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Saturn - Ben Bova Book Review

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Review Summary
The time is roughly a century from the present. The Earth is ruled by three religious tyrannies: The New Morality in North America, The Holy Disciples in Europe and South America, and the Sword of Islam in the Mideast.
A huge, cylindrical ship..a habitat, is built, and peopled with "undesirables"..free thinkers, individualists, etc..and sent off to Saturn.
The overt purpose of this mission is to study Saturn and the new life forms found on Titan, and to get rid of 10,000 troublemakers.
However, each of the three governments on Earth has seeded the habitat with spies and moles. The story focuses on the powerplays between the various factions.

Tiepilot912, Resident Scholar


Detailed literary breakdown of Saturn
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40%




Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - factions fight within govt for control
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - government investigator
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - politician/elected ruler
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Setting
Spaceship setting: - really, really giant spaceship/station
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to torture
scientific jargon? (SF only) - an average amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books to Saturn
Sister Alice by Robert Reed
Vulcan's Hammer by Philip K. Dick
Probability Space - Probability Trilogy 3 by Nancy Kress
Crucible by Nancy Kress
The Golden Torc by Julian May




Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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