Titan

by John Varley | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0425044688 Global Overview for this book
Registered by winginnaewing of Aurora, Colorado USA on 10/6/2005
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by winginnaewing from Aurora, Colorado USA on Thursday, October 6, 2005

My friend Amber has been cleaning again. She still blames her x
to some extent, but many of these books are hers/her kids. Thankfully
she loves me and knows I will take as many books as she can find, and
so, here I am, registering another car load of books brought down
from Arvada to my home in Littleton.

Journal Entry 2 by winginnaewing from Aurora, Colorado USA on Thursday, October 6, 2005
Pre-numbered label used for registration.

Journal Entry 3 by winginnaewing from Aurora, Colorado USA on Monday, October 24, 2005
Joining the new and improved A-Z bookbox, and headed to beckerbuns (T)

Journal Entry 4 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Sunday, January 8, 2006
I got this book in the A-Z bookbox. It looks interesting and I really like scifi and fantasy books. I had to look it up on Amazon and other sites, but what I'm reading as the plot sounds intriguing. I'll replace it with "The Bestseller" by Olivia Goldsmith.

Journal Entry 5 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Sunday, July 30, 2006
2006 Book #24 - Titan by John Varley

I think I picked out this book from an A-Z bookbox getting mailed around a while back. I wasn't too excited about any of the books that were in the box, but since someone had gone to the trouble of mailing it to me I felt obligated to put a book in and get a book back. This book looked the most promising of the lot. I think there were a couple of others, but I just couldn't acquire more books than I already had!

Anyway, am I ever glad I picked out this book! This is some GOOD, imaginative, old-fashioned science fiction! When I was younger I used to get all the good scifi from my older brother, but it's been years since I've really made much of an effort of acquiring good scifi. I guess because my brother had done all that for me before! As time has gone on, too, it seems that the scifi is becoming more and more retread and militaristic than plain ol' science and exploration. Once I got started reading this book I had to check the copyright date and sure enough it wasn't a recently written book, 1979.

There was nothing to go by on the back of the book, only glowing quotes from other scifi authors such as Poul Anderson, Roger Zelazny, and George R.R. Martin among others whose names I don't recognize. Inside the covers is a very interesting drawing of an alien world that borders on the mythical and fantasy. The heading across it says "Welcome to Titan. The alien that is, itself, a world." Simply written on the next page is:

Here is TITAN: the alien that is, itself, a world.

Here is TITAN: the heralded new novel by SF's most spectacular new talent, the hugo and Nebula Award winner who has been compared by Isaac Asimov with the early Heinlein.

Here is TITAN: the story of a journey through the awesome interior of a moon-sized being that leads an encounter with a vast and lonely intelligence. And a proposal.


What a setup. Sure, it's been done before. Or, that is, since then, but I was intrigued. Glowing reviews from such good authors, no less than my personal favorite Ike Asimov? The front cover comparing its story to Dune?? I had to read it. Once I started reading I wasn't able to put it down. I usually read on my 25 minute commute to and from work and I was so engrossed by the story that the first day I had it with me I didn't realize the passing of time until I was a block from my stop! I read it in about 2 weekdays, which is quick for me these days considering my schedule!

The story is about a group of (7?) astronauts on a mission to Saturn's rings to observe the area and touch down on the moon Titan. When they approach the area, though, they find something showing up that's not in a normal orbit that you'd think would be something that should be in the ring system. They quickly realize that there's no way in physics this object could've come to be where it is without intelligent beings involved nor was it an object constructed out of any known "natural" materials. Reporting to earth gives them orders to veer toward this thing instead and go into a protocol of meeting intelligent aliens. So they're on their way to it and trying to figure out how to dock with this space station-looking thing when octopus-like arms come out of it, grabs the ship, and starts to crush it. Things start flying everywhere, including the astronauts, thanks to the loss of air and then the captain blacks out and the adventure really begins!

Now THIS is what a good book is like! The main characters are beautifully developed and the interaction of the astronauts, their changing psychologies, and the aliens is very good. Nothing militaristic or gungho "Armageddon" about the whole thing. That might have something to do with the main character through whom the story is written although it's also no flowery helpless "feminine" tripe either. Just thankfully low on the testosterone. More time is spent on creative alien characters, their world, and their culture. I'd really recommend this book if you can get a copy of it somewhere.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.