Review: 'Venus' puts new twists on space adventure

Venus (Tor Books)
By Ben Bova
$24.95 hardcover

By James Argendeli

April 6, 2000
Web posted at: 2:54 p.m. EST (1854 GMT)

(CNN) -- Think back for a moment to your youth. To all those nights you would gleefully ignore the clock, hunched under the covers with a book and a flashlight trying to finish just one more chapter before succumbing to sleep.

"Venus," the new science fiction novel by Ben Bova, brings back that kind of can't-put-it-down reading, with its strapping heroes and cliffhanger mysteries in space.

Set in an unspecified future time, "Venus" opens with 25-year-old narrator Van Humphries attending his father's century birthday celebration. This lavish bacchanal on the moon plays like a night at Plato's Retreat, with futuristic extras like robot security and tightrope-walking holographic acrobats.

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Read an exceprt from Ben Bova's 'Venus'

It is immediately obvious that Van does not get along with his wealthy space industrialist father Martin Humphries. Martin continuously berates Van, referring to him as "Runt," and pines instead for his older son Alex, who was lost and presumed killed on an expedition to Venus three years earlier.

Martin offers a $10 billion reward to anyone who can bring back the remains of his son from Venus. That's no small feat. The planet is described as having surface temperatures close to 900 degrees and clouds of sulfuric acid.

It is to this planetary hell that Van feels obligated to travel, not so much to gain his father's respect, but to claim the prize money -- Martin is going to cut off his allowance. He sets off in a hired ship run by a woman captain (who brings along her cloned daughter) and staffed by a disrespecting crew who consider Van a weakling.

But another ship is also racing toward Venus and the promised reward. Its captain, Lars Fuchs, despises Martin Humphries. The intricacies of their relationship, revealed slowly throughout the book, enhance the drama of this space opera.

"Venus" at first seems predictable, and Van unsympathetic; he is often whiny and self-centered. But Bova's story is clever, with unexpected twists in the action. The chapters revolve around cliffhangers, and while some of the characters behave as you would expect, the imaginative action and problem-solving make an otherwise traditional sci-fi tale more engaging.

"Venus" is as fun to read as those childhood adventure novels that kept you up past your bedtime. So sit back and relax in a comfy chair and let Ben Bova transport you to the second planet from the sun.

Ben Bova's latest prediction: 'Moonwar'
April 24, 1998
Review: 'The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction'
November 9, 1999
Salon: In defense of science fiction
May 26, 1999

Ben Bova Web site
Tor Science Fiction and Fantasy

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