By: Ben Bova Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 432 Publication Date: August 05, 2008 Release Date: August 05, 2008
Jamie Waterman discovered the cliff dwelling on Mars, and the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet sixty-five million years ago, only to be driven into extinction by the crash of a giant meteor. Now the exploration of Mars is itself under threat of extinction, as the ultraconservative New Morality movement gains control of the U.S. government and cuts off all funding for the Mars program.
Meanwhile, Carter Carleton, an anthropologist who was driven from his university post by unproven charges of rape, has started to dig up the remains of a Martian village. Science and politics clash on two worlds as Jamie desperately tries to save the Mars program and uncover who the vanished Martians were.
Bova Revisits Mars, We all Benefit Bova is one of the Grandmasters of science fiction, and his ongoing Mars series ("Mars" and "Return to Mars") fits into the grand epic "of his Great Tour future history. The addition of "Mars Life" to the series keeps the series alive and Bova turning out good stories and a vision of how science and the future may interact. In the Mars portion of books, Navajo tribesman, Jamie Waterman, had discovered ancient cliff dwellings, and has been nurturing the Mars program along ever since. But funding has been drying up, with environmental disasters on Earth mounting, and religious fundamentalism growing. And those fundamentalists see the possibility of non-human life on Mars threatening to their beliefs, and want all funding for further exploration on Mars stopped. When Waterman discovers a fossil, far from helping his case, it only puts his life in danger. This is science fiction in the classic sense.
More About the Martians Mars Life (2008) is the eleventh SF novel in the Grand Tour series, following Titan. The storyline, however, continues from Return to Mars. In that volume, Jamie Waterman -- a Navajo -- found a cliff dwelling much like those of the Old Ones back on Earth. The announcement of intelligent life, even though extinct, was a great sensation, but the fundamentalists were not pleased.
When everyone else was recalled to Earth, Jamie and Vijay stayed behind. Then the Navajo nation claimed Mars with Jamie as their immediate caretaker. When another Navajo came to occupy the claim, Jamie and Vijay returned to Earth and were married.
In this novel, twenty-three years later, Jamie and Vijay are still married and still in love. But their son has died in a skydiving accident. Jamie was on Mars at the time and returned to console his wife. He has spent the past two years close to her, never leaving her alone.
Varuna Jarita -- Vijay -- isn't quite as devastated as Jamie thinks. She has been waiting for him to work out his own pain. When he decides to go back to Mars, she is ready to go with him. After all, they can always use another physician with Mars experience.
Dex Trumball was a geologist on Mars with Jamie two decades before. Since then, he has been head of the Mars Foundation. He is Jamie's best friend, but they do disagree about tourism on Mars.
Carter Carleton is the oldest man on Mars and the only archaeologist. He has come to Mars to escape the false charges of rape leading to his forced resignation from the university. He is still angry at the fundamentalists who framed him.
In this story, the fundamentalists are still not pleased with the evidence of intelligent life on Mars. They don't want to believe that any other form of intelligent life has ever existed. After all, God made Man in his own image.
Religious fanaticism is being encouraged by the fundamentalist leaders. People who incur their wrath are being killed by members of their groups. Despite disclaimers of responsibility from the pulpit, these leaders are providing justification for such killings. Someone has even set off car bombs near scientific facilities at the University of New Mexico where Jamie works.
These same religious leaders are using the economic and political power of their congregations to ban the teaching of Darwinism in the public schools and the universities. They are also trying to suppress the search for intelligent life on Mars. They pressure the President into zeroing out federal subsidies for the Mars Foundation and force reductions in its private contributions.
When Carleton discovers a vertebra in the ruins of the Martian village that he is excavating, the fundamentalists try to suppress the news. The base personnel, however, volunteer to help Carleton uncover the rest of the village. Then they find the Martian burial grounds.
This tale takes Jamie back to Mars with a serious problem to resolve. He sees his own depression and anger reflected in the feeling of the scientists there. They have come to Mars to investigate significant scientific issues and find their projects endangered by the antagonism of the religious conservatives and the apathy of the common people.
The story has conflicts, intrigue and sex. The excitement rises from the first to the last. The details seem to be well thought out, yet it all seems so contrived. It lacks a feeling of spontaneity.
Suggested for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of Mars exploration, xenopsychology, and dedicated scientists.
-Arthur W. Jordin
A Fine Ending to the Mars Trilogy Legendary sci-fi author Ben Bova has written an exciting conclusion to his well-known "Mars" series of books.
Jamie Waterman, the Navajo mission director of the first two Mars missions, finds himself in a precarious position in this book. Despite having discovered ancient cliff dwellings on Mars as well as learning that some catastrophic cosmic event snuffed out all martian life roughly 65 million years ago, Jamie's new Mars team is facing challenges from the American government, fundamentalist groups, and donors.
The government, under pressure from the New Morality, has completely withdrawn funding for the Mars operation. Global warming has taken up most of the government's available funds, so there is nothing left for the Mars mission. Even Dex Trumball, former Mars team member and now friend of Jamie, can't keep the foundation money going to Mars. It appears that the Mars base will be shut down and the members foreced to return to Earth.
