OK, so I messed up. I skipped book one of this series (New Earth), thinking that I was listening to the first book when I started Death Wave. I definitely felt like I was missing part of the story and now it makes sense why that is.

Death Wave

by Ben Bova

Series: Star Quest

Book Number: 2

Synopsis

Jordan Kell has just returned to Earth from New Earth with his wife Aditi. They come bearing the news that all life in the galaxy is in danger of being eradicated due to a wave of gamma radiation that is traveling outward in all directions from the galaxy’s center. If the civilizations of the Milky Way don’t take precautions, the Death Wave will annihilate them.

Of course, the people of Earth don’t want to hear this. Since the Death Wave will not reach Earth for another 2,000 years, they treat it as non-important. Jordon wants humanity to build starships to travel to the stars to warn other intelligent beings that are unaware of the danger they in. But why should the people of Earth feel any responsibility over aliens they’ve never met?

My Thoughts

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I thought it was book one. It’s actually book 2. I suppose I’ll have to go back and listen to New Earth after I get through with books 2, 3, and 4.

Death Wave is kind of a slow book. There isn’t really any action or mystery. New technologies, such as faster-than-light communciations and near-lightspeed starships are discussed in very little detail. I would have enjoyed a bit more description.

Actually, there was one thing that irritated me about the book. The author kept explaining that when Aditi communicated with her colleagues back on New Earth, that the transmission time (even though it was faster-than-light) was about an hour each way. This was mentioned over and over and over. Eventually, I was like, “I get it! Enough!” That was the only issue I had with the book though (I guess my standards for entertainment aren’t set very high).

Now that I’m nearly done with book 3, Apes and Angels, Death Wave makes much more sense as a book that is providing the context for the rest of the series. If, however, Death Wave was the only book in the series that you picked up, you may be dissatsified. I’ll soon post about Apes and Angels, a much more enjoyable book in my opinion.

So, here’s the bottom line: you can read Death Wave for yourself and form your own opinion (this is what I typically do), or you can read the next paragraph and then move on to Apes and Angels:

All life in the Milky Way galaxy is doomed to be annihilated by a wave of gamma radiation unless the human race takes to the stars to warn and protect the all of the aliens out there that don't have the means to save themselves.

Hey, look at that! The humans get to be the good guys this time!

I’ve made the move to Substack.

Come check out my two publications on Substack:

https://davidsheley.substack.com

https://theartifact.substack.com

The first is a post-for-post replacement of this blog. The second is a brand-new publication where I publish short stories.