Buy The Precipice (The Grand Tour; also Asteroid Wars) by Ben Bova available and for sale on Brightsurf

The Precipice (The Grand Tour; also Asteroid Wars)

by Ben Bova

List Price:

$7.99

Available:

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Sales Rank:

51790

Studio:

Tor Science Fiction

Binding:

Mass Market Paperback

Number Of Pages:

432

Publication Date:

December 15, 2002

Publisher:

Tor Science Fiction

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Product Description

Once, Dan Randolph was one of the richest men on Earth. Now the planet is spiraling into environmental disaster, with floods and earthquakes destroying the lives of millions. Randolph knows the energy and natural resources of space can save Earth's economy, but the price may be the loss of the only thing he has left--the company he founded, Astro Manufacturing.
Martin Humphries, fabulously wealthy heir of the Humphries Trust, also knows that space-based industry is the way of the future. But unlike Randolph, he doesn't care if Earth perishes in the process. And he knows that the perfect bait to ensnare Dan Randolph--and take control of Astro--is his revolutionary new fusion propulsion system.

As Randolph--accompanied by two fascinating women who are also brilliant astronauts--flies out to the Asteroid Belt aboard a fusion-propelled spacecraft, Humphries makes his move. The future of mankind lies in Randolph's hands.

The Asteroid Wars have begun.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 19 reviews)

Climatic Mayhem

This is my first read of Ben Bova, and considering other people's comments about his books, expectations were high. I had not had any exposure to Bova, except that he is famous and considered a big gun in sci-fi literature.

"The Precipice", the first of the "Asteroid Wars" novels, is really the lead in to the next novel, though it can certainly be enjoyed alone. The plot itself follows the machinations of Astro Corporation's boss, Dan Randolph, and Martin Humphries, of Humphries Space Systems, in their attempts to outdo each other and open up the asteroid belt for exploitation. Both men are motivated by very different causes.

The story takes place in the relative near future, when the Earth has been savaged by a series of human-caused natural disasters that have resulted from Earth reaching a greenhouse gas "climate cliff". Massive floods have radically altered the landscape, with many cities underwater, the economy, with the collapse of a lot of infrastructure, and the population, with millions dead. In this setting, humanity's ventures into space are still fledgling and in their infancy. The moon has people living there and there are bases on Mars. That is it.

The book itself is not all that detailed, such as something Iain M. Banks might write, and it is set in a time when humans are just starting to get into deeper space. In that sense, it carries the primitiveness of the technology quite well, I thought. Ships are basic, (compared to other sci-fi juggernauts), and there is a very real sense of pioneering that comes through the book. Bova keeps the pace moving along solidly, not bogging the reader down in huges swathes of detail and background information.

This novel had me gripped from the start, and I was very quickly sucked into the plot. It has been one of the few sci-fi novels that I found tough to put down and walk away from. Life's routine became a constant inconvenience while reading this novel.

For near-future stories and visions that have a earthy realism to them, "The Precipice" is hard to pass up. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have since started reading the other novels in the series. It is a good story with a good solid dose of adventure.
July 17, 2008

Maybe the sequels are better

I was disappointed with Ben Bova's The Precipice. Since others here do an excellent job of recounting the novel in detail, I'll just mention a few things:
1) Often the most exciting parts of the novel are only ancillary to the main story.
2) Bova's climate alarmism is readily apparent and annoying.
3) The so-called "New Morality" makes no sense (i.e. it has no basis in the reality of what people believe today and where those beliefs seem headed). Bova simply comes across as mildly anti-religious.
4) Much of the novel seemed downright dull, plodding - as if Bova was terribly bored with his own creation and simply going through the motions.

I really wonder if the sequels are any better, or if they're even worth the effort. At this point, I would have to say probably not.
March 30, 2008

The Beginning of the Asteroid Wars

Legendary sci fi author Ben Bova has crafted an exciting deep-space tale which incorporates some of today's most controversial topics: namely, the greenhouse effect and its possible effect on Earth's population.

In this exciting novel, the earth is suffering from the effects of global warming. The polar caps are melting and natural resources are almost nonexistent. Dan Randolph, head of Astro Manufacturing, believes that the solution to the earth's problems lies in the Asteroid Belt. If the natural resources from the belt could be tapped, many of the Earth's industries could eventually be moved off-world to outer space locations. But, the problem of getting to the belt remains a challenge for Dan. However, he believes that if a fusion-powered spaceship could be built, he could get crews to the belt in fairly short amounts of time. The problem he faces is coming up with capital to support his mission.

Martin Humphries, another shrewd businessman, likes what he's heard about Dan's project and he agrees to provide funding for it. But, Humphries is known to gobble up interest in smaller companies until he has enough power to completely take them over, and he has his sights set on Dan's Astro Manufacturing.

