Mercury (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Saito Yamagata had to squint against the Sun's overwhelming glare, even through the heavily tinted visor of his helmet..." (more)
Key Phrases: geostationary level, using nanomachines, fifty cables, New Morality, Bishop Danvers, Dante Alexios (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in the same future universe as the author's asteroid series (The Silent War, etc.) and sharing such major players as the Yamagata Corporation and the religion of the New Morality, Hugo-winner Bova's well-plotted fourth planet novel (after 2003's Saturn) features a classic love triangle, backed by the occasional Greek chorus of scientific explanations. While astrobiologist Victor Molina and engineer Mance Bracknell (disguised as Dante Alexios) vie for the affections of Victor's wife, Lara Tierney Molina, Saito Yamagata attempts to create an efficient, inexpensive staging area on Mercury to send ships into deep space. Meanwhile, Bracknell schemes to exact revenge for his destroyed past. Ten years earlier, Bracknell's efforts to create another efficient, inexpensive method of launching spaceships called "The Sky Tower" was sabotaged by Bishop Danvers of the New Morality, as well as by Molina and Yamagata's son, Nobu. Millions of innocents died as a result. The moral questions raised by Bracknell's complicated retribution scenarios about the rights of victims for revenge and the immoral consequences of moral acts add depth to an otherwise standard tale of space adventure.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Bova's impressive series on human exploration of the Solar System (Venus, 2000; Jupiter, 2001; Saturn, 2003) turns to the planet nearest the Sun. Saito Yamagata wants to build power satellites around Mercury, engineer Dante Alexios has designs for them in hand, and biologist Victor Molina wants to explore Mercury's polar caps, where there may be water, for possible signs of life. Theocrat Bishop Danvers is looking over their shoulders, and visionary Mance Bracknell wants to avenge the sabotage of his power satellites years ago by in turn sabotaging the Mercury project. Their motivations bring the characters to life, and readers may also savor the complex and plausible hardware, and the lethal environment in which humans need it to have any chance of survival. Briskly paced into the bargain, this superior entry in one of the classic hard-sf sagas going is pretty much a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Printing edition (April 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765304120
• ISBN-13: 978-0765304124
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #914,522 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not very original, November 30, 2006

By	F. Schwartz (PA ,USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

*** Warning: SPOILERS ***
I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed most of Bova's books. But I can't help thinking he "borrowed" a lot of ideas from Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars". The sky tower, it falling, the critial levels on Earth, colonization of the planets/space, the wars, extended lifespans, etc... Yea, a lot of writers have written about these things, but there are just too many similarities between these two books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bova's stuck in Purgatory, June 27, 2006

By	Jeremy A. Zentner - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unlike the character Mance Braknell, IE Alexios Dante, who is stuck on the inferno planet, Bova seems to be writing himself into purgatory. His writing is not so horrid that it should be sent to hell, but it is not deserving of paradise either. I would say that a reader would have to be a Bova fan in order to enjoy at least elements of this novel. I believe that Mance's rage was much too engulfing to seem as realistic since he is still so ridden with hatred years after his sky tower project is sabotaged. People change after years, despite the horrible things that may happen to them. In addition to this, the minister seemed a little too puritanical to be someone who could be fine with the notion of space flight and befriend two very progressive scientists ever so easily. I wished his character was a little more conflicting to give his personality depth.

Despite these flaws, I do believe that the ending was perfect. Both Mance and Yamagata got what they deserved to protect the future. Very Shakespearan for a SciFi novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not much new under the sun, January 10, 2006

By	J. Minatel "jimmin" (Fishers, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ben Bova trots out some very standard sci-fi devices in Mercury. With an appreciated nod to Arthur C. Clarke, we've got a sky-tower. We've got the whole, asteroids/outer planets as penal colonies going. Lots of global warming and climate change mixed in. All-in-all, it's hard to find an original bit in here.

Even less original is the overall theme, which isn't even really sci-fi. The Sci-fi elements just serve to prop up a very weak love triangle and revenge plot. The characters are shallow and one-dimensional. We know very little of the female love interest in the story who is worthy of such passion from two men that results in their ludicrous jealous and retaliatory behavior. The Japanese characters are bad stereotypes as is the main religious character and all the behavioral aspects attributed to religion and politics in the book.

So, why not a lower rating than 3 stars? Well, despite the overbearing anti-religious preachyness, the book doesn't take itself too seriously. Given that it's part of a series that seems determined to explore every planet, I didn't expect much from it and it basically delivered on that premise. It's also short and faced paced and any time dealing with less than stellar material, I'll upgrade the rating for something that at least gets over fast.

Generally, I don't read much series-based fiction any more. This is a good example why. It reads like the author or an assistant cranked this out in a few weeks, it's just another product in the series, not really intended to be high art.