Product Description

Visionary space industrialist Dan Randolph is dead-but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, now sits on the board of his conglomerate. She has her work cut out for her. For Randolph's rival, Martin Humphries, still wants to control Astro and still wants to drive independent asteroid miners like Lars Fuchs out of business. Humphries wants revenge against Pancho-and, most of all, he wants his old flame, Amanda, who has become Lars Fuchs's wife.

Brimming with memorable characters and human conflict, rugged high-tech prospectors and boardroom betrayals, The Rock Rats continues the tale of our near-future struggle over the incalculable wealth of the Asteroid Belt, the richest source of raw mineral wealth known to humankind. Before it ends, many will die-and many will achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #804364 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Amazon.com Review
Ben Bova's second installment in the Asteroid Wars series continues his trademark style, with caricatured characters in a classic Greek dramatic structure duking it out against a high-tech, Libertarian-influenced, future-history backdrop. Billionaire jerk and womanizer Martin Humphries stirs the pot again, overcoming attempts to oust him from the Selene moon base. His grip on Humphries Space Systems and its economic scheming remains as tight as ever, but he still desires two things: control of the asteroid belt's rich resources and, of course, possession of the ever-elusive Amanda What's-her-name at the expense of likeable alpha male number two, gruff prospector Lars Fuchs. ("One look at Amanda's innocent blue eyes and full-bosomed figure and any man would be wild to have her." We're left to guess as to whether the "wide-eyed," "lusciously curved" Amanda has any other qualities, desirable or otherwise.)

For Bova fans, Rock Rats has it all--cool technology, whip-fast action, and choreographed intrigue--and this installment certainly ups the ante in the series. As Bova gravely notes, "[T]he Belt became the region where prospectors and miners could make fortunes for themselves, or die in the effort. Many of them died. More than a few were killed." --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
Noted space expert Bova returns to his planetary future history (Moonrise, etc.) in a hard-charging continuation of the battle for the Asteroid Belt begun in The Precipice (2001). Positing an Earth on the brink of eco-catastrophe, a recently independent moon and a frontier filled with prospectors and claim-jumpers out among the asteroids, it is a story that at first appears to be very familiar. But mixed in with the high-tech optimism and libertarian good faith are the darker elements of an older dramatic tradition. Keeping his themes classical love, jealousy, greed Bova gives his tale energy and focus through a love triangle that evolves into a vendetta. Lars Fuchs finds that he and new wife Amanda can't escape from the attentions of Martin Humphries, his rival for both Amanda and the Belt's mineral wealth. Trying to establish a home on Ceres, Lars and Amanda, with their fellow prospectors and miners, are threatened by increasing attacks on their property and lives. Ultimately, Lars must duel Dorik Harbin, the gunslinger sent to kill all who refuse to sign contracts with Humphries Space Systems. As in Greek tragedy, from which the author openly draws, there's no happy ending, only deception, gory murder, exile and planned revenge. Archetypal rather than well-rounded, characters suffer more from their own fatal flaws, hubris chief among them, than from each other's actions. Ambitiously juggling elements of space opera, western and Sophoclean drama, Bova keeps the pages turning.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Book two in a series that chronicles the struggle for control over the rich resources of the Asteroid Belt. In this not-too-distant future, the quality of life on Earth has taken a serious turn for the worse, but new frontiers are opening up on the Moon and beyond. Unfortunately, only the richest and most powerful individuals have been reaping the benefits so far, but perhaps those who take the most risks will win the upper hand in the Asteroid Belt-if these fierce individualists can ever agree on anything. Hard-bitten prospectors brave the dangers of space to find that lucky strike, the mineral-rich "rock" that can make them wealthy, returning for supplies and to hang out at the saloon on Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Belt. Meanwhile, a ruthless industrialist schemes from his base on the Moon, stopping at nothing, including the murder of several sympathetic characters, to own it all. Prospector Lars Fuchs and his wife Amanda fight to survive, encouraging the denizens of Ceres to form some sort of society to protect their common interests. Readers who enjoy plenty of action, do not require much in the way of characterization, and have a high tolerance for a rather vicious sort of violence should enjoy this book. It's not Bova's best, but his many fans should be entertained and intrigued.
Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Rabble In Arms
The Rock Rats (2002) is the second SF novel in the Asteroid Wars series, following The Precipice. In the previous volume, Kris Cardenas almost commits suicide over her sabotage of the Starpower 1, but decides to stay alive to ensure that Martin Humphries is convicted for his crimes.

