Titan

The NASA Trilogy, Book 2

By: Stephen Baxter

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Signs of life have been found on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

A group of visionaries led by NASA’s Paula Benacerraf plan a daring one-way mission that will cost them everything. Taking nearly a decade, the billion-mile voyage includes a ‘slingshot’ transit of Venus, a catastrophic solar storm, and a constant struggle to keep the ship and crew functioning.

But it is on the icy surface of Titan itself that the true adventure begins. In the orange methane slush, the astronauts will discover the secrets of life’s origins and reach for a human destiny beyond their wildest dreams.

©1997 by Stephen Baxter (P)2021 by Blackstone Publishing

Part 2 of the NASA Journey

I decided to finish the series this past week, and so on Titan. As usual, Kevin Kenerly does a solid job ( sometimes a bit over the top, but hey, we all do that sometimes ) taking Baxters' story and bringing the characters off the page and into your head.

Baxter can be a bit repetitive, and the listener is never quite sure about his statements ( is he pro-manned space travel, anti-NASA, or what? ), and the never-ending references to old NASA traditions can get a bit trite.

That said, this story moves along, not quickly but with intense scenes and solid research. If you are into space exploration and reasonable alternative history, this one is for you. Recommended with reservations.

Baxter's Incredible Conclusions

I'll start by saying some of Stephen Baxter's works are my favourite books of all time (Manifold Series, Proxima) so maybe I'm a little biased. I absolutely love this book.

Set in an anti-science dystopian alternate version of Earth, NASA puts together a slapdash crew to send a manned mission to Titan just before the new conservative president pulls all funding from scientific missions. With the ozone layer completely stripped, the denizens of this planet retreat inward, choosing to spend most of their lives in Virtual Reality or seeking to go back to the days of hunter/gatherers.

This book goes from sci-fi to horror very quickly, as the crew sent to Titan goes through various hardships.

As my title said, Baxter is among the best at concluding a book. I wish this book was longer, giving us more time with the main characters as they struggle to come to grips with their new realities on Titan (I'm trying really hard not to spoil the ending here).

Though the beginning of the book is a bit if a slowburn, the ending is so imaginative and wonderful, that I'll definitely be giving this book another listen.

My one critique is the narrating. The narrator isn't bad, I just don't think his voice suits science fiction. If I had a million dollars, I'd pay for a different narration of this book.

Anyways, wonderful listen. If you enjoy hard sci-fi, you'll enjoy this. The first half of the book may be a bit slow, but isn't that the point of books? Not every chapter needs high action and a plot twist.

Thanks to anyone who read this review.

Lackluster, dispassionate narration

This is a great book. I read the physical version. Was hoping to rediscover it here. The voice actor does not do it even the slightest bit of justice. Not a shred of emphasis, minimal effort at accentuation. Breathy, intonations with weird emphasis. The narrator seems to be trying hard to comprehend the text. It sounds like a cold first take.
I’m not through the first chapter and I don’t think I can continue. It’s a massacre. Give me the guy who read “The Martian” instead.

True scifi!

An older book, but still visionary. Lots and lots of detail and fascinating extrapolations. A journey into the past of space flight and into a future that we are unlikely to ever see.
Also, two big thumbs up to the reader, Kevin Kenerly.

this is not your typical sci-fi.

bottom line: i dont recommend this if you are looking for imaginative fiction. it's a very technical and detailed novel, that moves very slowly. I did not particularly enjoy it because it lacked a creative spark, up until the last part of the book. hence, there seemed no compelling reason to continue reading for much of the book. the characters were static and flat. (spoiler) I was also unimpressed with the assumption that a single president could essentially ruin the world society in 8 years. that particular character seems to be a hyperbolic characature of a conservative, and this also soured my opinion of the book. given the focus of the plot, the author seems to emphasize the smallness and immaturity of humanity in the billions-of-years old star system. why was it needed to attack a political viewpoint? consistently?? it was used as a basis to bring about the end of the world. but it was so exaggerated as to lose believability. in short: this book was both boring and insulting.

Airborne HIV and pregnant men?

Let me start off by saying the first book Voyage was great. Well written speculative sci-fi. Couldn't wait to continue in the next book. I hardly ever write reviews but had to as a precaution. I had to struggle so hard to finish this one because it just kept getting worse and more preposterous. I read a lot of sci-fi and know the genre well. There needs to be an element of believability to buy into the plot, especially if it is hard science fiction as opposed to soft sci-fi or sci-fantasy. There will be spoilers so you don't have to suffer through it yourself. Main plot involves sending several randos to Titan using existing 80's technology. If you know anything about the space program you know that we can barely reach the moon much less even Mars. Why in God's name would you mount a six-year one way trip with tech not even designed to leave out low Earth orbit. With no funding and little support? When they do finally arrive the crew is surprised by how shitty and harsh the conditions are. Go figure?
It then goes into the deteriorating situation back on Earth. Something about mandating the education of a geocentric solar system, airborne HIV and pregnant men. Oh, and China purposefully crashes a Dinosaur-Killer into Earth. Not to mention the space rape by a 60-year old blind guy. Trust me, I can't even make this shit up.

Four hours I’ll never get back.

I only made it through 4 hours of this storyless monotone droning…I kept wondering, when does the story start? Maybe something interesting actually happens later on, but I can take no more. This one is definitely going back for a credit refund. Books that go over the top on unnecessary details and endless back-stories drive me crazy in general, but this one takes all of that to a whole new level. The first four hours I listened to were so dry and uninteresting I would frequently realize that I hadn’t absorbed a single word of it. The characters are so bland that I couldn’t care less what happens to them. If you have trouble falling asleep at night then this book may be your cure; otherwise I’d skip it.