"Mars" by Ben Bova (1992)

"'Yes!  Because we have to.  The human race has to.  We're explorers, Tony.  All of us.  Even you; it's what brought you here.  It's built into our blood, into our brains.  That's what science is all about.  Human beings have to learn, have to search and seek and explore.  We need to, just like a flower needs water and sunlight.  It's what made our ancestors move out of Africa and spread all across the Earth.  Now we'll spread all across the solar system and someday we'll start to move out to the stars.  You can't stop that, Tony.  Nobody can.  It's what makes us human.'"

Mars is part of Bova's "Grand Tour" series.  Mercury, a later entry in this same series, was also reviewed here.  SPOILER ALERT: don't read (or read about) Mercury if you want to be surprised by Mars.  Many of the plot points in Mars are described or alluded to by characters in Mercury.

So without revealing too much, I can say that Mars details the first manned mission to that planet.  A multinational crew of astronauts is sent there for a period of two months, during which - you guessed it - they make a startling discovery.

Much of the action in this novel revolves around Jamie Waterman, a half "white," half Navajo member of the crew.  The earliest chapters in this book flash between his arrival on Mars and his pre-flight training on Earth, with particular attention paid to the politics behind their mission.  During later chapters the author moves on to both the interpersonal struggles of the crew members, and - you guessed it - that startling discovery.

In many ways this book is like the mirror image of Bova's Mercury.  Mars features a large cast of characters where Mercury only features a few.  Mars is a long novel where Mercury is short.  Mars focuses on scientific accuracy where Mercury focuses on characters.  And while Mars is far from bad, I think the facets of Mercury listed above make for a much stronger book.  Mercury is a lot more focused than its earlier counterpart, and a lot of the story in Mars is smothered beneath unimportant details.  Most of the characters in Mars also remain ciphers, with many of their "flaws" seemingly added on as an afterthought.

Mars also features a very ridiculous subplot concerning the Vice President.  Her actions - both public and private - are implausible in the extreme, and the novel concludes without really tying up her particular plot thread.  I get that she was included to flesh out the political dimensions of the Mars mission, but her machinations add little to the story.

So will I be continuing my "grand tour?"  Not in the near future, though at some point I may seek out Ben Bova again.  I think he's a very competent writer, though his misfires may cancel out his successes.  As said elsewhere, he's written a ton of books, and many of them are probably very good.

"Mercury" by Ben Bova (2005)

"When the greenhouse cliff struck so abruptly, flooding coastal cities, collapsing the international electric power grid, wrecking the economy, Earth's governments became repressive, authoritarian.  People who are hungry, homeless, and without hope will always trade their individual liberties for order, for safety, for food.  Ultraconservative religious groups came to power in Asia, the Middle East, even Europe and America; they ruled with an absolute faith in their own convictions and zero tolerance for anyone else's."

Ben Bova has been kicking around the sci-fi world for a LONG time, and I'm a bit surprised it's taken me this long to read one of his books.  He's won the Hugo several times, he was the editor of both Analog and Omni, and he's written more novels than I'd care to count.  At the time of writing he's 85 years old, and his most recent book appeared this year.

His novel "Mercury" forms part of his "Grand Tour" series, which explores the (human) settlement of the solar system.  This series stretches all the way back to 1985, and with new entries published every year or so you can imagine how many there are.

While the plot of this book could be dismissed as "Count of Monte Cristo in space," it's grounded in solid technical details, and written with a good eye for drama.  It's not a stylistic achievement by any means - just a solidly written story of revenge - but Bova's more pedestrian writing style serves the story well.  Certain touches like naming it "Goethe Base" are a little too on the nose, but this is a small complaint.  In the greater scheme of things Mercury builds steadily toward its somewhat ambiguous conclusion.

Of particular note is the disaster that occurs halfway through this novel.  This sequence of events is executed brilliantly, and while reading this part of the book I kept thinking how amazing this sequence would appear on film.

I've already bought Ben Bova's Mars, and plan on reading it soon.  Mercury has been a surprisingly enjoyable read, and I heartily recommend it.