The Sunborn

February 14, 2005
In this unexceptional and somewhat slow-moving follow-up to The Martian Race
(1999), Benford sends Julia and Viktor, the first astronauts to land on Mars, off to Pluto to investigate a number of strange phenomena. The solar system's coldest, most distant planet appears to be heating up and developing an atmosphere. Stranger still, another expedition has discovered life on Pluto, in an environment where it shouldn't exist. Benford has always been fascinated by the possibilities inherent in extraterrestrial life, and he takes advantage of his own scientific specialty, plasma physics, to create some extraordinary creatures. The competently constructed plot details the unraveling of a series of mysteries via the application of scientific method spiced with credible intuitive leaps. What fails to satisfy, however, are the characters. Julia seems too perfect, while her husband, Viktor, is little more than a nice guy with a funny accent. The second exploratory ship's captain, the daughter of the billionaire who financed Julia and Viktor's original Mars trip, comes across as a Paris Hilton with an advanced degree in biology. Her scenes with Julia, which involve stereotypical assumptions about how powerful women must interact, can be painful. Hard SF fans will find this an adequate read, but Benford has done far better work in the past. Agent, Ralph Vicinanza.

November 15, 2004
A novel about the discovery of anaerobic life on Mars? Trust physics professor and Nebula Award winner Benford to pull it off.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2005
After their historic voyage to Mars and their discovery of alien life on the red planet, astronauts Julia Barth and her husband, Viktor, have become media darlings and the envy of rival astronaut Shanna Axelrod. When an expedition to Pluto led by Shanna runs into unexpected problems, Julia and Viktor are ordered to travel to the outer edge of the solar system to bring help. The author of "Beyond" "Infinity" has written another informative and entertaining story of human courage and curiosity set against a backdrop of hard science and political suspense. For most sf collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/15/04.]

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2005
With their death-defying exploration of Mars and groundbreaking discovery of primitive Martian life, Viktor and Julia have become history's most famous astronauts. Now, after a series of exploits deemed reckless by space agency bureaucrats, they are being pressured to retire and spend their remaining days handling agency publicity. Fortunately, the Mars mission's primary financier, billionaire John Axelrod, has the political muscle to reassign them to an ongoing Pluto mission before it's too late; but the trip has a price tag: rescuing Axelrod's zealous astronaut daughter, Shanna, from a calamitous exploration of Pluto's frozen methane surface. By the time Viktor and Julia reach the outer solar system, however, Shanna has not only set foot on the planet surface but also established contact with a walruslike native creature known as the " zand." Together, the three astronauts must forge a tenuous union to unravel the mystery of Plutonian life. Working from a thrilling premise and with original, speculative science, Benford, a premier practitioner of hard sf, is in top form.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)