Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
It's the 21st century and the world is on the brink of a scientific renaissance. The U.S. government has finally had the good sense to privatize the development of outer space and, as a result, a number of scientific advances are in the offing. New rocket technology makes it possible to reach any place on Earth within an hour. Nanotechnology promises incredible medical breakthroughs. Not everyone appreciates these scientific marvels, however. Radical environmentalists and religious fundamentalists want to turn back the clock. Standing against the neo-Luddites is Masterson Aerospace, which is involved in most of the major scientific breakthroughs of the day. Unfortunately, Masterson is crippled from within when its CEO apparently commits suicide and his wife, Joanna, backs her lover, Paul Stavenger, a former astronaut, over her mentally unbalanced son, Greg, in the board election that follows. Thus begins a power struggle that eventually leads to murder and the near destruction of Moonbase, where most of the novel takes place. The family intrigues are far-fetched at times, but Bova's picture of life on the moon and the technology necessary to sustain it is highly believable. Although his villains sometimes thin into one dimension, his protagonists, Stavenger and his son, Doug, are both well developed. A former editor of Analog, Bova (Mars) is a longtime supporter of the colonization and industrialization of outer space. His many books on this subject, both fiction and nonfiction, have sold well over the years and this newest work should be no exception. 35,000 first printing; author tour. (Nov.)
Library Journal
Bova's (Empire Builders, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/94) epic novel, in which a man and his son dream of creating an inhabitable society on the Moon, is slow going in unabridged format, as the details that make the novel creditable also slow it to a crawl. Narrator Dick Hill does a workmanlike job with the reading. His skill for accents is well used. He also does an admirable job creating distinguishable women. Unfortunately, he can't escape the novel's plodding pace. Bova doesn't write simple sf, nor is this an action novel. He writes of politics, both family and planetary, and he understands the issues in both cases. However, the familial relationships in his tale are weak. An outlandish subplot, in which a mother attempts to protect her son, is particularly tiresome and detracts from the story's otherwise believable plot. Ultimately, public libraries may want to purchase this title due to Bova's reputation and popularity.-Jodi Israel, Westwood, Mass.
Kirkus Reviews
Writer-editor Bova, having tackled Mars (1992), moves closer to home with this near-future family melodrama about nanotechnology and the exploitation of the Moon. When philandering Greg Masterson of Masterson Aerospace blows his brains out—it's revealed that he was dying of cancer—his wife Joanna marries her lover, Aerospace executive Paul Stavenger. But her unstable son, Greg II, mistakenly loyal to his rotten father, arranges to have Paul murdered on the Moon with Aerospace's experimental nanotechnology bugs. A horrified Joanna, already pregnant by Paul, bundles Greg off to a psychiatric clinic. In due course, Joanna gives birth to Doug. The years pass; Greg rejoins Aerospace and determines to close Moonbase, a loss- making but visionary and essential enterprise, the brainchild of Paul and now Doug. Inevitably, there will be a final reckoning between crazy Greg and honorable stargazer Paul, with poor Joanna's loyalties tested to the limit.
Despite—or perhaps because of—the hokey family feud, little narrative momentum develops: an intermittently involving, elaborate stage-setter for Bova's projected volume two.
