Return to Mars
Encyclopedia
Return to Mars is a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 novel by Ben Bova
Ben Bova
Benjamin William Bova is an American science-fiction author and editor. He is the recipient of six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor for his work at Analog Science Fiction in the 1970's.-Personal life:...

. This novel is part of the Grand Tour
Grand Tour (novel series)
-Summary:The novels present a theme of exploration and colonization of the solar system by humans in the late 21st century. Most of the books focus on the exploration of one particular planet or planetary moon....

 series of novels. It was first published in 1999
1999 in literature
The year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...

 and is a sequel to Ben Bova's novel Mars.

Plot summary

Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman returned to Earth as a hero, travelling the globe, giving speeches on Mars, and supporting a return voyage. Now six years later, Waterman gets to return to his beloved red planet, and to the mysterious dwelling in the Valles Marineris region. However, the second voyage has sponsorship not from governments, but from corporations, most notably from millionaire Daryl Trumball, whose son is sent on the mission to make his father proud... and money. Now, Jamie finds himself locked in a war between Trumball's wishes of exploiting the planet, his job as mission director, and his own desires to explore the cliff dwelling that could hold the key to discovering the planet's past inhabitants.

Characters

  • Jamie Waterman - main character of the "Mars" novels by Ben Bova; he led to the discovery of microbial life on Mars, as well as a distant cliff-dwelling. Waterman seems to have a connection to Mars, as connections between his Navajo beliefs and the Red Planet become entangled
  • Dex Trumball - son of millionaire Daryl Trumball, at first he is the antagonist; as his goal of making money for his father and Waterman's view on preserving Mars conflict
  • Vijay Shektar - an Australian-raised psychologist with Indian heritage; she falls in love with Waterman
  • Stacy Dezhurova
  • Possum/Wiley Craig
  • Tomas Rodriguez
  • Trudy Hall
  • Daryl C Trumball - a heartless millionaire, whose only joy is to make money' he sponsors the second Mars mission after his son convinces him that he could make money off the expedition
  • Pete Connors - an astronaut on the first mission, and friend to Jamie

Reception

Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...

, in its 1999 review, wrote that Bova made the hard science aspects of this novel vivid and appealing. His characters were "less enchanting and the inclusion of a saboteur seems like overkill, since the environment he describes more than capable of destroying anyone for simple carelessness."

Publication history

  • 1999, USA, EOS Harper Collins ISBN 9780380976409, Pub Date 8 June 1999, Hardcover
  • 1999, UK Hodder & Stoughton
    Hodder & Stoughton
    Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...

     ISBN 9780340707951, Pub Date 1999, Hardcover
  • 1999, UK, New English Library
    New English Library
    The New English Library was a United Kingdom book publishing company, which became an imprint of Hodder Headline.- History :New English Library was created in 1961 by the Times Mirror Company of Los Angeles, with the takeover of two small British paperback companies, Ace Books Ltd and Four Square...

     ISBN 9780340707968, Pub Date 18 Nov 1999, Paperback
  • 2000, USA, EOS Harper Collins ISBN 978-0380797257, Pub Date 3 July 2000, Paperback
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