Customer Reviews

Titan (The Grand Tour)

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

 

 

I've read all of the Planet Novels, and I was really excited to pick up Titan. However, I found the book a let-down. There are definitely some cool ideas in the book, and I like the hard science aspects, but the character development is so bad, it's laughable.

Every character in the story is a stereotype. You've got the stuntman who *must* go on that one last trip. You've got the slimy politician who does everything he can to control/manipulate others. The Head Scientist is nervous and on the verge of a nervous breakdown when his pet project goes awry. And let's not forget the slighted russian who will destroy everything just because he's a tool.

I like the occasional romance in a book, -- but I just couldn't get into the ones in Titan. The romances are a joke -- "Oh, do I stay with the woman I love, or go back to earth? Oh the humanity!" Or how about "How can I let the man I love go on one more mission?" Blech. And of course you have the stereotypical lovers not communicating well, and therefore so sad..

And don't get me started on the futuristic slang used in the book, which just consists of "talkin', thinkin' wonderin' etc" -- I didn't want to read "Yokel soap-opera in Space."

So why did I give the book a generous 2? Despite my dislike of the characters, the book was a fast, entertaining read, and the science aspect was cool.

Titan (2006) is the fifth SF novel in the Planet Novel Series, following Mercury, but is actually a direct sequel to Saturn, the third work in this series. In the prequel, Manuel Gaeta executes Leo Kananga for murder, attempted murder and torture. Malcolm Eberly, the newly elected chief administrator, then exiles Ruth Morgenthau and Sammi Vyborg as accessories to these crimes and as agents of fundamentalist groups plotting to take over the Goddard habitat.

In this novel, Pancho Lane comes to Goddard to reassure herself about her sister's health; Holly had been the subject of Kananga's torture and virtually every bone in her body had been broken. Luckily, Kris Cardenas had pumped her full of medical nanobots and she is healing nicely. Since she was already taking a torch ship to Saturn, Pancho invited a selection of VIPs from the news media and the International Consortium of Universities to accompany her.

The planetary scientists in the Goddard habitat send their first probe, Titan Alpha, to land on the largest moon of Saturn. All is well at first, but then the probe stops uplinking data to the habitat. Since the highest powers in the ICU are present within Goddard at the time, the chief scientist, Edouard Urbain, goes a little crazy at the failure.

Urbain puts his full staff on duty to search for the cause of the failure. The engineers confirm that the probe is still functional and that the uplink hardware is working well. Almost everybody on the team, including computer programmers, thinks the problem is software related. So many on the science staff are trying to diagnose the trouble that the planetary science operation center has to be covered by volunteers from other departments. Then the probe stops sending telemetry or anything else to the habitat and disappears from their screens.

Nadia Wunderly wishes to confirm her discovery that the rings are inhabited by living organisms, but all the resources are being used in the search for the probe. She asks Manny to travel once more through the rings in his special suit, but this time with sampling equipment; Manny refuses to go. Then she decides that the problem is really hers and she starts training with Manny's equipment. Unluckily, she hasn't the right talents and reflexes for the job and is unlikely to acquire enough experience in the available timeframe. So Pancho volunteers and is much better than Nadia, but she still needs a lot of time in the simulator.

Malcolm Eberly is having conniption fits over Pancho being in the habitat. He is sure that the former CEO of Astro Manufacturing is certain to run against him in the upcoming election for the Chief Administrator. He puts out feelers to determine Pancho's itinerary and receives ambiguous answers. Unfortunately, he also starts people thinking about the election and considering whether to run against Eberly, the incumbent.

Holly is visited by Hideki and Tamiko Mishima about decanting their frozen embryo and implanting it within Tamiko. Holly points out that the Zero Population Growth rule is still in effect, but the Mishimas wonder when the ZPG will be lifted. The more she considers the issue, the more Holly herself wonders why ZPG is still in effect. She asks Eberly and receives a null answer. So Holly decides to run against Eberly on the repeal ZPG platform. The women in the habitat are overwhelmingly on her side.

This story is typical of the author: some scientific speculations and lots of politics. The author is a master at extrapolating the effects of new inventions and concepts on human society and individual lives. The author also excels at portraying the motivations of politicians and this work is no exception. The ending even suggests the motivations of media commentators.

The author does seem to think that most scientists (and programmers) are wed more to their work than to their wives. Scientists and technologists do tend to be workaholics, but no more than the average executive. Of course, the chance for a Nobel Prize can focus anyone's attention.

