Mars Life by ben Bova (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Title: Mars Life
Series: Grand Tour
Author: Ben Bova
Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Duration: 11 hours, 58 minutes
Copyright: 2008
Genres: science fiction
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Jamie Waterman has made an important discovery on Mars. A cliff dwelling reveals the fact that an intelligent race lived on the red planet 65 million years ago, only to be driven into extinction by the crash of a giant meteor. But now the exploration of Mars is itself under threat of extinction, as the ultraconservative New Morality movement gains control of the U.S. government and cuts off all funding for the Mars program.
Meanwhile, Carter Carleton, an anthropologist who was driven from his university post by unproven rape charges, has started to dig up the remains of a Martian village. Science and politics clash on two worlds as Jamie desperately tries to save the Mars program and uncover who the vanished Martians were.
©2008 Ben Bova; (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

MY TAKE ON IT: It has now been 20 years since the first expedition to Mars, and Ben Bova has accordingly advanced the technology of the time. The new torch ships, powered by nuclear fusion, can reach Mars in only four days, as opposed to the six month journeys of the early expeditions. The scientists also have new nano-suits which are much thinner and more flexible than the old hard suits. There is now a team of some 200 scientists, with a regular chain of supply ships coming and going. On the planet itself, more amazing discoveries are being made. In the canyon below Jamie’s cliff dwellings, the remains of an entire village has been discovered, and the team hopes to find more clues as to what became of the Martians.
We all know that it is conflict that drives a story, and Ben Bova introduces so many conflicts in “Mars Life”, that I hardly know where to begin. Throughout the Mars trilogy, there has been a battle of wills between those who would turn Mars into a tourist spot to make money, and Jamie Waterman, the Native-American protagonist of the three audiobooks, who is still fighting to preserve the planet’s natural state. On top of that, Bova now introduces the New Morality movement, a religious political party that has gained a lot of power on earth. New Morality believes all the discoveries on Mars to be blasphemous, and quietly works behind the scenes to cut funding to the Mars expeditions.
All that aside, “Mars Life” displays Ben Bova’s strong characters and easy style of writing. He has a way of describing things that anyone can understand.

NARRATOR: Stefan Rudnicki completes the three-audiobook series just as strongly as he began it. I always like it when a single narrator handles a series of books. Rudnicki’s deep, rich voice is easy to listen to, and he has a very natural style of reading.

FINAL WORD: “Mars Life” is a good end to Ben Bova’s trilogy of Mars audiobooks. I highly recommend them.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Mars by Ben Bova (Audiobook Review)
Return To Mars by Ben Bova (Audiobook Review)
Voyagers by Ben Bova (Audiobook Review)

----------dotted line----------

If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “Mars Life” by Ben Bova (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from AudioBook-Heaven.