Moonwar FROM OUR EDITORS
Ben Bova continues his story of colonization with Moonwar, in which a small group of scientists and technicians successfully secede from an Earth determined to suppress their research, by force if necessary. It's one of Bova's most convincing near-future extrapolations.
—Don D'Ammassa
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Seven years after the remarkable Stavenger family made Moonbase a reality, a substantial community lives, labors and flourishes under the leadership of Doug Stavenger, thanks to the wonders of nanotechnology - virus-size machines that can build, refine, cure, create...and destroy. But the science that sustains and supports the young off-Earth colony has been declared illegal and immoral by the home planet's rulers. And one man with the power to dictate policy is launching war's madness across the heavens - determined to lay claim to Stavenger's peaceful city or obliterate it if necessary - forcing an isolated society with no arms or military to defend itself with nothing but ingenuity and the tools that built and maintain the settlement.
SYNOPSIS
Ben Bova has been a leading authority in the world of science fiction for more than three decades. In his writing over the years, he has predicted the space race of the 1960s, virtual reality, the Strategic Defense Initiative (a.k.a. Star Wars), and even electronic book publishing.
Ben Bova's latest novel, Moonwar, is the much-anticipated continuation of his Moonbase Saga. Seven years following the events of Moonrise, which chronicles the remarkable Stavenger family and their pursuit of making Moonbase a reality, a thriving community lives and flourishes under the leadership of young Doug Stavenger.
This community inside of Moonbase is made possible by nanotechnology, the use of virus-sized robots that assemble matter atom by atom. But these minuscule machines that can be so useful and are necessary for Moonbase's existence also have a dangerous and destructive side. The science that sustains and supports the young colony has been declared illegal and immoral by the home planet's rulers. When Earth issues a ban on nanotechnology, Moonbase declares independence from its home world in order to survive.
In no time, U.N. troops are dispatched to face the Moonbase rebels, and Moonbase is forced to defend itself with nothing but ingenuity and the tools that built and maintain the settlement. This results in a battle of technology spurred by political ambition and fueled by weapons of mass destruction that leads to "loads of tension and excitement," says Kirkus Reviews.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Though riddled with SF clichs and stock characters, Bova's sequel to Moonrise is nonetheless an exciting high-tech adventure that puts the fledgling lunar colony known as Moonbase in dire jeopardy as political forces seek either to wrest control of it or to destroy it. Nanotechnology has been outlawed on Earth, but it is essential to Moonbase's functioning. The colony's leader, Douglas Stavenger, whose body is full of benevolent nanotech, must find a nonviolent way to foil the United Nations' Peacekeeper forces long enough for the base to be declared an independent nation and thus one that can legally continue to work with the outlawed technology. Georges Faure, Secretary-General of the U.N., has his own greedy plans for Moonbase, but he succumbs to the sexual charms of Edith Elgin, a gorgeous reporter who wheedles her way onto the U.N.'s troopship and then into the base itself. Her dispatches blow open the truth about what is occurring on the besieged colony, even as her presence creates a romantic dilemma for Doug. Spies, fanatics, sexy women and broad expanses abound as technology and good planning overcome brute force and canny capitalists. Readers who don't mind female reporters who "give some head to get ahead" and U.N. directors who proclaim that "resistance is futile" should find Bova's latest romp on the moon exciting and fun. (Feb.)
Library Journal
Defying a UN directive to cease their nanotechnology research and surrender control of their lunar colony, the citizens of Moonbase choose a desperate course of action to ensure their freedomor their total destruction. This sequel to Moonrise (LJ 12/96) presents a countdown to confrontation between a fully equipped military force from Earth and a weaponless community of idealists armed only with their wits and determination. Veteran sf author Bova remains one of the genre's best at creating suspense-filled high-tech dramas; only his unfortunate tendency toward ethnic stereotyping detracts from this otherwise top-notch story. A solid, though flawed, purchase for most sf collections.
Kirkus Reviews
Having done all the stage-setting for his near/medium-future lunar saga in Moonrise (1996), Bova slams right into the action in this declaration-of-independence sequel. The fanatical UN Secretary General, Georges Faure, determined to destroy Moonbase and the nanotechnology he has successfully outlawed on Earth, dispatches a force of Peacekeepers to land on the Moon and occupy the defenseless facility. But whiz-kid Doug Stavenger, his body full of nanomachines that preserve and keep him healthy, has other ideas. So, as brilliant but irascible nanomachines designer/programmer Wilhelm Zimmerman protects Moonbase from the UN troops, Doug slowly uncovers the complicated plotting behind Faure's move: A small group of zealots will do anything to prevent the growth of nanotechnology; the chairman of the Masterson Corporation, owner of Moonbase, wants to be mega-rich; and the owner of the powerful Yamagata Corporation has overwhelming personal reasons for wanting control of Moonbase. The first UN attack is defeated, but another will surely follow, while a saboteur prowls Moonbase and an assassin with a grudge goes after Doug's mother while she's on Earth attempting to negotiate. Somehow, Doug must swing public opinion behind Moonbase, its bid for independence, and its pro- nanotechnology stance, and defend it against the fanatical killers who would murder everybody on the Moon rather than allow Moonbase to survive. Rousing, inventive, persuasively knotty, with loads of tension and excitement: overall, far more involving and gripping than the previous volume.
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