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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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Ben Bova
About this listen
Dan Randolph never plays by the rules. A hell-raising maverick with no patience for fools, he is admired by his friends, feared by his enemies, and desired by the world's loveliest women. Acting as a 21st privateer, Randolph broke the political strangle-hold on space exploration, and became one of the world's richest men in the bargain.
Now an ecological crisis threatens Earth—and the same politicians that Randolph outwitted the first time want to impose a world dictatorship to deal with it.
Dan Randolph knows that the answer lies in more human freedom, not less—and in the boundless resources of space. But can he stay free long enough to give the world that chance?
©1993 Ben Bova (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.
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Great book but substandard recording
- By Greg on 11-25-11
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Death Wave
- The Star Quest Trilogy, Book 1
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- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
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When Kell and his team return to Earth many years after their departure, they find that their world has changed almost beyond recognition. Not only has a second wave of greenhouse flooding caused sea levels to rise, but society has been changed by the consequences of the climate shift. Few people want to face Jordan Kell's news. He must convince Earth's new rulers that the human race is in danger of extinction unless it acts to forestall the death wave coming from the galaxy's heart.
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complete let down don't waste a credit! !
- By Ryan on 12-02-15
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The Sam Gunn Omnibus
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A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.
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SAM GUNN LIFE STORY
- By Professor on 11-02-12
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The Best of Bova, Volume 1
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- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here are tales of star-faring adventure, peril, and drama. Here are journeys into the mind-bending landscapes of virtual worlds and alternate realities. Here you'll also find stories of humanity's astounding future on Earth, on Mars, and in the solar system beyond - stories that always get the science right. And Bova's gathering of deeply realized, totally human characters are the heroic, brave, tricky, sometimes dastardly engineers, astronauts, corporate magnates, politicians, and scientists who will make these futures possible.
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A tribute, not a gem
- By Maksim on 08-05-17
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The Kinsman Saga
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In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything one can in space - including commit the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony. A series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances will force Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman will struggle against a deadly dilemma: if he rescues the world, he risks destroying himself.
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Slooow unraveling keeps you on edge of your seat
- By GH on 07-17-13
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Mars, Inc.
- The Billionaire's Club
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- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
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How do you get to the Red Planet? Not via a benightedgovernment program trapped in red tape and bound by budget constrictions,that's for sure. No, what it will take is a helping of adventure, science,corporate power plays, a generous dollop of seduction - both in and out of theboardroom - and money, money, money!
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Disappointing by any standard
- By Rick Moyers on 02-10-21
By: Ben Bova
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Powersat
- The Grand Tour Series
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.
-
-
Great book but substandard recording
- By Greg on 11-25-11
By: Ben Bova
-
Death Wave
- The Star Quest Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kell and his team return to Earth many years after their departure, they find that their world has changed almost beyond recognition. Not only has a second wave of greenhouse flooding caused sea levels to rise, but society has been changed by the consequences of the climate shift. Few people want to face Jordan Kell's news. He must convince Earth's new rulers that the human race is in danger of extinction unless it acts to forestall the death wave coming from the galaxy's heart.
-
-
complete let down don't waste a credit! !
- By Ryan on 12-02-15
By: Ben Bova
-
The Sam Gunn Omnibus
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Richard Brewer, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, and others
- Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A hero without peer or scruples, Sam Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women, though not necessarily in that order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest astronaut NASA ever trained and dumped. But more than money, more than women, Sam Gunn loves justice—and he really does love money and women.
-
-
SAM GUNN LIFE STORY
- By Professor on 11-02-12
By: Ben Bova
-
The Best of Bova, Volume 1
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Vikas Adam, J. Paul Boehmer, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here are tales of star-faring adventure, peril, and drama. Here are journeys into the mind-bending landscapes of virtual worlds and alternate realities. Here you'll also find stories of humanity's astounding future on Earth, on Mars, and in the solar system beyond - stories that always get the science right. And Bova's gathering of deeply realized, totally human characters are the heroic, brave, tricky, sometimes dastardly engineers, astronauts, corporate magnates, politicians, and scientists who will make these futures possible.
