A Bit of a
Slower Starter, But with a Strong Finish
Set in 2066, Saturn Run
is the story of the race between the United States and China to reach an alien
space station and obtain the advanced technology that is expected to be there.
In general, the book starts a bit slow. Much of the first part involves the description
of the various people on the mission and in the government on the ground. It provides the fodder for the rest of the
story, in somewhat of a systematic and plodding way, and unfortunately, with
some unnecessary repetition. After the introductions and when the alien
spacecraft is sighted, the government team transitions quite quickly from the threat to humanity that the alien technology
poses to the threat to dominance that getting to Saturn second poses. At that point, I asked myself, would we
really dash off to an alien space base without considering self-defense more
fully? I was surprised that the
government did not want to know more about the aliens and their capabilities
before they went on what might become essentially an interplanetary burglary
mission. But that race forms the basis
for the story.
The
authors’ synopsis loosely compares this book to The Martian. I can see
that. Both are based in space and
require solutions to nearly impossible engineering problems for the characters
to survive. The big difference to me was
that the issues in The Martian are
related to ones that everyone can identify with – having air, growing food,
making water… I have a much harder time
relating to the problem of dissipating 600-degree Celsius heat, which was the
central concern in Saturn Race;
however, the solution seems reasonable and ingenuous, although the means to
encapsulate the molten metal so it does not form drops (rather than sheets)
seems a bit of smoke and mirrors.
But other than the solution to this central engineering problem,
the technology of 2066 seemed to have changed little. The
viewing technology – vids and screens – seems almost unchanged from today. We seem to have no Artificial Intelligences
onboard or working issues groundside as far as I can tell. Implants seem to be something like cochlear
implants – they seem to be hearing pings and communications. And so on.
I guess I expected to see more tech of the future based on current
trends and less of what we have today.
While there was
some suspense and tension in the first part of the book, it ramped up quite a
bit for me in the last half, and I particularly liked the series of twists at
the end. Every time I thought the crew
had covered every eventuality, something unexpected happened. Additionally, the book hit one of my sweet
spots – specifically, avoiding the use of totally made-up, non-science that is
required to save the day in many science fiction stories. Don’t get me wrong – total fabrications can
be fun and entertaining. And something
beyond current state-of-the-art is needed in any story. But for me, to move beyond fun and into being
a really absorbing read, you can’t pull the world away from the brink of
destruction solely on the weight of a completely unbelievable capability. It’s too cheap, too easy. The authors avoided that pitfall.
Overall,
early on, I was not sure I was going to get into this book. But some of the tech caught my interest,
and then, the way the tension and suspense built, I ended up liking it a lot. I believe other fans of science thrillers
will as well.