However, Carter Carleton has discovered a fossil which appears to have a backbone. Driven from his university post by a charge of rape, Carleton's discovery may be enough to save the Mars mission. Upon learning of the discovery, Jamie and his wife Vijay leave to go to Mars themselves. Not only has Carleton uncovered a fossil, but an entire Martian village as well. But, these discoveries have done little to sway public opinion on Earth. The New Morality still wants the mission cancelled, and eventually, Dex journeys to Mars to pitch his tourism proposal to Jamie; one he thoroughly rejected earlier. But does he have a choice now? Will the Mars mission come to an end, or will Jamie and Dex somehow find a way to keep the expedition going despite overwhelming odds?
The Mars series has become one of my favorites, and this great book keeps up the fine tradition established in the previous volumes. The characters are well-developed, and the story itself is very good. I was immediately drawn into the story, and I enjoyed the entire book. I've read numerous books by Ben Bova, and I'd rate "Mars Life" as one of the best.
I give this book my highest recommendation. Ben Bova has created a wonderful story about Mars. Read "Mars Life" and discover the secrets of the red planet.
A bit heavy-handed but message is dead-on Scientists have made an incredible discovery--structures left behind by intelligent beings on the planet Mars. These beings appear to have been wiped out in the same destruction that eliminated dinosaurs and most other life from Earth, but they left behind writings, and possibly other remains buried deep beneath Mars's surface. Unfortunately, the scientific mission to Mars is split by personalities and under attack by increasingly powerful and anti-science religious groups. These groups have not only lobbied the government to eliminate direct subsidies for science of any type, they also lead boycotts of companies who support science through private contributions, as well as encourage parents (and intolerant children) to cut off all contact between themselves and scientific research.
With the Mars mission he's dedicated his life to on the brink of collapse, Jamie Waterman resolves to return to Mars, to find a way to make the program continue--despite all of the obstacles to success. Waterman must find a way to resolve the political bickering on Mars, persuade Seline colony (on the moon) to take over funding responsibilities abdicated by Earth, and find some way to overcome the deliberate ignoring of scientific evidence by the people back on Earth. Even his allies doubt he can be successful, are proposing programs he'll never be able to support (e.g., tourism-funded Mars projects), and the Mars writing remains hopelessly stuck--lacking a Rosetta Stone to make it intelligible.
Author Ben Bova provides a grim but not too way-out look at a world (Earth) beset by runaway global warming, increasingly dominated by ultra-religious fanatics who share a hatred for the science that proves many of their cherished beliefs to be false, and unable to overcome its fear of progress. Even Bova's heroes, especially anthropologist Carter Carleton, in charge of the excavation of a suspected Mars village, are deeply flawed--being a scientist doesn't make a person perfect, after all. As time ticks down and the evacuation of the Mars mission seems inevitable, Waterman still struggles to bring the Mars scientists together around a unified goal--or even around the idea that a single goal is appropriate.
The strength of Bova's story lies in its view of a dangerous future in which the intolerant and ignorant have largely succeeded in shutting down the voice of science. A few characters, especially priest DiNardo, stand out as fully fleshed and interesting. As a priest and scientist, DiNardo wrestles with his faith, his science and a God who can permit so much suffering and evil to exist. Most of the other characters are less fully developed, furthering the story but not really engaging the reader's interest. (Bova tends to write plot-centered rather than character-centered stories).
I found the ending to be hopeful and enjoyable--although a bit far-fetched. Still, what Bova is really trying to do is remind us that while science can have both positive and negative aspects, ignorance is surely evil and must be fought. While Bova's delivery is occasionally heavy-handed, in today's world, this is a message that needs to be heard.
Predictable and Dull I own over a dozen Ben Bova books (including Mars and Return to Mars), so I'm obviously a fan. That doesn't stop me from giving Mars Life a mediocre rating. If you've read Ben Bova's earlier books, you will see that Mars Life contains numerous repetitions of previous themes and plots. This book also has predictable characterizations: Earth politicians are bad, entrepreneurs are good, businesses are half good and half bad, well-rounded scientists are good, tunnel vision scientists are bad, environmentalists are bad, nanotech researchers are good, etc.
The plot of Mars Life is dull and illogical. The Mars colony is endangered by lack of funds. Earth has undergone catastrophic global warming with massive ocean flooding. (I'm really tired of this plot. Note to sci-fi writers: Find something else to write about.) People and countries are fighting for high, fertile land and no one has time or money for Mars. Why is that a big deal? Because the colony is not even close to being self-supporting (though moon colonies have been self-supporting for more than a century). The scientists are doing nothing "Mars-shattering": standard geology, studying extremophile bacteria, and digging up a 64 million-year-old alien village. None of the research is urgent, so why the fuss about funding?
There's a bit more to the plot, but I'll stop now to keep this review from being duller the book.
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