New Earth (Star Quest Trilogy)

This was my first Ben Bova book...and very likely my last... While the story itself was intriguing, and it DID cause me to continue through to the end, the characters and dialog were as paper thin as could be. I continuously rolled my eyes and even scoffed out loud at how petty and ridiculous the dialog was. The characters acted completely out of place given their status as the world's first interstellar explorers and seemed to be given characteristics of weakness specifically to fuel the poorly thought out need for internal conflict. The primary protagonist's final excuse for his behavior is so mind numbingly stupid that had it not already been the end of the book, I would have given up. I actually felt angry at how pathetic the the writing was. This is obviously a book that rode the coat tails of the rest of his career, but as my first exposure to Bova, how can I possibly give a second chance? Terrible book. I struggled over 1 star vs. 2 stars because I DID finish the book, but ultiamately, can't possibly recommend this to anyone...so I stick to the one star rating.

NEW EARTH follows the first manned Earth mission out of our solar system, an expedition to the surprisingly Earth-like planet Sirius C. When the explorers arrive at "New Earth", they find much more than expected - intelligent life, and scientifically impossible similarities to Earth. And as they struggle to unravel this mystery, Earth is undergoing its own catastrophes.

The premise of the book was pretty exciting - first contact with a mysterious planet and its uncanny inhabitants. However, the book itself was not very good, mainly because of its characters. I definitely understand that classic sci-fi sometimes doesn't have the most fleshed out characters, instead choosing to focus on the ideas and plot, and I still enjoy it. NEW EARTH`s characters were almost comically bad, though - the author seemed to have tried to humanise them by giving them flaws and problems, which take up a lot of the book, but are really stereotypical and badly resolved. For instance, the leader of the expedition, an acclaimed diplomat, is distraught over the death of his wife, which he feels responsible for. All his angst vanishes when he meets his first native girl, with whom he develops a passionate romance instantly, ignoring all concerns from his team. You would think that with his extensive diplomatic experience and his grief for his wife, he wouldn't go completely native over the FIRST woman he meets... but, no. Most of the other characters have similarly dumb plot arcs, and these arcs take up most of the book.

Aside from these terrible "character growth" plot points, the exploratory team's behaviour at New Earth doesn't really make sense. After an eighty year journey to get there, most of the team members seem to favour giving up and returning to Earth as soon as there's more to the planet than they expected ("there's nothing in the mission protocols about this!") Also, wow, humans must be ridiculously arrogant to assume that their orbital telescopes could definitely tell if there was life on the new planet - mission protocols should have covered the possibility. The scientists show no signs of curiosity, and are in general so indistinguishable from each other that their specialty and ethnicity has to be mentioned in almost every sentence they're mentioned (Longyear, the Native American biologist, Thornberry, the stereotypically Irish roboticist). I'd be so ashamed if human first contact with aliens was with that team.

I didn't realise that NEW EARTH was part of Bova's "Grand Tour" series (this is the 21st book set in the same universe), but I found it perfectly approachable as a stand alone. The worldbuilding aspects of the book intrigued me enough that I do want to read more of Bova's books set in this universe - the glimpses of what was going on in Earth and the other human colonies hint at a rich history. I'd be reading them more to get a sense of his vision of the future, though, and not because I expect them to be good books.

Lots of better science fiction books out there. From the description on the back, I was expecting maybe something a little more sinister. Nope. It was like watching an episode of Star Trek (but not as good). I began to also notice a pattern that I just could not ignore; city visitation followed by return to camp for table side bickering. This happens quite a few times throughout the book and it gets kind of lame because it's always for the same reasons. Namely, making discoveries in the city and then telling people back at camp about it where doubts always ensue. 2/3rds of the book is trying to convince those at base camp that the aliens are docile. just didn't do much for me.

Like other reviewers, I have enjoyed reading the author's books in the past. Also, like other reviewers, I found this book to be, in some respects, shallow and superficial. I will agree that the characters were not well developed. My chief issue was that the plot was implausible and inadequately developed.