Sensing Humphries' intentions, Dan seeks funding from other sources, including Doug Stavenger, head of the Selene base on the moon. However, as the story progresses, Dan finds that the only way for him to develop his fusion powered ship is to partner with Humphries and Stavenger. Finally, the ship is completed and ready for launch.

However, Humphries still is intent on acquiring Astro and has forbid any launch of the spacecraft. But Dan realizes that he must get to the belt and establish mining rights to as many asteroids as possible. So, he and his crew members Pancho Lane, Amanda Cunningham, and Lars Fuchs, secretly take off and head for the belt. But they weren't secretive enough, for Humphries has enlisted the help of Dr. Kris Cardenas, a former ally of Dan's, to place nanomachines into the ship to disable it and force the crew to return to the moon. Will Dan and his crew reach the base before its too late?

This is an excellent book. I've read several of Bova's other "Grand Tour" books, and I've found this one to be one of his best. The story is well-conceived and the characters are well-developed and believable.

I give this book my highest recommendation. I can't wait to see what happens in the following books of the Asteroid Wars series.
January 02, 2008

Book One of the Asteroid Bores

This was my first Bova book, and will probably be my last. I finished it only because I had "made it this far, so I might as well", and also because I was waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen involving some sort of action sequence. But no....there was nothing.
Though there are some positives: the science for the most part seems legit and interesting, although the extent of the negative impacts of global warming may be more speculation on Bova's part. (no political affiliation here, just my opinion!) Also, one or two of the characters was likeable at times(although most of them were quite annoying!)
For somebody to give this book a 5 is laughable! As some other reviewer noted, seemed more like a "soap opera" to me. In fact, all you need to do is change the cover, and you could put this one in the romance section! Oh and by the way, this guy has some serious sexual tension built up inside.
October 08, 2007

Interplanetary Imperialism

The Precipice (2001) is the first SF novel of the Asteroid Wars series. In this volume, Earth has reached the greenhouse cliff, the threshold where the world's climate changes drastically in a very short time. Although the greenhouse effect had been hotly debated, the current evidence could not be rebutted. The icecaps were melting and storms tore savagely at human infrastructure.

Dan Randolph is one of the victims of the new weather patterns. Jane Scanwell died trying to rescue people stranded by the flooding of the Tennessee River. Dan had not known how much he loved her until she was no longer there.

Randolph is determined to alleviate the greenhouse effects as much as possible by moving industry into space and providing raw materials from the Belt. Only one asteroid has ever been brought to Earth in the past; of course, the operation bankrupted Sam Gunn, but it was successful. Now Dan needs a less expensive way to mine the Belt and Martin Humphries shows him such a method.

Lyall Duncan has developed a small fusion power source. Unlike most such sources, the Duncan fusion device is small enough to fit into an old cruise missile used as a test vehicle. The results of this test suggest that a large version would be capable of powering a manned vehicle to the Belt in record time.

Although Humphries has offered to underwrite the initial voyage, Dan just doesn't trust him. Humphries has made his billions by merging smaller companies into his Humphries Space Systems and Randolph's company, Astro Manufacturing, seems to be the old Humper's next target.

While Randolph tries to get other concerns -- public and private -- to fund the first fusion drive spaceship, Pancho Lane has been taken off her piloting duties and assigned, with Amanda Cunningham, to the new fusion drive project. Humphries has recruited her to spy on Randolph, but Pancho doesn't really know anything; besides, she has already confessed her extracurricular activities to Randolph, whom she is beginning to admire. Humphries, however, is still unaware of her new role as a double agent.

Randolph finally exhausts his list of earthside contacts and takes his case to the Moon. Douglas Stavenger, founder of Masterson Aerospace and leader of the Lunar succession from the old United Nations, is still chairman emeritus of Masterson and is government head of Selene. Stavenger has made full use of nanotechnology for maintenance of his body and thus looks much younger than Dan. As they talk, Randolph learns that Humphries has blocked any deal with Masterson by buying a majority interest in the company. Stavenger, however, points out than Selene is quite willing to partner with his company in the development of nanomachines to make fusion drive units.

This novel is one of many works in the Grand Tour universe. Most of the major players in this novel are also found in other unrelated stories. Moreover, three other novels are direct prequels to this work.

Bova has been writing Science Fiction for several decades and was editor of Analog magazine and fiction editor of Omni. Since 1992, he has been concentrating on the Grand Tour novels, with a common political background and an expanding technology. These novels relate the exploration and settlement of the Solar System, from Mercury to Saturn, using engineering solutions based on today's knowledge and speculation.

Highly recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interplanetary adventure, political intrigue and cutthroat capitalism.

-Arthur W. Jordin
August 27, 2006

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