SOJALS rating:

Mediocre (2/5)

I first read this in November 1998.

Paula Benacerraf, Isaac Rosenberg and Bill Angel and many others play their parts in America's last-gasp attempt at space exploration - the trip to Titan. Meanwhile, China is just starting to reach beyond the gravity well.

This is well-written, really rather good but somewhat depressing. It's depressing in a number of ways, one of which is its premise that America has given up on space exploration, and to a large extent, science. Still if you want to understand what space-travel is like today, this is the book to read.

I would write that this is a tragic, yet ultimately hopeful, tale of human determination and endurance, but that is far too corny and would be giving too much away.

What's it got? It's all conventional technology, except for the prevalence of "softscreens" and a throw-away comment about "cruise-viruses" (I can imagine them zooming through the network slipping under the firewalls). Oh, and aliens, sort of.