Venus [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Ben Bova (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton First Edition; 1st edition (April 1, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 031287216X
• ASIN: B0006H0GYC
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,637,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More soap opera than science fiction, May 19, 2008

By 

Christopher Hivner (Dallastown, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Venus (Hardcover)

Martin Humphries, a hedonistic and cruel billionaire lost his favorite son to the planet Venus. Alex's remains still lie somewhere on the surface of the planet. Martin offers a $10 billion prize to the person who goes to Venus and returns with his son's body. At the same time he cuts off his other son, Van, whom he detests. With no source of income, Van decides to go after the prize, having a ship built and gathering a crew. Since it's still his father's money paying for the ship, Van has to take a captain of his father's choosing. Then he finds out that there will be competition for the $10 billion as his father's hated rival Lars Fuchs is also going to Venus. After a disaster on his ship, Humphries ends up on Fuchs' craft where a revelation shakes up Humphries fragile world. Despite everything, he and Fuchs continue to search for the remains as they battle creatures they have discovered living in the sulphuric acid clouds of the planet.

For me, Venus was too much about the characters and their relationships and not enough about the planet Venus. I expected more science and got a soap opera. Another problem for me was that I hated all the characters. I didn't care whether any of them survived or not. Even the main character Van Humphries was whiny and unmotivated. He grew up some during the story but not enough for me to care about him. In the end I wished Venus had been more about Venus.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very predictable story, March 29, 2006

By 

Tim's Wife (Birmingham, Alabama) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Venus (Hardcover)

Was Bova even trying with this one? When he is good, he is excellent, but he wasn't good with this book. You can guess the ending soon after reading the beginning. I suppose the only unique thing about this story was having the hero fall in love with the wicked captain's cloned "daughter" of herself, but even that wore thin halfway through the story.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected...., January 28, 2006

By 

Carrie (Cortland, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Venus (Hardcover)

This is my first Ben Bova book. I can see from the comments that I have a lot more of his books to read. I thought it was enjoyable and appreciated the science fiction aspect in that it wasn't hard to imagine the life the characters lead. I would have liked it to last longer so we could see if the "frozen" guy wakes up!