My opinion while reading was that the author wanted to write a novel highlighting his concern over global warming. I believe his intense focus on the climate change issue blinded him to other issues regarding the novel.

Again the plot didn't work. A critical issue with the plot is that the Earth the author describes cannot come to pass. It is possible that climate change concerns may in fact be true. What is guaranteed, is that humanity has at least four potentially catastrophic changes to face before climate change becomes the number one enemy of homo sapiens.

In likely order they are:
1. Massive, unsupportable global debt that will collapse currencies and economies, probably before 2020.
2. Peak energy production. When energy production goes into decline, if population continues to rise, energy consumption per capita will nose dive. Less energy per capita means less of everything else, food, consumer goods, durable goods, transportation and climate control, to name a few. Most of our major energy sources are at peak right now.
3. Resource shortages. There are a number of resources beyond oil, gas and coal that are becoming a problem. A simple one to research is water. Some large population centers are facing shortages of water now. Others larger population centers will have problems in a few years or a decade.
4. Barring a dramatic change in global population growth, world wide famine is virtually guaranteed no later than the 2040s.

Note that war and countries competing for vanishing resources are not even included above.

As I mentioned, these hurdles are virtually guaranteed. They can be researched and confirmed by a single reasonably intelligent individual who has access to the internet and a home computer. They do not require scientists, colossal computers, manipulated datasets or government panels to confirm. They should be of overriding concern to every human, regardless of their stance on climate change.

The books plot only considers climate change in it's narrative. Earth's population and economic structure, in the novel, are inconsistent with any single one of the above mentioned issues. The civilization portrayed in the novel simply can't come to pass.

I finished the book, but more slowly than most of his books that I've read.

Pedestrian, formulaic, and lifeless are the words that come to mind when I think of this book, which is a fairly uninteresting and unexciting mélange of plot lines plucked from a host of prior works--apparently "simple" aliens who are not what they seem--check, their low tech that is really very high tech--check, suspicious, conflicted Earth scientists vs. the one open-minded Earth scientist who has little suspicion--check, Earth scientist falling in love with a gorgeous "native" woman---check, ancient AI behind it all--check, selfish, myopic Earth politicians who don't want to support space exploration--check, wave of energy from our exploding galactic core soon to pass through our stellar region, destroying all life--check, all put together in a way that just didn't work.

Add two dimensional characters to the mix and, voila.

It’s an exciting time for planet Earth. After searching for many years a planet has finally been found that will support human life. The nations of Earth waste no time in putting together a mission to travel to this distant planet and create an initial colony. Not long after the mission is launched, however, things on Earth take a decidedly negative turn. The planet’s climate shift has finally reached a critical stage. Ice caps melt, sea-levels rise, and the world’s largest cities suddenly find themselves underwater. Now the world’s resources are needed right here at home and the follow-up mission to New Earth is scrapped. Imagine if you will: you’ve just woken up from an eighty year sleep all set to begin exploring a new planet, and the first news you hear from home is that you will never receive any additional help or supplies from them. Heck, even radio messages take five years to travel between the two worlds. The intrepid explorers are completely cut off and on their own.

Having no other option really, the group decide to carry on with their mission. Scanning the planet below they are bewildered to discover a laser beacon shining up at them from the surface of New Earth. They know the planet was thoroughly scanned and studied from Earth and it was believed there would be no intelligent life here, so where did the laser beacon come from? These travelers don’t know it yet, but this is just the first of what will prove to be many mind-boggling revelations. Everything humans thought they knew about the universe is about to change.

<I><b>New Earth</b></I> is another classic example of the far-reaching imagination of one of sci-fi’s masters, Ben Bova. Bova can dream up the most implausible things and then explain them in a way that makes them seem perfectly plausible. I think that’s what has always drawn me to his books, the way he can put things into layman’s terms so that they make sense. I will say this for <I><b>New Earth</b></I> however: if you like a lot of action and suspense then this is probably not the book for you. The book is rather slow paced and there are really no action scenes at all, rather it is a story of exploration and discovery. It is more thoughtful than intense. If that’s the kind of book you like, then don’t miss this one.

