Marsbound
Starbound
Earthbound
by Joe Haldeman
science fiction
copyright 2008, 2010, 2011
read in February 2015
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
A family heads to Mars. There's already a small settlement, the space travel technology is proven, the journey is quite safe. Nothing much happens...
This is a documentary-style book, a description of travel from Earth to Mars. How it will be once the initial bugs are ironed out. My local newspaper had a story of a commercial venture which plans to get to Mars in the foreseeable future, I can see the similarities.
Marsbound is less "what if" and more, "see how it can be done". With a bit of mild tension, to make it a novel.
Then the Martians arrive ! A burst of excitement ! Followed by more, plodding, "this is how we could deal with first alien contact".
It's not a thrilling book. But it's interesting. The space travel... the living on Mars... the first contact... are all plausible. Which does not make for a blockbuster story. But -- as solid science fiction -- the book is enjoyable.
Then we go Starbound, and track the aliens to their lair. Sounds exciting ? Well, no... it's mostly the same style of plodding description, explaining, this is how it could be done, this is how it would be. With the occasional superior alien intervention.
The aliens are definitely superior. So superior that they are magic... beyond our comprehension. That's a key ingredient of these three books: aliens who are so far beyond us that (a) we can't possibly understand them and (b) they don't care what happens to us.
An interesting what-if scenario. With the unfortunate side effect, that there's nothing humans can do to influence the outcome.
So our heroes go into space. Almost meet the aliens. Are returned in a magic time bubble. And are saved -- for no obvious reason -- when humans are de-civilised for annoying the aliens. Or perhaps for not annoying the aliens...
The aliens are way beyond our understanding. They just cause things to happen... usually bad things. We -- the readers -- are left to guess why.
The third book is about survival on the now de-civilised Earth. The survivalists manual consists of one page, one sentence, large font: "Get big guns, store lots of ammo, kill everyone else." If there's a fourth book, it will be all new characters.
It's a readable book. Less enjoyable than the first two, because of all the closeup violence and death. My favorite part of Earthbound ? The play on words of the title...
These three books are not really boring. Just plodding. A realistic look at getting to Mars. A realistic look at getting to the stars. A realistic but depressing look at the end of human civilisation.
Readable books. Quite enjoyable. Interesting ideas... but not great novels.
"I want the satisfaction of achievement without the effort of actually achieving" per Ginger Meggs
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