on his hands. Not outstanding, but very good. Easily worth 4 stars. "Threshold" is the second
book in the "Boundery" series. It would be a good stand alone novel, but it will be easier for you to get into the story if you read
"Boundery" first.
The basic story is not new, it`s been done several times before. Alien artifacts from a long ago visit have been discovered around
the solar system and the race is on to find more as well as to understand the aliens and their technology.
The book is an odd mixture of science fiction, hard science (with a few liberties taken), political cloak & dagger, adventure, and
humor. That sounds like a strange combination, but Flint & Spoor put it all together into a fun, enjoyable read that that keeps
you turning the pages.
The book is well written and the characters are fairly well developed. Maybe not as well developed as they could be, but as much
as you could hope for without the book being a lot longer and slowing the pace of the story.
They do take a few liberties with the science in the book, but far less than most sci-fi stories do. There is nothing in the book
that would make the average reader shut down their brain to accept story and plot points.
All in all it`s a very good book that you will enjoy reading.

I have really enjoyed this series, by Eric Flint and Ryk Spoor. I like books that embrace history, archeology/paleontology and other sciences of history and move them into the future.

This book takes the ancient history found in the first book Boundary and moves us forward with an exciting story mixing science and adventure.

What I love most is that I can also buy a DRM free ebook version of this direct from the publisher BAEN Books for only $6.00 no need for a kindle only version as it can easily be loaded into the kindle.

"Threshold" is the sequel to "Boundary", taking place a few years after Boundary ends. It has the same cast of main characters that crash-landed on Mars in the opener, plus some new ones for our heroes to play against. The plot is pretty well described in the book jacket blurb or the Publisher's Weekly description on the Amazon page. A,J,, Helen, Maddie, Joe and Jackie still hold up well, and have their hands full in this very short (308 page) middle-of-a trilogy entry.

Although I very much enjoyed the geeky tech specifics of space travel and the solution of problems that can and do arise during the journey (as I did in Boundary), those looking more for thrills, chills and novelty might be a little disappointed by the emphasis on the (well-done) SF tech and lack of substantial plot advancement with respect to the ultimate goal of the space mission.

I should also point out that unlike Boundary, which can easily be read as a satisfying stand-alone novel, Threshold is NOT self-contained and terminates abruptly in a cliff-hanger. Given its brevity and the nature of the "ending", I am all but certain that Threshold is actually the first half of a much longer novel that could have (and probably should have) been published as a single work. But Flint and Spoor have me hooked, so I'll spring for part 2 when it is published.

Last but not least, the cover is MUCH better than the cover to Boundary.

JMT

This being a sequal, one really should read "Boundry" first - but it's not absolutely required, it just makes it easier to know many of the characters - and to follow their continued development.

that aside, in the book, both the originally tech developed in Boundry [by a private company] and the ancient tech found on Mars, lead to a new "Space Race" - pitting Our Heros against the US on one hand, and the European Union on the other, for the first crack at new places that could harbor more of the ancient, alien tech - a race involving various "undercover" spies, strange adapations of existing tech, and "pixie dust". sadly, almost no archeology in this book [which is why only 4 stars, instead of 5] - can only hope the next in the series picks up that slack

Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoors follow up to "Boundary" was a good solid read. It could work as a stand alone novel, but definately works better as the second in the series. The charactors are well developed, the action is fast paced and the ending leaves you waiting for the third installment in the series. Like many other books the premise of this one is ancient alien tech that gives man a leg up and a reason to shoot for the stars. It may be a well rehearsed topic, but there are enough twists and details to make this book worthwhile in my mind.

There were plenty of things I did like about the book, so it deserves at least 4 stars. The other 1 is to help offset the miserable, disaffected, moron who would rather pay more for a Kindle version than bother to go to Baen's website and buy it for less then have it sent to his kindle for 10 cents.

Seriously, I enjoyed it, and am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. And I didn't have to have a Kindle file to enjoy it on my EZReader.

This is the sequel to their earlier BOUNDARY, continuing the story of a private corporation, the Ares Project, that had found artifacts from an alien civilization on Mars and Phobos, including some that would prove very profitable. I hadn't particularly noticed it in the first book, but I just happened to be rereading George O. Smith's VENUS EQUILATERAL - a collection of novelettes from the 1940s about the scientists and engineers who worked on a communications space station at the L4 or L5 points of the orbit of Venus - as my current bedtime reading, and I was struck by the extent to which this book, and I think probably its predecessor, resembles that old classic. Obviously the science in VE has a lot of holes in it - for one thing, it has both Venus and Mars being habitable, and Smith didn't begin to imagine the explosion of computing power over the next 50 years - but it was reasonably plausible at the time it was written, and I imagine that the science in the "Boundary" series will have the same problem 50 years from now (which is roughly when it's set). And the Flint/Spoor collaboration can write a good bit better than Smith could, and this one is a novel where VE was a collection of connected novelettes, but the similarities are a lot stronger than the differences, I think. The plot proceeds in a very similar way - a technical problem arises; a group of highly competent scientists and engineers talk about it; one or more of them comes up with a bright idea that will solve it; they all buckle down and implement the idea; lather, rinse, and repeat. And if you like hard SF, and the characters are reasonably well-drawn, it can be a lot of fun to read. The Ares Project finds evidence of another alien base on Ceres, and comes up with a way to get there, where they find a much more intact base than the one on Phobos. They are followed by a much larger ship from the EU, which brings them additional supplies, but also is on an industrial espionage mission and manages to find evidence of another alien base on the Saturnian moon Encladus. There's some hostile action against the Ares group, but they end up chasing the EU ship and catching it near Jupiter - where a succession of disasters result in both ships being more or less disabled. As the book ends a mixed group - the six from Ares and about the same number from the EU - have landed on Europa and are faced with repairing the Ares ship (the EU survivors were just in a shuttle that doesn't have the range to get back to Ceres). They have the tools and the know-how to do it, if something else doesn't happen, along with enough supplies to last for a couple of years if it takes that long. I hope the third book in the series comes out soon, since I want to see how they make it back and what happens to them next.