On the Starpower 1, the crew abandon ship temporarily to burrow into the surface of Asteroid 32-114, a porous body like a huge sand pile, but Dan Randolph still receives a fatal dose of radiation. Before he dies, Randolph leaves all his possessions to Pancho Lane, including a huge block of Astro Manufacturing. After returning to Selene, Pancho is voted onto the board of directors of Astro, despite Humphries's opposition.

In this novel, Humphries's lawyers tie up Selene's courts on the exile order, but the courts still divest him of all his shares in Astro Manufacturing and Starpower. He crashes the wedding reception for Amanda Cunningham and Lar Fuchs and presents them with a wedding present: the refurbished Starpower 1. While he hopes that Lars will go to the Belt and leave Amanda behind, the couple foil Humphries by leaving together.

The more Amanda avoids Humphries's attempts to get her into bed, the more he is infatuated with her. His latest ploy is a trading and maintenance center on Ceres, the largest asteroid. Amanda convinces Lars and Pancho to open another trading company, Helvetia Inc., in competition with Humphries Space Systems, with Astro providing the goods at low cost. They now have a larger clientele than HSS.

Humphries's aide suggests a carrot and stick approach to the problem. After consulting with his security chief, Humphries agrees to applying violence to Helvetia customers. A month later, rock rats start dying.

First three ships disappear and later the HSS files claim on asteroids that they have discovered. Then there is a fire in the Helvetia warehouse. When HSS men murder the chief engineer on the habitat project, the body is taken to Kris Cardenas, who determines the cause of death and even the name of the murderer.

Lars tracks down the murderer, goads him into attacking him with the murder weapon, and then kills him thoroughly. Under Lars's insistence, a court is formed to try him for murder. Of course, the court finds him innocent, but a precedence is set for the formation of a government in the Belt.

This novel relates the beginning moves in the Asteroid Wars. HSS has attacked first and the rock rats are far behind. Yet this anarchy of individuals is finally starting to think of the social implications of an HSS monopoly and is appalled at the idea.

Recommended for Bova fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of corporate battles, social conflict and personal frustrations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Good science, wretched characters
Earth is self-destructing into global warming, new morality, desertification, and starvation. The moon is independent but civilized. Now, the real frontier is the asteroid belt--an area where a man can dream about the big find that will make him rich--and where most of the money is collected by the merchants, the companies that transport ore back to Seline and Earth, and by the barmen and entertainers. When Amanda Cunningham marries Lars Fuchs, Martin Humphries conceives of a clever plan--give the couple a spaceship as a wedding present and send Lars out on a wild goose chase. While he's gone, Humphries is certain that he can persuade Amanda to join him in his bed--and as his wife. When Amanda decides to join Lars on the ship, Humphries has to scheme more deeply, setting off piracy and violence in the anarchic asteroid belt. With his resources, this isn't difficult for Humphries--and he knows that Lars will react just fine.

THE ROCK RATS continues author Ben Bova's near future saga with a number of recurring characters. Bova's science--from asteroid hunting to nanotechnology to global warming to using the gravity of an asteroid to conserve fuel--seems sound and provides an intriguing backdrop to the story. Similarly, his new morality movement on Earth as well as occasional references to terrorism are interesting extrapolations from today into the near future.

Where Bova falls short is in his characters. Amanda spends much of THE ROCK RATS whining about wanting to return to Earth--apparently unconcerned that she and Lars provide the only competitive supply source for the thousands of explorers and miners who are their friends--and the hope of humanity's survival. Lars lets hatred and jealosy motivate his behavior and drive him into simply unforgiveable acts. Pancho Lane, a major character in THE PRECIPICE (see our review) is a cameo character without a lot of depth. Even Humphries' beautiful and deadly assistant Diane Verwoerd becomes terminally stupid toward the end of the novel. Frankly, although Humphries is the badguy, he's the only sympathetic character in the novel.

Slightly better than The Precipice
The second book of The Asteroid Wars is slightly better than the first, primarily because there's more action, but it suffers from the same flaw as the first, namely characters that just aren't that interesting. I'd put Bova in the same general class as Tom Clancy: good when writing about hardware, but unable to write characters with any real depth. If you want to read a good book by Bova, start with Jupiter or Venus which focus much more on science and hardware than this book.