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.
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