Every single Ben Bova audiobook I’ve listened to, <I><b>New Earth</b></I> makes it 9, was narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. That’s a good thing because Rudnicki is a fantastic narrator. If you’re a fan of Bova then you probably know that his books always feature characters from a wide variety of nationalities: North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, you name it. Besides just being a good reader, Rudnicki is able to handle the cornucopia of dialects with an ease that frankly baffles me. How can he do so many accents so accurately? And how does he keep them consistent throughout an entire novel? I’ll guess at the answers to those questions: a lot of practice, and the guy is just a natural. Anyway, <I><b>New Earth</b></I> is another fine example of what a truly talented narrator can do.

Bestselling science fiction award winning author, Ben Bova, returns after setting the stage with Farside. The new Earth-like planet has been discovered and studied, and now some years later the first exploratory expedition is on its way to the distant planet, which is already being called “New Earth.”

The trip takes eighty years each way, as the crew sleeps in cryonic suspension, never aging. By the time they return to Earth, 200 years will have passed. But for now the crew has no thoughts of returning home, but finding out just what is happening on this planet. As everyone is brought out of their long sleep, everything seems to be functioning normally. Before they know it a weird light is seen on the planet and the following day most of the crew go down to explore and discover.

It is soon discovered that “New Earth” is inhabited by a considerable population of very human-like beings. In fact, the similarities are bizarre and at times astounding. Apart from the fact that they are able to speak English, they have names from Earth’s mythology and history, and appear to know a lot about the planet the crew calls home. Clearly there is a big mystery here that needs to be solved; the question is whether these alien beings are friends or enemies?

Originally written on August 26, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.

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I am frankly shocked by the last few reviews. Personally I am so enthralled by the book (not yet finished), that I felt compelled to see what others thought of it. Besides my shock at reading the last several bad reviews, the text of the "Book Description" is both a big bad spoiler but at the same time is also inaccurate. The sentence "They are on this mission not because they were the best available, but because they were expendable" was lifted right out of the book and was actually part of an argument between the characters. To lift another sentence out of the book (during the same argument) the scientists were the earths best and brightest.

I haven't, honestly, had (or made, I guess) much time for reading in the last 20 or so years but in High School I often read late into the night - my genre of choice being science fiction. (Of course, when I was in High School, there were no such things as movies that one could rent and play at home, no internet, no cell phones, no video games - the only portable entertainment to be found consisted only of books! That and board and card games.) This book places me squarely right back into my younger years when I would find such an exciting and fun story that I could hardly put the book back down. Besides an interesting plot (again - too much of which was inacurately put forth in the "Book Description") the sub-plots are equally fascinating - the main one being that we finally came to realize how badly we were polluting our own planetary environment and did come to the point of cleaning up said pollution but it was too late - the earth had reached her tipping point and climatic disaster abounds.

And it is due to that climatic disaster, that the government decided they couldn't afford the expense of promised follow-up missions to this first mission. The crew are essentially alone simply because radio messages take 8 years to travel in just one direction. And no - it isn't thought by the crew that it was a one-way trip at all. In fact when human life (perfectly human life down to the DNA level) is found on this far-flung planet, the leader feels the rest of the crew is so scared and bewildered that they will want to turn tail and run back to earth.

I strongly disagree that the characters are one-dimensional and, actually, there are reasons for some repetition of dialogue - mainly as arguments from the leader of the crew to get the other characters to let go of their mistrust of these "human aliens" - who answer all questions honestly but only giving as much away as is needed to answer the question accurately! The only repetition bothering me is that it is postulated over and over - how could this alien, but human, race be so far ahead of us (in some ways, with force fields and bio-engineering and 300-year life spans) and yet the planet is so very much younger than earth? I keep thinking "ask the question and get an honest answer from the alien humans for crying out loud!" But I don't find that to be a flaw but rather just one more reason to keep lifting the book to see when that one, single, most important question gets asked.

As I said, it has been a few decades since I have really found a book so amusing and fun to read that I find myself returning to it every night. I am like many and find myself drawn more to movies where one sits passively and stares at the cinema and television screen. But here, Ben Bova creates scenery and characters that stagger the imagination - the biggest being that the earth's disasters have completely transformed continents due to world-wide flooding thanks to melting ice caps.

