Voyagers by Ben Bova (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Title: Voyagers
Series: Voyagers, book 1
Author: Ben Bova
Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
Copyright: 2006, Blackstone Audio
Duration: 13 hours, 40 minutes
Genres: science fiction, seti, first contact
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Stoner knew. The fiery object hurtling toward the Earth was an alien spacecraft. But the world might never know. He was trapped in an iron cordon of secrecy, for the discovery had shattered the world power balance, setting off a brutal struggle for supremacy that raged from the sacred halls of the Vatican to the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. The forces of fear and treachery would use any weapon at their command, from mind war to sabotage, to keep the world in darkness.
Aided by a brilliant Soviet linguist and a lovely young student, Stoner planned a desperate mission, a wild, heart-stopping gamble to preserve the legacy of the star voyager for all mankind.
©1981 Ben Bova; (P)2006 Blackstone Audiobooks

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: How would our world react if we were suddenly given incontrovertible evidence that we were not alone in the universe; that there were other intelligent beings out there? Would the nations of Earth unite, or would there be even more discord as different governments tried to lay claim to the benefits that might arise from such a meeting? These are the questions that Ben bova addresses in his novel Voyagers.
An old radio telescope at a small American university, a telescope operating at a much lower frequency than the newer hi-tech scopes, picks up a signal from outer space. It is quickly determined that the signal is not natural, and that it is coming from the vicinity of Jupiter. Scrambling scientists are just able to determine that the signal is coming from a mobile spacecraft, when the object abruptly leaves Jupiter orbit and sets a course directly for Earth.
Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, envisioned a future where our first contact with aliens caused the entire world to unite and finally begin working together. Disease, poverty, and hunger quickly became nothing more than bad memories in Roddenberry’s dream. Ben Bova’s view is not quite so optimistic. Instead, he pictured Americans and Soviets trying to out-do each other in order to be the first to get their hands on alien technology. Only when it became clear that neither country could do it on their own, did they begin to work together.
All things considered, I’m not really sure that Bova achieved his goal. Voyagers focuses primarily on a small handful of people, and does not really address how the world at large reacted to the news. Granted, this is only the first audiobook in a series of four, so maybe Bova will widen his scope later on.
In some regards, Voyagers reminded me of Arthur C Clarke’s novel, Rendezvous With Rama since that book was also about an alien spaceship that took a swing through our solar system. That was about the only similarity, however. Voyagers went in a much different direction than Clarke’s classic novel.
Stefan Rudnicki handled the narration duties for quite a few of Ben bova’s audiobooks, and Voyagers was no exception. Audiobook fans already know that Rudnicki is a skilled narrator so I don’t think I need to say much here. Bova’s novels typically have characters of many nationalities and Stefan always handles them with no trouble at all.
The beginning of each chapter in Voyagers is marked with clippings of news articles or memoranda, a device that is not uncommon in modern fiction. These are narrated by Joy Clausen. Claussen’s reading is unspectacular, but I like that a different narrator was used since these chapter headers have a slightly different focus than that of the novel itself.
As a special feature, this production of Voyagers contains an original afterword read by the author, Ben bova. Bova talks about what this novel meant to him and gives a little background on its creation. This audiobook was recorded in 2006, three years before the fourth volume was published, and I thought it was interesting how the author referred to the series as a trilogy, while hinting that there may be a fourth installment someday. Of course, we know now that Bova did indeed write a fourth book to the series in 2009.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
Mars by Ben Bova
Empire Builders by Ben Bova
Venus by Ben Bova

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If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “Voyagers”, book 1 in Ben Bova’s Voyagers series (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
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