Needless to say, Eberly catches the interest of the habitat residents with his plan to mine Saturn's rings. Manny takes up his venture suit to help Nadia, but Kris builds up a strong head of steam over her lover's reckless behavior. Raoul Tavalera refuses to pilot the transfer vessel and then believes that Holly thinks he is a coward; the resulting romantic squabble is classic adolescent behavior. Pancho and Jake Wanamaker -- former admiral, head of the Astro space navy, and Pancho's current bodyguard and lover -- decide to stay together at Goddard for a while, but then Pancho has a surprise relevation for Jake.

Highly recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure, political shenanigans and interpersonal relations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Titan is certainly better than its prequel "Saturn" in which we were treated to the political maneuvering aboard a space colony of 10000 people on its way out to Saturn. This one was more like an extremely tedious soap opera than a science fiction novel.

Titan is a bit but not a lot better. The space colony has now reached Saturn and the scientists on board send a sophisticated probe to explore Titan which immediately falls silent. In the meantime one of the scientists wants to go out to the rings of Saturn to confirm the discovery of life in the ring particles but this is extremely dangerous. Why you wouldn't just send an unmanned probe out there I don't know as we are after all talking about the year 2095! Eberly, the administrator of the colony, wants to mine ice from the rings to act as a source of income for the colony but this wouldn't be allowed on environmental grounds if there was life. It therefore becomes a race to verify the life finding while Holly, the main heroine, runs against Eberly in an election for the administrator position on a platform of removing the zero population growth restriction in the colony.

The main reason that this novel is an improvement on Saturn is that there is a bit of tension introduced as we try and understand what's happened to the probe and there is also some reasonable science. It's mainly typical Bova stuff though with the usual unbelievable characters having their teenage romantic interactions and the resolution of the dangling threads in the story at the end is pretty lame(hey if we can't mine the rings why don't we just mine passing comets?). I don't know if Mr Bova has ever met any scientists but the scientists I know do not behave the way they do in this book.

Not bad as a comic book story but it doesn't meet my standards as a good science fiction novel. Writers like Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton do this sort of thing much better.

The scientific concepts behind this were very interesting. I loved the probe, the nanomachines, and speculation about the nature of life on Titan.

The stories of human relationships on the habitat, however, were really cheesy, and the characters were exaggerated in a way that made me think of old, low budget westerns or comic books.

Despite this, there is one delightful surprise toward the end that made the reading experience worth it.

I enjoyed reading this novel -- good, light, summer kind of reading with a sci fi bent that is satisfying.

But weren't some of the plot lines just a bit too reminiscent of "2001: A Space Odyssey"? To wit:

(1) A computer malfunctions because of conflicting programming, which is mysterious and deeply frustrating to its creators and eventually leads the machine to attempt to kill humans (in 2001, HAL succeeded, whereas Titan Alpha does not).

(2) A mysterious race of extraterrestials has placed artifacts in the solar system that may be sending off a massive "we've been found, there's intelligent life here" signals (the obelisk and Jupiter in 2001; the nanomachines and Saturn's rings and the electromagnetic every-16-days pulse in the Bova series).

Because these are such core elements of the plotline, the result is that there's just a bit too much of a "been there, read that" feeling with "Titan." A fun read, but not much more.

It's funny how passionate readers can be. For some who didn't like this novel, you'd get the impression that the author has committed some sort of crime against humanity. Truth be told, TITAN is a fine adventure story and it kept me interested all the way through. It's true that TITAN is a sort of sequel to SATURN, but where SATURN bogs down in several subplots relating to the new theology that haunts the background to the Grand Tour novels, TITAN does not. This is one of Bova's strengths. When he is dealing with people working in space, he succeeds remarkably. He is less adroit in dealing with religion and its social causes and effects. This isn't a crime (though it's clear that some reviewers think it is). Religion isn't handled all that well in science fiction, but when it is (as in Blish's A CASE OF CONCIENCE, Miller's A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ and Del Rey's ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT) it's handled extraordinarily well. I found it hard to believe than any human in space (in the Grand Tour Novels) would let themselves be influenced or commanded in any way by a religious group on the earth. (I understand the fear of nano-technology by the people on the earth in these novels. Bova renders that real and palpable.) I just don't see humankind becoming more obedient to religious groups; I see just the opposite. But that's just me. This is SATURN's only failure. I couldn't believe that the religious zealots on the orbiting colony ship around Saturn could hold sway in a cultural climate where people are heading off to the planets.

Still, TITAN is an excellent book and I recommend it. (And you needn't, really, to have read SATURN). Bova is one of the most dependable authors in the science fiction field, a field that's slowly being taken over by the alternate-history novel (a form of fantasy, though no one wants to admit it) and the multi-novel saga which is designed only to make money.

