Venus, continues Ben Bova’s planet by planet survey of the solar system in an interesting but fairly formulaic novel. The story follows the intrepid Van Humphries as he quests to Venus to recover the body of his lost astronaut brother. The book wanes from interestingly detailed accounts of Venusian science, at least from what we know to be accurate, to annoying, or even trivial social and moral quandaries. Basically there are a few good points about this book and there are a few bad points too.
In terms of placing this book, as far as I can tell the science elements of the fiction are pretty well researched. Bova shows us a, at least seemingly to me, realistic possibility of what the surface of Venus is like. He also has a knack for developing interesting exploratory situations, and I like the fact that the drama seems plausible. The problems seem to arise from the characters. The plot may be compelling, and the science is really fascinating but Venus lags in it’s character development. The character motivations feel pushed, their actions and reactions range from disagreeable to ‘comic bookish’ in their absurdity, but mostly the problem lies in the protagonist being just so incredibly unlikable.
I understand that Bova is trying to show us an arch in his character’s development. Van starts out as a sniveling loser, he considers himself a ‘Runt’, and although the motivation is somewhat explained in that his father always hated him blaming him for the death of his favorite son; I just don’t believe it. I mean, I know that people out there exist like that, but why, why, why would someone let themselves be so weak. I just can’t relate to or really understand him. Maybe it’s not that I don’t believe Van’s attitude, maybe I just don’t respect it. Perhaps that was what Bova wanted me to see when I look at his protagonist, but honestly, I don’t think alienating your reader from the hero is a good idea at the very beginning of your book.
The character arch that Van follows brings him perhaps closer to what readers might respect. But to me, it just felt pushed. Van is forged into a hero by the perilous quest he undertakes on Venus. Sometimes it seems to work, but then suddenly, something way over the top will happen and the reader is pulled out of the story by the incredulity of the story. This happens quite often during the interactions between Van and the token love interest, Margerite. Their relationship starts out well, but both character are sooo over the top at times that I just can’t get over it. The characters may be developed as well as possible, but I just don’t like them.
Ok, enough of that. Although the characters are fairly annoying at times, I’ve got to say that I did like this book overall. I’ve read about four of Bova’s novels now and even though they all follow a very similar structure, they really are for the most part entertaining. Venus shows a really interesting look at a planet that is sorely overlooked by most sci-fi writers and at least gives us an idea of what we might have to look forward to in the exploration of Venus. I enjoyed the action, albeit contrived at times and will definitely read more of Ben Bova’s books. That’s all for my ramblings here.
