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Title: Saturn's Race by Steven Barnes, Larry Niven ISBN: 0-8125-8010-9 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 18 June, 2001 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.36 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A fascinatingly intricate novel, but not for everyone
Comment: Ever since William Gibson rose to fame by creating the sub-genre of Cyberpunk, he has had many imitators. With Saturn's Race, Niven and Barnes throw their hands into the cyberpunk arena. The result, as you might expect from such a time-honored team, is a new creation with a life all its own. Unfortunately I fear it will go over the heads of some readers, and may push emotional buttons for others.
This book is structured like typical Gibson cyberpunk - technology has run amok, governments are being subsumed by evil corporations run by the privilged few that hold vast power over the masses and are challenged only by anonymous freedom fighters hidden amongst the information overload of the global data net. Niven/Barnes go out of their way to include some of the expected plot devices of cyberpunk, as if to say "Make no mistake, we are playing in Gibson's sandbox."
At this point, the similarity ends. The novel does not read like Gibson. Gibson brought us constant action between black-and-white characters; the villains wear suits instead of black hats, but there are few surprises of character to distract us from the flying bullets and bizarre cyberscapes. Not that I'm knocking Gibson; I love his work and I think his techniques are exactly right for the type of novel he writes. But Niven and Barnes have always written their novels around complex questions. In this case they are asking the question "What if Gibson's future were to come true in the real world, with its human personalities and deep, convoluted history?" And that is a complex question indeed.
No sooner do the authors set up a traditional Gibson cyber-world, than they begin to populate it with people that might be your co-workers or neighbors. Just like in a real-life office, some of the corporate "suits" are good and genuine people. Some altruist "freedom fighters" are capable of being petty and self-deluding. Some people fight for senseless causes and some unwittingly support monstrosity for no better reason than the limitations of their own worldview. Half the novel is tied up in uncertainty over who the good guys and bad guys are - much like real life, especially in an election year.
Niven once noted, in the author's note to _Rainbow Mars_, that once he lays an idea on the table he likes to explore every aspect of it he can before he finishes the book. This approach becomes the greatest strength of _Saturn's Race_, but, I fear, will also limit its appeal.
The "evil corporation vs. oppressed masses" paradigm is huge, encompassing many issues within modern society. There is no way the authors could have dealt with every issue in exhaustive detail, unless they wrote a door-stopper the size of War and Peace. Instead, they opt to confront many issues in brief references with little explanation. For example, an episode regarding a group of researchers in Antarctica consumes no more than a few paragraphs throughout the book, but serves to address some of the violent scenes from Gibson that in their native context would raise no questions for us, as well as comment on the agendas of some of the real world's more unreasonable and militant organizations. It is a beautifully economic use of prose - but people who are not already familiar with the issues involved may not understand what the authors are saying.
Whether you like or hate this book will have a lot to do with where you are coming from. If you've read Gibson and have some working knowledge of politics and sociology, you will probably love the broad and intricate web woven by this gold-medal writing team. Otherwise, you will probably be bored by all the seemingly meaningless side-trips and underwhelmed by the central plot.
This book is also unsuited for any with hard-set political views. As many of Niven's prior novels are themed around a science such as physics or speculative biology, this novel's theme science is sociology. As a result, it cannot help but be political! Those who describe themselves as "hard left" may be upset at the book for saying that corporations can do good. Those claiming a "hard right" stance may be upset at the claim they can do evil. The book is not given to needless ideological posturing - but if politics get you irritated, leave this one on the shelf and read something different.
Rating: 5
Summary: Science Fiction At It's Best
Comment: A very rational and well written novel. It is the year 2020 and biotechnology is well advanced, particularly on the artificial floating island Xanadu, one of several floating islands. This novel has intrigue, terrorism, and a love story mixed in, and the outcome keeps you guessing. It illustrates also that any technology can be used for both good and evil. SATURN'S RACE is a page turner if there ever was one, fast-paced action, a great story in a relatively short novel.
This book would make an excellent movie, but Hollywood seems obsessed with monsters on Mars and other inane sillyness, but I digress. Anyway, this is excellent science fiction from Larry Niven, one of the masters, and Steven Barnes, another superb writer. Now, if I can only get that song by Olivia Newton John out of my mind!
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Niven's Best Work
Comment: Lenore Myles is in the Xanadu floating habitat to celebrate her recent graduation from UCLA. She hopes to go on to a brilliant career. Instead, she stumbles upon a bit of information that changes her life.
Sounds like a promising beginning for a story. Unfortunately, SATURN'S RACE fizzles somewhere along the line. Lenore gets part of her memory erased (including the crucial bit of info), which has a seriously negative effect on her life. She embarks on a quest to find out what happened to her and to get her mind back, but in the process she increasingly becomes a sideline in this story while the focus shifts to Chaz Kato, a man Lenore became involved with while on Xanadu.
SATURN'S RACE is often fast-paced and it raises some very relevant issues about man's future on Earth. Unfortunately, like Lenore, the story seems to get lost in its own shifting focus. It raises issues, but never provides any satisfactory resolution. Characters that seem important at one point become unimportant, and vice versa. In the end, it all bogs down in its own confusion and cliches.
I've read a lot of books either authored or co-authored by Larry Niven. Some were very good and among my favorites in the scifi genre. SATURN'S RACE, however, is not one of them. It is, in my opinion, mediocre. Does that mean it went over my head, as someone has suggested? No. Under my head, perhaps, but I think it's possible to "get" this book and still be underwhelmed by it. For me, it went briskly but I had had more than enough by the time I finished it. Ultimately, I don't read scifi to get other people's thoughts on the human condition. I read scifi for entertainment. SATURN'S RACE wasn't overly entertaining.
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Title: The Burning City by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle ISBN: 0671036610 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 22 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Dream Park by Larry Niven, Steven Barnes ISBN: 0441167306 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Man-Kzin Wars IX by Larry Niven ISBN: 0743471458 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: N-Space by Larry Niven ISBN: 0812510011 Publisher: Tor Science Fiction Pub. Date: 15 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Starswarm (Jupiter) by Jerry Pournelle ISBN: 0765345315 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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