-
-
A tribute, not a gem
- By Maksim on 08-05-17
By: Ben Bova
-
The Kinsman Saga
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything one can in space - including commit the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony. A series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances will force Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman will struggle against a deadly dilemma: if he rescues the world, he risks destroying himself.
-
-
Slooow unraveling keeps you on edge of your seat
- By GH on 07-17-13
By: Ben Bova
-
Mars, Inc.
- The Billionaire's Club
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do you get to the Red Planet? Not via a benightedgovernment program trapped in red tape and bound by budget constrictions,that's for sure. No, what it will take is a helping of adventure, science,corporate power plays, a generous dollop of seduction - both in and out of theboardroom - and money, money, money!
-
-
Disappointing by any standard
- By Rick Moyers on 02-10-21
By: Ben Bova
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Voyagers
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Ben Bova
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Stoner knew. The fiery object hurtling toward the Earth was an alien spacecraft. But the world might never know. He was trapped in an iron cordon of secrecy, for the discovery had shattered the world power balance, setting off a brutal struggle for supremacy that raged from the sacred halls of the Vatican to the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. The forces of fear and treachery would use any weapon at their command, from mind war to sabotage, to keep the world in darkness.
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Not Quite "Rendezvous With Rama"
- By Noe on 02-26-09
By: Ben Bova
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Able One
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When a nuclear missile launched by a rogue North Korean faction explodes in space, the resulting shock wave destroys most of the world’s satellites, throwing global communication into chaos. U.S. military satellites, designed to withstand such an assault, show that two more missiles are sitting on launch pads in North Korea, ready to be deployed. Faced with the threat of a thermonuclear attack, the United States has only one possible defense: Able One.
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Wasted
- By Michael on 03-08-10
By: Ben Bova
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Power Play
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Dr. Jake Ross, a university astronomer, wants nothing more than to teach a few classes each semester and continue his research. Instead, he finds himself aggressively recruited to be the science advisor to Frank Tomlinson, an ambitious politician with his eye on the US Senate. Tomlinson is in need of an edge that will allow him to defeat his opponent at the polls, and Dr. Ross can contribute just that: MHD. MHD, or magnetohydrodynamics, is a new innovation that will allow electricity to be generated efficiently and cheaply. But MHD is still in its infancy, and there are deadly risks.
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Anticlimactic
- By Luetra on 06-23-21
By: Ben Bova
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The Winds of Altair
- By: Ben Bova
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Earth is an old planet, and her teeming masses are running out of resources - and time. It is up to men such as Jeff Holman to discover a haven for Earth’s millions. Altair VI is one such planet, and Holman is determined to transform this world into one where the human race can survive. Star probes long ago informed Earth that Altair VI had a flourishing ecology with one very tough beast at the top of the food chain, one that will have to be dealt with before the human colony ships arrive. The beast is not only tough, it is as smart as a man. Holman is faced with a soul-wrenching decision - for to make Altair VI habitable for humans, all native life must die.
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A classic Bova. Intriguing & Enjoyable
- By Read4Life on 08-27-21
By: Ben Bova
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2001
- A Space Odyssey
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It has been 40 years since the publication of this classic science-fiction novel that changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man adventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.
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The Movie Makes More Sense Now
- By Douglas on 12-10-08
By: Arthur C. Clarke
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Footfall
- By: Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 24 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
They first appear as a series of dots on astronomical plates, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. Since the ringed planet carries no life, scientists deduce the mysterious ship to be a visitor from another star. The world's frantic efforts to signal the aliens go unanswered. The first contact is hostile: the invaders blast a Soviet space station, seize the survivors, and then destroy every dam and installation on Earth with a hail of asteriods.
