From Publishers Weekly
In 1993 Bova took readers to Mars and himself onto bestseller lists. Last year's A Return to Mars also sold well. So a narrative about manned exploration of Venus seems an obvious step for this popular author, and Bova's new novel will indeed please his fans, as it offers his usual mix of solid science, serviceable (if sketchy) characterizations and lickety-split plotting with plenty of cliff-hangers. It's late in the 21st century. Three years ago, the first human to visit Venus, Alex Humphries, son of decadent multibillionaire Martin, never returned. Now Martin is offering $10 billion to whoever will retrieve Alex's remains from that planet's hellish surface. Racing against one another for the prize are Alex's aimless younger brother, Van (the story's narrator, who's just been disowned by Martin), and legendary asteroid-miner Lars Fuchs, who detests Martin as much as Martin detests Van. Van's expedition goes bad early on; high above Venus, colonies of alien "bugs" eat through his ship's hull, forcing him and his crewAseveral of whom dieAto seek refuge on Fuchs's stronger craft. Personality conflicts rampage there, particularly between domineering Fuchs and mild-mannered Van, and there's romantic tension between a young female biologist and Van. The real drama, however, arises from revelations that explain the roots of the hatreds among Van, Fuchs and Martin, and during Van's dangerous descent in a small ship to the surface of Venus, which Bova depicts with strong visual imagery as a deadly infernoAalbeit one inhabited by an unexpected life form. This novel clicks along only predictably as Van's coming of age tale, but as a voyage to an unknown world, it excels.

This was a good old-fashioned sci-fi adventure story. I really enjoyed it although throughout most of the book, I thought the main character, Van, was somewhat annoying. However, in the end the character changed and the story itself was great adventure. I believe this is the first sci-fi novel I've read about the horrors of the Venusian atmosphere and the planet itself - a real Hell! I read some of the Venus novels of ERB when I was younger and this certainly is NOT the Venus of Burroughs. Overall, I would give this a high recommendation and I look forward to reading more Bova in the future.

Adding to Erishkigal's great sci-fi bookbox.

Taken from Erishkigal's SF Bookbox: I have at least one of the other "Grand Tour" books on my TBR shelf, so I thought I'd toss this one into the mix.