Voyage

Author - Stephen Baxter ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Hardcover Book item from Harpercollins was reviewed on 12-Dec-2008.

Search ISBN:0061052582 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Voyage Reference Book. Classifications : Contemporary Literature & Fiction Subjects Books General AAS Literature & Fiction Subjects Books Baxter, Stephen ( B ) Authors, A-Z Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books Adventure Science Fiction S . Click the following link to view the cover of Voyage.

Related topics: Contemporary. Subjects. Books. General AAS. Subjects. Books. Baxter, Stephen. ( B ). Authors, A-Z. Subjects.

1) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Neil Armstrong´s historic moonwalk, former astronaut Jim Lovell discussed NASA´s overall decline since that time. Bemoaning America´s lack of support for continued manned space exploration, he said, "It´s like Columbus discovering the New World and nobody bothering to follow up." Until now, those of us who agreed with that sentiment have had to be content with the space shuttle program. With the publication of Stephen Baxter´s Voyage, however, we can get a taste of what might have been.

In Baxter´s alternate history, John F. Kennedy survives Oswald´s assassination attempt. Crippled by the shooting, Kennedy remains a popular advocate of the space program. Due in large part to Kennedy´s unwavering support for space exploration, America continues on past the moon and sets its sights on Mars.

Voyage tells the story of this heroic effort. Alternating between an account of the first flight to Mars in 1985 and the back story of this historic event, the book provides a compelling, gripping account of America´s journey to the red planet, one that will keep even the most jaded reader turning pages.

Baxter´s alternative history of the space program reads like a factual account, containing just enough cultural touchstones to make it familiar to those of us who lived during that time. Similar to James Michener ´s Space and Tom Wolfe´s The Right Stuff, the reader is immersed in the lore of the space program. Baxter provides insights into the people, politics, and scientific achievements involved, chronicling the triumph and tragedy involved in putting an astronaut on Mars. Highly recommended.¤

2) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. I loved this book, but I recognize that it is not going to appeal to everyone. It likely will not appeal to most science fiction fans (it isn´t space opera - it´s truly hard SF) and will not appeal to most alternative history buffs (it´s focus is very narrow). However, if you are an Apollo man-on-the-moon space program nut and love books like Chaikin´s A Man On The Moon, documentaries such as For All Mankind, and movies along the lines of Apollo 13 and From The Earth To The Moon, then you may just love this book as much as I did. Baxter answers the question what if instead of the space station and space shuttle programs NASA instead focused on a manned voyage to Mars. His focus is not on what happens when/if they get to Mars, but more on how they get there. Baxter does his homework and thoroughly thinks through the implications of his thesis. He shows not only the excitment of this alternative path of history, but the consequences as well. For me, reading Voyage was just as exciting as reading the memoirs of anyone associated with the Apollo space program.¤

3) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. This was a decent book, but far too long with far too much time devoted to flashbacks, as has been noted by other reviewers.



The biggest problem that I have with this book is the cover´s pushing it as "alternate history" based on the what-if of JFK surviving the Dallas assassination attempt. Every election that followed this failed assassination was the same as in "our" history with the exception of Ted Kennedy being the V.P. under Carter (rather than Mondale).



The idea that Kennedy surviving would have had almost no effect on subsequent history (with the exception of a Mars mission) is ludicrous. Think of all of the cultural and historical aspects of "our" society that center around Kennedy´s death (The Warren Commission´s Report, Camelot, Jackie O, Lloyd Bensten in the 1988 V.P. debate with Quayle, etc.). So much would have been different had JFK survived, and this book fails to address those profound changes. This is disappointing as an "alternate history."¤

4) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. In voyage, Baxter introduces the politics driving the space program. It is amazing any of the big space projects kept funding and momentum long enough to yield fruit. As always, I learned more about the world thanks to Baxter.

On the other hand, he unecessarily convolutes time lines and seems to have put down and restarted the manuscript a number of times (repetition of minor details). The convolution made a fairly simple narative take on an undeserved importance and helped camouflage the repetitive parts. I wonder if the book´s length is due to contractual obligation instead of story telling.

Regardless, the good overshadows the bad. I´m glad I read it.¤

5) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. Stephen Baxter´s VOYAGE takes place in an alternate past: What if John F. Kennedy had survived assassination and lobbied for NASA to send astronauts to Mars in the 1980s, instead of building the space shuttle? It´s a fascinating premise and certainly one worthy of a unique Mars novel.

Baxter himself holds a doctorate in engineering, so it´s no surprise that he really knows his way around the technical stuff of spaceflight. He´s quite knowledgeable in space history, as well. He presents an impressive amount of authentic detail, far more than I´ve seen in any other novel of its kind. Perhaps too much, in fact, because many spaceflight scenes repeat events and dialogue from real-life missions almost verbatim. On the whole, VOYAGE feels quite faithful to the era described, even if it´s somewhat too faithful. It´s also interesting to catch him using a few historic dates in spaceflight -- July 1976, April 1981, January 1986 -- so we can contemplate the differences in his alternate past.

Geologist Natalie York is VOYAGE´s most reliable protagonist; she comes across as determined but not easy to root for. Baxter makes a few generalizations based on astronaut mythology, and he rarely hides his disdain for NASA´s old "pilot vs. scientist" culture. One veteran astronaut is so surly that in the real space program he would have been permanently shelved from flight status (a la Wally Schirra). Nonetheless, Baxter avoids many of the stilted stereotypes of Ben Bova´s Mars novels, so at least these characters are more subtle and level-headed. For the most part, he steers clear of the soap-opera style plotting that cripples most Mars books, and that alone is commendable.

VOYAGE´s "major malfunction" is that Baxter spends far too much time laying the groundwork for going to Mars, and it dominates the pace of the novel. Almost nine tenths of this book is back story. The launch of the Mars flight opens the book, but by page 200 we´re only up to Day 3 and we´ve barely left the earth behind us. At page 466, we´ve reached Day 171 of the flight, yet we´ve only arrived at the swingby of Venus, and we´re still almost seven months away from the red planet!

While the author deserves praise for presenting a credible rationale for going to Mars, you can only go so far with a book about a Mars flight without actually describing the flight. I kept pleading for Baxter to get away from the project´s early days and get to the damn point, but it practically never happens. Once I figured out how diminished the Mars flight was, it took me ages to finish reading. Because it is so dominated by background, this 772-page story unfolds in almost geologic time.

Even with my complaints, VOYAGE is easily the most technically accomplished and reasonable Mars novel I´ve ever read, and I´ve read a great many of them. It is frequently interesting and packed with details, but I just wish Baxter had spent more effort flying the mission instead of building his case. It is a solid four-star novel if not for the heavy reliance on background.¤

6) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. Creates a recent past in which President Kennedy survives an assassination attempt to set in motion the next great NASA mission, a manned voyage to Mars, in a story of NASA´s detailed plans to visit the red planet--if they had ever been realized.¤

7) Hardcover Book Voyage by Harpercollins. Kennedy survived. Like many alternate history stories, that´s the premise of Stephen Baxter´s Voyage. But in Baxter´s version of the past, that one altered fact is the propellant that drives humanity into space, beyond the primitive lunar landings of the 1960s. Spurred by a JFK who champions space flight and a Nixon administration that backs NASA, humans reach Mars in 1986. But this is a tragic tale as well as a triumphant one, for Baxter´s relentless realism chronicles the perils of extended space flight as well as its glamorous achievements, making for a gritty, true-to-life story.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 9-Jan-2009, 00610525829780061052583, 820-800-440-340-3X0-080-8

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