As one reviewer stated - there isn't swearing (actually only one mild instance and I am almost completely through the book) - which I really appreciate. I have not even carried several books to book store registers when I find every other page filled with expletives. If a book was a story about biker gangs I could understand the - but not where the book is science fiction and the characters are supposedly well-bred and educated scientsts. So thanks Ben for creating a novel NOT filled with insulting bad language.

And thanks also Ben for creating, what I feel to be, a real page-turner that is helping me to turn off the television and get back into reading. This is one good yarn - one I will even recommend to my son who I just noticed had picked up a Heinlen novel from his High School library. That Heinlen book was turned into a not-very-good (but not bad) movie (through no fault of his own). I found myself thinking many times during my reading of New Earth that this story would make a really great movie!

Generally speaking, Ben Bova is one of my favorite writers. This book was, for the most part, good. Not great. There were a few parts where I had to roll my eyes. Characters were much more two-dimensional than I'm accustomed to from Bova. Having said all that, New Earth was still an enjoyable read. Don't expect much meat as far as hard science. This was more of a space romance.

I found the central romantic relationship between the human and the alien to be as plausible as a relationship between a chimp and a human. It's not good when a writer is unintentionally comic. This could have been treated in a much more thoughtful (and cautious) manner.

As a person who regularly reads and enjoys Fantasy, I couldn't get over the unbelievable nature of this "sci-fi" book. There were silly science mistakes everywhere. I found myself sighing and shaking my head throughout the book. The characters are in no way, shape, or form "scientists." As many have pointed out in reviews, the characters are undeveloped. I couldn't find myself liking or relating to any of the characters. The leader doesn't lead. Everyone bickers and there is just no way a group of top scientists on a mission to a New Earth would be so petty, immature, and unwilling to work together.

In the near future, scientists discover an earthlike planet orbiting Sirius, (about 8 light years from Earth). A starship is built and dispatched to explore the planet which is dubbed New Earth. The trip takes over 80 years, but the crew of 12 barely ages as they are in suspended animation. However, over 200 years have passed on Earth.

After waking up at their destination, the crew is astonished to find forests, oceans, and even intelligent life! The aliens appear human, right down to their DNA, although they are far more advanced technologically.

The group leader falls in love with one of the aliens and comes to trust her and the other aliens. He maintains some halfhearted doubts about the aliens' motivation, but the other members of the team are much more suspicious, skeptical and fearful. Their doubts increase when they discover that the planet is artificial, constructed to look just like Earth, so as to lure humans to it. The aliens clearly want something from the humans, but what could it be?

The story is really good, but most characters seem pretty one dimensional. For example, Doctor Meeks entire character and role is to be a naysayer who refuses to trust the aliens. The reason for his hostility is eventually revealed, and it is just plain silly.

This was a good first contact novel marred by mostly one dimensional characters and a fair but not great ending.

Misanthropic garbage! This book was little more than a long winded diatribe about how stupid, incompetent, and horrible humanity is. Beyond that the characters are idiotic one dimensional stereotypes, the writing is bad, the plot was slow and clunky, and absolutely no one's motivations make any sense (least of all the aliens'). This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read. It is my first by Bova and it may very well be my last.

Quite a bit better than 'Farside'.
Still not as good as most of the 'Grand Tour' books.
If the ancient aliens had the power to build this world to attract earth, why would they need earth to build ships to travel to and warn the other planets? An interesting premise to follow up, but it just doesn't make sense.

Wooden characters. Amateurish dialogue. Badly paced action. A premise, agonizingly slowly revealed, that does not reward the wait. Ben Bova has written many highly honored books and stories, and I've enjoyed a lot of them. But this book is just....bad.

Wooden characters. Amateurish dialogue. Badly paced action. A premise, agonizingly slowly revealed, that does not reward the wait. Ben Bova has written many highly honored books and stories, and I've enjoyed a lot of them. But this book is just....bad.