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Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle at Their Best
- By Flatlander on 06-24-10
By: Larry Niven, and others
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Legacy
- A Prequel to Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown.
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Barely related to Eon and Eternity
- By David A. Kingston on 02-21-15
By: Greg Bear
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New York 2140
- By: Kim Stanley Robinson
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren, Robin Miles, Peter Ganim, and others
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
New York Times best-selling author Kim Stanley Robinson returns with a bold and brilliant vision of New York City in the next century. As the sea levels rose, every street became a canal. Every skyscraper an island. For the residents of one apartment building in Madison Square, however, New York in the year 2140 is far from a drowned city. There is the market trader, who finds opportunities where others find trouble. There is the detective, whose work will never disappear—along with the lawyers, of course.
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Complex, believable, nuanced, riveting
- By Lois on 04-07-17
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Astray
- The Adventures of a Xeno-Archaeologist, Book 1
- By: Jenny Schwartz
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nora Devi is a xeno-archaeologist with a complicated past. She has buried more secrets than she’s dug up. Widowed in the recently ended twelve year war between Capitoline and Palantine, she now makes a living as an independent tagger in border space. Captain Liam Kimani could be credited with ending the latest royal war. Instead, he’s blamed for it. Dirty commoners aren’t meant to lay their hands on royalty. He has no regrets.
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Disappointingly YA
- By Gretchen on 07-17-23
By: Jenny Schwartz
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Between Planets
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Don Harvey is a citizen of the Interplanetary Federation - yet no single planet can claim him as its own. His mother was born on Venus and his father on Earth, and Don himself was born on a spaceship in trajectory between planets. When his parents abruptly summon him away from school on Earth to join them on Mars, he has no idea he's about to be plunged into deadly interplanetary intrigue. But the ship Don is traveling on is unexpectedly diverted to Venus, where the colony has launched a revolution against Earth's control.
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Like a breath of fresh air
- By MikeFarr on 03-28-17
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Seveneves
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal, Will Damron
- Length: 31 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
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Odd narrator choice
- By Josh Mitchell on 05-30-15
By: Neal Stephenson
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Earthlight
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The time: 200 years after man's first landing on the Moon. There are permanent populations established on the Moon, Venus, and Mars. Outer space inhabitants have formed a new political entity, the Federation, and between the Federation and Earth a growing rivalry has developed. Earthlight is the story of this emerging conflict.
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A brilliant science fiction spy work
- By Daniel Davis on 06-13-16
By: Arthur C. Clarke
Critic reviews
Not as good as the others.
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Don't bother
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I loved it!
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To political.
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A bit about the story. Ben Bova creates a futuristic society where Earth has expanded to the moon and now mines space. The main character, Dan Randolph, is a wealthy business man who is one of top seven privately owned companies that run trade. His business is regulated by the Global Economic Council (GEC) who are not big fans of Dan Randolph. Some of the GEC leadership is looking to consolidate the world under one power and eliminate private run corporations that operate in space. This leads to some financial and legal trouble for Dan and a quick downward spiral when the GEC goes after him. As a protagonist Dan Randolph is easy to follow because he wants to do the right thing and seems to care more about others more than money despite being one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world.
I have been critical of some Stephen Rudnicki's performances in the past, but in this book he was a good fit. So, I definitely got my money out of this one (5 dollar bin). This is my second Ben Bova read. I am currently enjoying his Orion series. Ben Bova is a well established writer so it is hard to go wrong trying this one out.
Global Climate Change
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The lack of continuity hurts the story.
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Ben Bova (Chicken Little)
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It’s an Ok story. Narration is very good
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a minor annoyance
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Although most of this "Grand Tour" series is free in my audible plus library, I’ve lost interest, at least for now. The books in this "series" are all stand-alone, although some of the key characters from Powersat are also key characters in this book. I may give another book from this series a chance somewhere down the road, but this one really put me off.
As always, Stefan Rudnicki is excellent in his narration.
Ridiculous and totally unrealistic premise
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