Earth

Ben Bova, 1932-

Book - 2019

"A wave of lethal gamma radiation is expanding from the core of the Milky Way galaxy at the speed of light, killing everything in its path. The countdown to when the death wave will reach Earth and the rest of the solar system is at two thousand years. Humans were helped by the Predecessors, who provided shielding generators that can protect the solar system. In return, the Predecessors asked humankind's help to save other intelligent species that are in danger of being annihilated. But what of Earth? With the Death Wave no longer a threat to humanity, humans have spread out and colonized all the worlds of the solar system. The technology of the Predecessors has made Earth a paradise, at least on the surface. But a policy of exili...ng discontent young people to the outer planets and asteroid mines has led to a deep divide between the new worlds and the homeworld, and those tensions are about to explode into open war"--

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Subjects
Genres
Science fiction
Published
New York : Tor 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Ben Bova, 1932- (author)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
"A Tom Doherty Associates Book."
Physical Description
350 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780765397195
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Bova's latest is both a coda to the Star Quest trilogy (starting with Death Wave, 2015) and a return to territory covered by Leviathans of Jupiter (2011). Trayvon Williamson was sent out alone on a scoutship far from the starship Saviour, whose mission was to help the Raman solar system save itself from destruction by the Death Wave. Instead, his ship and crew, who included his lover, were destroyed by a storm of micrometeorites. Rescued 300 years later from his scoutship's automated cryonics, he has much to deal with psychologically. He is aided by Para, an android with human qualities. Befriended by Jordan Kell, whom readers will remember as the former president of the Interplanetary Council, Tray avoids having his memories of the catastrophe erased by joining a pleasure cruise to Jupiter hosted by Kell's predecessor, Harold Balsam, who has very different ideas about how the council should be run. Tray is accompanied on the cruise by his new lover and her father, a very rich member of the council. When an accidental death occurs, Tray stands his ground in arguing that it was actually murder. Though not Bova's strongest work, it will be of interest to fans looking for a complete collection of works by this legendary sf writer/editor.--Don Vicha Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Bova's Grand Tour series shows its age in this 22nd installment (after 2013's New Earth); the vision of the future is dated, the prose is tepid, and the plot, which centers on an average person caught up in a criminal conspiracy, is old hat. After a race of intelligent machines known as the Predecessors warned that a Death Wave was approaching Earth, humans devised a way to survive and warned 63 intelligent alien species of the threat. The human Interplanetary Council is now divided between those who wish to leave those other life forms alone and those, led by Council President Harold Balsam, who wish to rule them through an interstellar empire. Astronomer Trayvon Williamson, the sole survivor of a mapping mission, has just been revived after almost 400 years in suspended animation, and he ends up in the middle of the tensions after witnessing a death on Jupiter that he believes was murder. Bova's vision of social and technological advances are uninspired, and characters without much depth don't help. Only longtime fans of the series are likely to stick it out through this chapter. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved