“Dad will kill you if he finds out.”Alexander Humphries led the first manned expedition to Venus, and became among the first to die there. It was an unexplained equipment malfunction that doomed Alex’s ship and crew to rest on the toxic surface of Earth’s twin forever. In the two years since, there have been rumors that the malfunction may not have been an accident at all.“Dad will kill you if he finds out.”Van remembers the conversation like it was yesterday. His brother Alex was telling him about his upcoming expedition and had just revealed the true purpose of the voyage. Alex was an active Green, an environmentalist, and the trip to Venus would provide excellent data and footage of the most extreme planetary greenhouse in the solar system. It would prove invaluable to the Green cause on Earth. Alex and Van’s father, billionaire Martin Humphries, on the other hand, was anything but a Green. Green concerns get in the way of profit and Martin Humphries is all about profit..“Dad will kill you if he finds out.” Van jokes with his older brother.“He knows.” Alex assures him.Van has never liked or trusted his father and the feeling is mutual. Van’s mother died in childbirth and Martin has always accused Van of taking his fourth wife, and the only woman he ever truly loved. In light of the mysterious message that Van just received, he has even more reason to be suspicious of the old man. The anonymous message simply said, “Your brother’s death was not an accident, and your father is a murderer.” He can’t help but remember his last conversation with his brother.“Dad will kill you if he finds out.”Now, two years later, Martin Humphries is offering a reward of $10 billion to anyone willing to go to Venus and bring back his son’s remains. Martin is a despicable man but he is also clever and shrewd. He knows that there are two men that he can count on to go after the prize money: his son Van, whom he just cut off from the family fortune, and his chief business rival, Lars Fuchs. If everything goes as planned, he can kill two birds with one stone and Martin Humphries is used to getting what he wants.The stage is set and the race is on. Martin is clever but both Van and Lars are wise enough to be wary of the man. They will be on guard but what they are about to discover in the upper atmosphere of Venus will take them completely by surprise and will set the rest of the solar system on its heels. Venus is one of my very favorite audiobooks in Ben Vova’s Grand Tour series. It has all the things that I love about Bova’s work: interesting and well-developed characters, an intricate plot along with sub-plots to help it along, and of course lots of fascinating details about a planet in our solar system.One thing I’ve noticed about Ben Bova is that he likes to use a main character that sort of mirrors the planet in question. In Mars, we had a red planet that was forever frozen in the past, and a red man, a native American, who yearned for the old ways of his ancestors. In Venus, Bova describes a fiery furnace of a planet whose molten core is just waiting to burst through the surface and engulf the whole thing and, in fact, is already beginning the process in the eruption of volcanoes. We also have Lars Fuchs, a man driven by fury and hatred, whose boiling core threatens to overcome the man and, in fact, is already beginning to in the form of mini-strokes. Lars is obsessed with “Dante’s Inferno” and often thinks of Venus as hell itself. There are also hints of Captain Ahab in Fuchs, forever chasing after Martin Humphries, the man who took everything from him, including the woman he loved.Van also plays heavily into the dynamic between Martin Humphries and Lars Fuchs because Van’s mother is the woman that Martin stole away from Lars. When Lars and Van are forced to team up on Venus they will discover some things about the woman that will greatly surprise them both. There is an interesting relationship at play here that is only briefly touched on in Venus, but which you can learn a lot more about in Bova’s “Rock Rats” series.The narration of Venus is capably handled by Stefan Rudnicki, who narrated many of Ben Bova’s audiobooks. Rudnicki has a rich and resonant voice that is very easy on the ears. Bova’s audiobooks typically have characters of many different nationalities, and Rudnicki always handles these very well. Venus is a good story with good characters. There is plenty of action to keep the story moving, and some interesting science too.
Venus, by Ben Bova.Where to start with this book? Maybe I should start by saying that it’s book 19 in the Grand Tour series, however, don’t be discouraged to read it since most of the books in that series aren’t consecutive unless it’s a direct sequel. Venus is a science fiction book which is usually directed towards young adult or adult readers due to the complicated language or complicated subjects that younger readers wouldn’t necessarily understand. Just by looking at the book and reading the inside cover, you would believe this to be some kind of space voyage/spaceship book because how else are they going to get to Venus? Unfortunately, this is not the case for this book. Right away the book starts with the main characters father offering a large amount of money to who ever can reclaim his dead son's remains on the planet Venus. The main character, Van Humphries, is hated by his father because he is weak and cowardly unlike his deceased brother, so to prove to his father that he isn’t, he takes up the offer. On earth Van has a love interest, and his father has had many, including the captain of Vans ship. The transit to Venus only takes a couple of chapters, rather upsetting in my opinion, because what happens in the rest of the book? Walking around on a lifeless planet for another 200 pages? Essentially that happens with a few conflicts, a mass amount of people dying, and a cliche ‘twist’ ending. The chapters in the book structured normally, they have titles and summarize what happens in one or two words, the normal book thing. But when reading I noticed that the chapters seemed to move by really quickly. One chapter he’s on the moon visiting his father, OK so far. Next he’s visiting a laboratory talking to someone he’s only talked to virtually, all right that’s reasonable it’s the future. Suddenly he’s on a spaceship going to Venus fawning over one of his crew members. Honestly, a lot of this book seems to be about love rather than space travel. “‘Just because my mother’s letting Tom sleep with her is no reason for you to think you can get me into your bed.’ (page 97, Venus)”. During a couple chapters Van becomes interested in one of the scientists aboard his ship and has some how forgotten about the girl he has back at home. He’s basically enamored with this new woman after knowing her for a couple of weeks and speaking to her briefly. “I looked into her eyes. They were shining like polished onyx. Suddenly I leaned toward her and reaching a hand behind the nape of her neck, I pulled her to me and kissed her firmly on the lips. (page 97, Venus)”. If you like romance going on in a science fiction novel, go ahead and read Venus by Ben Bova. Otherwise, stay away from this book.
What do You think about Venus (2001)?
Bought it from the used bookstore. Didn't realize it was semi-part of a series until I was about halfway through. The author has said though that one need not read these books in chronological order, and they can be read independently of each other, so it's no big deal. I finished it in three days :DIt was a smooth read, almost like a YA novel, but with a bit more meat than the average one. The quick read it provided didn't feel like a tease because I know Mr. Bova has written many other novels in the same universe (literally and...um, in a literate manner? THE SAME BOOK WORLD, is that clearer?), so I'll still be able to get my fix.I enjoyed three of the characters (Van, Rodriguez, and Lars) though the latter two were written minimally when it came to their depth. I still liked to read about them though.The sci fi aspect was great, what with the technology ideas and everything about Venus itself. It sounded so real and so fantastical at the same time. Let's just say I took a new appreciation seeing the bright light of Venus these past few nights, wondering what her real secrets might be. Recommended for any sci fi fan, even those into just soft sci fi. The adventure plot isn't as outrageous as something with awesome blockbuster possibilities like anything written by Matthew Reilly, but I could see this as more of a real story that is believable despite its incredible journey.
—Hazel M Bear
I almost didn't finish this one. In fact, I only stuck with it because I'd paid for a used copy. It just isn't a very good book. The main character is a typical protagonist, except the fact that he has a debilitating illness; there's your typical skeptical, asshole character, a villain, a love interest, etc... I found myself being able to predict the plot too easily and just not really caring what happened to ANYONE in the book. I got it because I'd heard a bunch of stuff about Bova being one of the "masters" of scifi. Well, I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since it's the only book by him I've read. If he is a master, then I guess this means masters can make some pretty big mistakes in their career.
—Matt
An excellent hard science fiction novel by Mr. Bova, who is always good for a great ride. This was a very well-written book with an intriguing storyline that both evinced classic 50's man-into-space books and very modern problems (climate change), along with a bit of Commodore Grimes. I've read quite a few of Bova's Grand Tour books over the years, and this compares to any of them; there's a lot of back story but you don't need to know every bit of it to enjoy what's going on - like most of them, it's very self-contained. Recommended!
—Rich Meyer