The OTHER thing that recommends Bova's Grand Tour are the covers which are done by John Harris. He's one of the very best science fiction cover illustrators and a genuine artist. For no other reason than getting the Harris covers, I'd recommend Bova's books to you.

I'm usually not a fan of the SF genre, but Ben Bova's "Titan" kept me interested from start to finish with a fast moving novel, realistic possibilities, real human relationships, and lots of cliffhangers. I took it on a trip to Chicago, and spent so much bus and train time immersed in this book that I didn't see much of the neighborhood sights. The combination of Saturn's moon and ring exploration trips, the actions and thoughts of a lost Titan probe and the actions and dilemmas to retrieve its information, politics and elections of a 10,000 person outpost, interpersonal relationships and love interests, along with fine scientific plots and explanations make this book of short chapters hard to put down. There is truly not a boring part to this read - recommended for science guys not in love with normal SF.

This one shows Bova's direction to get us out of this neighborhood! If you've read his other stuff and know of the 'Artifact' the last chapter or two will really run a chill up your spine.

It's long but it takes time to setup the scenario!

Wonderful fun!

. . . Ben Bova is veering all over the map in the quality of novels currently being produced (from a high in "Mars" to an embarassingly pathetic low in "Venus".)

This effort, "Titan", is a direct sequal to the misnamed "Saturn" and it features (as one might expect) the giant moon of Saturn by the same name.

Ben Bova may be a decent Sci-Fi writer (and even, possibly, a competent scientist) but a social scientist he ain't -- and this novel, only marginally better than its prequal -- certainly demonstrates this.

As in "Saturn", the science takes a back seat to the socio-political machinations on board the giant habitat heading for the Ringed Planet. Most of the characters are flat and many are unsympathetic at best. The interpersonal relationship issues are utterly predictable and the social dynamics are typical to what one sees in an oversexed high school.

Nevertheless, the book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving room (of course) for more books in the series.

As an aside, Bova has, in the past, occasionally ("Mars", "Jupiter") introduced believable and sympathetic religious characters. Not in "Titan", though. Like "Saturn" before it, Bova seems to regard every person of faith as some sort of ultrafundamentalist zealot wacko. This does get tiring.

Despite religious bigots on earth, mankind continues to explore space. A large colony has been set up in Saturn orbit--the farthest settlement from Earth. A key part of the mission is scientific. Scientists have created a massive and intelligent probe to explore Titan, Saturn's giant moon. Another scientist believes she has detected some form of life within the rings that surround Saturn--despite the near-zero temperatures of deep space. A colony of ten thousand inhabitants, however, is not made up of scientists alone. So, when the probe goes silent, there are plenty who are interested in mining the rings of Saturn as a reliable source of that most precious substance--water. And colony chief executive Malcolm Eberly is quick to latch onto that politically popular position.

When Eberly blows off her questions about when to end the colony's zero population growth position, human resources director (and sister of retired billionaire Pancho Lane) Holly Lane decides to run against him in the upcoming election. She believes the scientists who claim there are life-forms in the rings Eberly wants to mine and is certain he's making a mistake. But Eberly manages to outmaneuver her at every turn. Even as the scientists recruit retired stuntman Manuel Gaeta to confirm the life-form in the rings (and maybe even to attempt a repair on the Titan probe), it seems that Eberly has worked the angles and that Holly faces certain defeat.

Author Ben Bova continues his exploration of a near-future when religious zealots of various faiths join together to control earth, forcing the creative and questioning into space. There too are scientists, exiled because their research contradicted faith, or because they experimented with nanotechnology in ways that the zealots fear.

The Titan probe, Alpha, may be a mechanical entity, but it is an interesting character nevertheless, and its inspection of Titan is a creative guess at what might actually exist on the solar system's only moon with a significant atmosphere. The command problem that leads to troubles is a bit simplistic, but nevertheless interesting.

Bova does less well with his human characters. Eberly is a cartoon-bad-guy, lying when he doesn't have to and offending those whose help he needs. Still, facing only inarticulate and disorganized Holly in an election, it's no wonder he's the odds-on favorite. Despite assistance from her retired-CEO-sister Pancho, Holly fails to predict even obvious political decisions and promises that Eberly will make, weakening her own position. Meanwhile, Holly is distracted by a love that might or might not be doomed as the engineer she loves hopes to return to New Jersey.

Flaws and all, TITAN moves right along with plenty of action and with enough scientific questions to appeal to serious Science Fiction readers. Following an old tradition of SF, Bova's writing is highly approachable, making TITAN the kind of story that will appeal to the young adult reader as well as to the veteran SF buff.