Book Reviews March 2006

CELL by STEPHEN KING.  Oh dear! I've only been really disappointed by a new Stephen King twice before - Gerald's Game was pretty awful, and FROM A BUICK 8 was little more than a reworking of CHRISTINE. However, the latter at least had a story - CELL reads like one of those £1.99 DVDs you pick up in the supermarket in the bin marked "SPECIAL PURCHASE" - intensely disappointing, with ghastly characters and a scenario that takes off too quickly and descends rapidly into the realms of cheap fiction. Contrast this "end-of-the-world" tale with the sensitive and almost lyrical treatment it gets in THE STAND, and you can't help but be disappointed. Contrast the confrontational scenes with the zombies, with the same confrontational scenes in various episodes of THE DARK TOWER, and you'll wonder if this is the same author. We've read many times in the past how famous writers, stuck for something to satisfy their publishers, fall back on something they wrote years ago and stored for a rainy day. This really isn't that good; in fact the best thing about it is the cover. I ditched it for Val McDermid's THE GRAVE TATTOO (reviewed here) and was immeasurably more satisfied with the latter. I may return to CELL later in the year, but for the time being I have other books to get through for this issue, and CELL can wait. King should have stuck to his promise and stopped writing with DARK TOWER VII - that was the pinnacle of his career, nothing else can measure up to it, and CELL isn't one of King's best, in my opinion. You will, of course, make up your own minds - I know there are other reviewers who like it, but I'm afraid I did not.

Synopsis: Continuing his tour of the Solar System Ben Bova's thrilling new novel is set on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Titan Alpha has landed: the most complex man-made object to reach Saturn's largest moon. The ten thousand men and women of Habitat Goddard are once more at the frontier of science. From their huge, artificial paradise hanging in orbit above Saturn, some of them dream of landing on Titan's surface. Others will do anything to prevent such a landing. And yet others have darker, secret plans. But almost immediately, Titan Alpha goes silent. And minor, inexplicable faults start to affect Goddard. Is there a basic design flaw that could threaten the lives of everyone on board? Or has one of the many malcontents exiled to space decided to sabotage the probe or even the whole expedition? The newest chapter in Ben Bova's epic of space exploration brings to vivid, awe-inspiring life a barren world of swirling smog, frozen methane seas - and perhaps even a new sentient life form. Review: In the latest planetary saga from Hugo-winner Bova (Mercury, etc.), the familiar cast of characters to which we're already used, including Pancho Lane and Macolkm Eberly, continue to slug it out in deep space around Saturn, with Eberly attmpting to exploit Saturn's rings, and Lane going to extreme lengths to stop him. It's comfortable territory, brilliantly conceived and executed - there are no shocks, it's space opera at its very finest, with Ben Bova probably the greatest living exponent. Easy to read, easy on the eye, first-class modern science fiction with enough technology and hardware to keep you enthralled for a good few hours. First rate entertainment, and one wonders who there is in the pipeline to take Bova's crown from him.

ALSO PUBLISHED THIS MONTH (reviewed last year in Gateway): HARRY TURTLEDOVE: SETTLING ACCOUNTS ~ DRIVE TO THE EAST Paperback edition

Synopsis: This is a thrilling sequel to "Return Engagements" - next part in this fascinating alternate history series by the creator of "American Empire and Worldwar". It is 1942, and the Confederate States of America are locked in a tangle of jagged, blood-soaked battle lines with the United States of America. In Richmond, dictator Jake Featherston is shocked by what his own aircraft have done in Philadelphia - killing U. S. president Al Smith in a barrage of bombs. But he presses ahead with a secret plan on the dusty plains of Texas, where a so-called detention camp hides a far more evil purpose. The United States face a furious thrust by Confederate army into Pennsylvania. But with the industrial heartland under siege, Canada in revolt and US ships fighting against the Japanese in the Sandwich Islands, the most dangerous place in the world may be overlooked.