Scan barcode
take2teach's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. Wanted something entertaining and got a misogynistic, homophobic, racist book straight from the 80s.
athenalindia's review against another edition
3.0
This is a reread, and one that took me an ungodly long amount of time. I tend to put my rereads up in the bathroom, and get through them that way, but this time, I kept getting distracted by the graphic novels my husband had up there as well. I just wasn't that into it.
Of the two Ben Bova Cold War In Space novels I've read, this is definitely the better and more nuanced of the two. In this form, the book is made up of two previously published novels about the same character, Chet Kinsman, military astronaut, former Quaker, eventually, commander of the American moonbase.
The first novel is really good. But I find the second drags. A lot. Once I got about fifty pages from the end, the urgency picked up in the second novel a lot, and I had no problem convincing myself to pick it up and read more. I'm not sure why the middle section feels so draggy.
Let's see, the characters are interesting, but, other than Chet, not that deep and intriguing. Which is to say, they're not cardboard, but I didn't really feel like I knew them, either. Also, if you want to paint Diane as the big love of Kinsman's life, we need more time with her. And before there is an actual threat, the pacing just seems off. I get what he's trying to build up to, which is, in some ways, a nod to Heinlein's Lunar Revolution.
So The Kinsman Saga was good enough to read once, even good enough to read twice, but I don't think I'll bother again. If you like hard sf in a Cold War setting, with quite realistic challenges and responses, it's pretty good.
Of the two Ben Bova Cold War In Space novels I've read, this is definitely the better and more nuanced of the two. In this form, the book is made up of two previously published novels about the same character, Chet Kinsman, military astronaut, former Quaker, eventually, commander of the American moonbase.
The first novel is really good. But I find the second drags. A lot. Once I got about fifty pages from the end, the urgency picked up in the second novel a lot, and I had no problem convincing myself to pick it up and read more. I'm not sure why the middle section feels so draggy.
Let's see, the characters are interesting, but, other than Chet, not that deep and intriguing. Which is to say, they're not cardboard, but I didn't really feel like I knew them, either. Also, if you want to paint Diane as the big love of Kinsman's life, we need more time with her. And before there is an actual threat, the pacing just seems off. I get what he's trying to build up to, which is, in some ways, a nod to Heinlein's Lunar Revolution.
So The Kinsman Saga was good enough to read once, even good enough to read twice, but I don't think I'll bother again. If you like hard sf in a Cold War setting, with quite realistic challenges and responses, it's pretty good.
More...