Farside
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3.9 • 42 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Six-time Hugo-Award winner Ben Bova presents Farside.
Farside, the side of the Moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.
Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some thirty light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that will show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth, and if it bears life.
Farside will include the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth's radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the Moon's solid body.
Building the Farside observatory is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the Moon, under constant bombardment of hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns—mechanical and emotional—are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal.
What they find stuns everyone, and the human race will never be the same.
"Bova's latest novel is one of his best, and a classic use of the old sf theme of humanity reaching out for immortality among the stars."—Booklist (starred review) on Farside
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Customer Reviews
Tedious
The setting was accurately described as stark and sterile. The boredom of a real moon station came through in the writing. I could hardly wait for the trip back home. Very slow. Tedious read, with simple and unsympathetic characters. I know Ben Bova can do better because he has done better.
Classic Bova
This novel generally keeps with Bova's style. As you read it you clearly see it points to the next book, which I can't wait to start next. I've read every Bova book and I can easily rank this one well in comparison, not an easy task for an author getting long in the tooth who's been writing for decade after decade.
Did not expect a political statement on everything "liberal"
I thought the premise of the story was very intriguing. But, early on in the book, we got the standard liberal talking points:
Global Warming
Stem Cells
Etc...
The book is constantly referring to the Earth having higher water levels and the entire world is starving or homeless. Throw into that the terrible characters and the poor dialogue, and all hope is lost. I stopped reading after 50 or so pages.
Stick to the sci-fi man.