Reviews

Brightside Crossing by Alan E. Nourse

gengelcox's review

4.0

Humans have an insatiable desire to be the first to do anything, and even after someone’s done it before them, then they want to do it faster, with less equipment, or even on stilts. Nourse takes that idea and extends it to what will likely happen at some point: the desire of humans to traverse Mercury on land, from pole-to-pole. But not the cold side; the hot side, aka, Brightside. The hottest place in the solar system next to the “surface” of the sun itself. This proceeds as you might expect, told from one explorer to the next about how the previous expedition failed. It’s like Into Thin Air—if by Thin and Air you mean non-existent and sulfurous, and what you’re really getting into is an oven like none other. Even if Nourse didn’t get all the science right (and I have no way of knowing), he portrays as if he does.