Teaser

The space habitat Goddard has arrived in Saturn’s Orbit, but the danger is far from over. A probe has gone rogue, there may be life in the rings, and to top it all off, it’s election season . . .

Review

It’s always a joy to come back to a Ben Bova novel. Though he won multiple Hugo Awards as an editor, I’m astonished that he was never even nominated for his novels. The Grand Tour universe seems the perfect mix of old-school adventure and cutting-edge science. Every Grand Tour book I’ve read so far – and Titan is the fifteenth – has been a quick read, and as enriching as it is enjoyable. Even though there are twenty-seven books in the Grand Tour (with a final posthumous offering publishing this year), it’s a series that avoids becoming overwhelmed with long-running plots, bloated casts, or complicated chronology. How does it do this? Well, some books are standalones, while others form duologies, trilogies, or thematic pairings. This is not one long series, but a chain of connected stories. Even within the more closely linked novels, you can pick up any book and get a complete story.

Titan is a perfect example of this. It’s a sequel to Saturn, which I have not read (another tragic victim of Bova’s poor UK distribution). But here’s the thing. Within a few pages, I learned that the habitat Goddard was a combination of scientific refuge and political exile. I learned that there had been a murder, and the killer had been executed. I learned about all the important character relationships, and their motivations and goals. All in the first two or three chapters, which are as short and punchy as Bova ever wrote. It’s honestly one of the best recaps I’ve come across in prose. I can still look forward to reading Saturn some day, but in a matter of minutes I was primed with everything I need to enjoy Titan.

This is basically a novel of two halves. The election, and the science. The science is everything I’ve come to expect from Ben Bova. It’s plausible, and thrilling, but largely consists of departmental meetings, with the occasional interlude for some astronautical heroics. The best parts of the scientific exploration are those told from the perspective of a probe. Bova does a great job of writing about a machine that is not only nonhuman, it’s not even intelligent. Yes, there’s an element of anthropomorphism at work, but it’s a great depiction of realistic space exploration nonetheless.

The political side of the novel is only slightly less successful. It’s the classic story of a scheming manipulator (who nevertheless is genuinely good at his job and perhaps not as malevolent as some would have you believe) versus a naïve political newcomer. It’s fairly predictable, but the debates surrounding exploitation of natural resources and preservation of potential alien life make for great reading. As this takes place on a space habitat with strict population controls there is also a gripping debate between the need for civic responsibility, and the need for personal freedoms. This does lead to the one weak spot in an otherwise brilliant novel, with an open and unchallenged assumption that what women really want is to start a family, while men will rather get to work.

As ever they must, politics and science soon meet, with the solution to one issue directly providing a solution to the other. While there are a few nods to religion and the New Morailty, the fundamentalists movements on Earth are largely relegated to the background in this book, which very much works in its favour. Likewise, Douglas Stavenger and the lunar colonies make a brief appearance, but this entanglement serves to remind us that these books do not take place in isolation, and you absolutely don’t need to have read Moonrise or Moonwar to get the most out of Titan.

I expect this will be the last Bova I read for a while, though it won’t be for lack of trying. Once more I’m left with little to say other than this: If you’re lucky enough to find a Grand Tour novel in the wild, grab it while you can.

Book Stats

• A Novel of the Grand Tour
• Published 2006
• 464 Pages