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curtispaulostler's review against another edition
3.0
I am not interested in continuing the series. Though I enjoyed and appreciated the "hard science fiction" aspects of the book (space travel takes time, there are no transporters nor phaser weapons), I found the characters to be prescriptive and cliched, and the dialogue sounded like it was written by a teenager imagining how adults speak. I gave it three stars instead of two because I am giving the author the benefit of the doubt - the audio version I listened to was addled by too many readers (in a failed attempt to convey the shifting third person limited perspective), and really bad accents. Hearing at least three people trying to do an Australian accent was unnerving at best; one reader apparently thought Big George was from the Brooklyn borough of Australia. I am not ready to give up on Mr. Bova - I might go back to read some of his earlier work, as he is highly regarded in the genre - but I was not engaged enough by this story to see how it ends.
jpv0's review
4.0
[b:The Precipice|267302|The Precipice (The Grand Tour, #8; The Asteroid Wars, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386919746s/267302.jpg|293551] does two things rather well: it introduces technology that will change the Grand Tour universe and it makes me actually ... kind of like Dan Randolph.
For the former, we finally have one possible solution to the fundamental problem of near future science fiction:
In this case, if you want to have stories even on Mars, it takes months to get there. If you want to go to the Asteroids? Jupiter? It becomes impractical. There are a couple reasonable ways to solve the problem, in this case: fusion drives, small enough to drive a starship. A large chunk of The Precipice deals with building and testing this new technology which, as mentioned, has the potential to change the Grand Tour universe.
The other half of the plot is mostly corporate, with new baddie Martin Humphries trying to edge in and take over all the powerful corporations of Earth for... reasons? He's a bit one dimensional, but that's not terribly surprising. He makes a decent enough counterpoint to Randolph.
Speaking of which, you may recall that from the very beginning ([b:Powersat|267291|Powersat (The Grand Tour, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385225039s/267291.jpg|259144] / [b:Privateers|267332|Privateers (The Grand Tour, #2; Privateers, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1299514897s/267332.jpg|893485]), I have not cared overmuch for Dan Randolph. His heart is often in the right place and I'll admit that even before the Precipice, he was growing on me. But this time around... I actually find myself rooting for the man. Well done Bova. Well done. And then he has to go anddie . Oy.
Once again, sexism abounds. In particular, just about every single description of Pancho and Amanda includes their description, especially to contrast them against one another. And Amanda ends upmarrying a man she's never kissed in order to save herself from another man?. Eesh. Par for the course at this point.
It's a driving read though and I look forward to seeing where the Asteroid Wars go from here. Need to take a quick side trip to [b:Jupiter|267334|Jupiter (The Grand Tour, #9)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442052818s/267334.jpg|293541] first for some reason?
For the former, we finally have one possible solution to the fundamental problem of near future science fiction:
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space. -- Douglas Adams
In this case, if you want to have stories even on Mars, it takes months to get there. If you want to go to the Asteroids? Jupiter? It becomes impractical. There are a couple reasonable ways to solve the problem, in this case: fusion drives, small enough to drive a starship. A large chunk of The Precipice deals with building and testing this new technology which, as mentioned, has the potential to change the Grand Tour universe.
The other half of the plot is mostly corporate, with new baddie Martin Humphries trying to edge in and take over all the powerful corporations of Earth for... reasons? He's a bit one dimensional, but that's not terribly surprising. He makes a decent enough counterpoint to Randolph.
Speaking of which, you may recall that from the very beginning ([b:Powersat|267291|Powersat (The Grand Tour, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385225039s/267291.jpg|259144] / [b:Privateers|267332|Privateers (The Grand Tour, #2; Privateers, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1299514897s/267332.jpg|893485]), I have not cared overmuch for Dan Randolph. His heart is often in the right place and I'll admit that even before the Precipice, he was growing on me. But this time around... I actually find myself rooting for the man. Well done Bova. Well done. And then he has to go and
Once again, sexism abounds. In particular, just about every single description of Pancho and Amanda includes their description, especially to contrast them against one another. And Amanda ends up
It's a driving read though and I look forward to seeing where the Asteroid Wars go from here. Need to take a quick side trip to [b:Jupiter|267334|Jupiter (The Grand Tour, #9)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442052818s/267334.jpg|293541] first for some reason?
worldsinink's review
4.0
This is very thought provoking science fiction. The science is spot-on and the concepts depicted are things that are just beyond our reach at the moment, but could very well be reality within the foreseeable future.
It's well written and aside from a few niggles, a very good read.
It's well written and aside from a few niggles, a very good read.
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