I really enjoyed Boundary since it mixed just the right amount of mystery, speculative sci-fi, and tension (through accidents and political intrigue).

In Threshold, all of the main characters return for a second outing that mostly ditches the alien story for one involving more political aspects. The aliens take a definite back seat to the competition to reach a distant alien base in orbit of Saturn. This race, and the political pressures to succeed, leads to near complete disaster for both sides.

The story is quick and an easy read. Fans of A.J. will get to see him step up and reveal a ruthless and somewhat scary side. The boy has become a man. With one exception, even the 'bad' guys are shown to be honorable and are simply doing their best for their country.

Unfortunately, the novel glosses over events at the end of the first book and very much reads as 'filler' until the next novel in the series.

Despite that, it is entertaining and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Threshold (2010) is the second SF novel in the Boundary series, following Boundary. In the previous volume, A.J. discovered an alien base on Phobos. Then he located another base on Mars built by a different group of aliens. Several crew members from the Nike took the SSTO John Carter down to Mars to examine the site. Since Joe was onboard, the SSTO crashed on landing.

In this novel, Adric Jamie Baker is very well known in the imaging field. Lately, A.J. has been working with Fairy Dust, nanotech modules smaller than bacteria. He is now married to Helen.

Helen Sutter was a field paleontologist. Then she found the remains of a spaceship and an alien within a dig. She is A.J.'s wife.

Joe Buckley works for Ares Project. He is an old friend of Helen and married to Madeline.

Madeline Fathom Buckley is an intelligence agent for the US government. She also is the wife of Joe.

Nicholas Glendale was an old friend of Helen and then the spokesman for the Nike project. Now he is the newly appointed director of the Interplanetary Research Institute.

Jackie Secord is Chief Engineer on the IRI spaceship Noble. She is also an old friend of Helen.

Larry Conley had been a NASA astronomer/astrophysicist. Now he works for the Ares Project.

Bruce Irwin is from Australia. He is married and has one daughter. He had been the pilot of the Nike and then the John Carter lander.

Satya Gupta was a NASA scientist heading the NERVA project. Jackie worked for him on the engine design.

In this story, Madeline is recalled to Washington, but she doesn't want to leave. Joe points out that there other alternatives. Glendale offers her the job of Security Chief for IRI and Madeline immediately sends a resignation message to her director.

A.J. is spending time back on Earth dumping the worse of the Ares Project backers. This uses up most of their available funds, but gets a few jerks out of their hair. The steady supporters are still with them.

The Ares Project now has a 99 year lease on the alien Mars base. But launch facilities are becoming tight. A.J. calls Dr. Gupta and reminds him of a speculation made sometime back.

With the US distributing NERVA engines to the main space powers, the Space Development Committee of India is meeting to consider how to use these new resources. Gupta proposes the construction of a beanstalk -- a space elevator -- to move massive amounts of material into orbit at very small operational costs per pound. He has already gotten letters of intent from Tayler and the Ares Project.

IRI is building a spaceship with the NERVA provided to the UN. Nobel is a slightly different version of the Nike, using locally available materials. Bruce is appointed as captain of the vessel and Jackie is Chief Engineer.

Larry has been scanning the nanoplaques with apparent astronomical data. He discovers indications that the Bemmies had a base on Ceres. Ares and the IRI mount a joint expedition to the asteroid belt.

This tale takes the Nobel into the outer system. Joe has another accident and Helen is abducted by thugs. A.J. is growing up a little since his marriage, but he has one last fling of absurdity.

This tale has a tentative conclusion. The next installment is Portal. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Flint & Spoor fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interplanetary exploration, alien artifacts, and learned adventurers.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This book is a continuation of the story begun in the novel Boundary.

For me, most of Boundary was pretty slow, as was the first half of Threshold. My gripe with these two books is that there is too much extraneous verbiage that does not advance the plot. I found myself skimming entire pages to get back to where the plot starts to move forward again. Science fiction, like any other genre, is in essence a story. These books include too much non-story.

The characters often engage in light-hearted banter among each other for no significant purpose. There is also often too much "musing" by the characters, weighing alternatives, etc. at more length than is needed. They even stop for lengthy discussions during emergencies, which is absurd. However, I do applaud the writers for trying to give some depth to their characters, which much other sci fi is weak in. I don't think they were entirely successful at characterization, but they did OK.

Also, there is too much technical discussion about propulsion systems, space engineering, etc. I like hard sci fi, but I think there is too much geek-speak in the books at the expense of plot.

However, the last half of Threshold is full of page-turning chapters with lots of suspense. It finally picks up the pace and gets to be a good story. It's almost like it took the authors one and a half books to figure out how to write a good novel.

Overall, not great books but entertaining enough for lovers of space sci fi. These two books are apparently the beginning of a series. Now that the series seems to be on the right track I will be looking for future novels about these characters - and hoping for a narrative that continues to be lean and streamlined.