Publisher Description
A lunar colony faces off with corrupt Earth forces intent on destroying it, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Moonrise.
This fast-paced, high-tech adventure is the continuation of the story of Douglas Stavenger, the Kennedy-esque scion of Moonbase’s founding dynasty.
While Moonbase has been flourishing under Stavenger’s management, it’s existence, and even Stavenger’s life, both depend on nanotechnology that has been outlawed on Earth in response to a wave of suspicion, fear, and violence. Soon, United Nations peacekeepers arrive on the moon to enforce the anti-nanotech laws, bringing with them intrepid news reporter Edith Elgin, who soon falls for Stavenger. Meanwhile, his mother has chosen to return to Earth, but upon arrival she is held hostage by the secretary general of the UN who wants Stavenger to surrender his forces—and to be killed.
Slick politicians, beautiful television anchors, and calculating corporate barons provide complex and engaging scenery: imagine Washington in the space age, with nonstop action and cool technology.
“Ranks up there with Mars as one of Bova’s very best.” —St. Petersburg Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Though riddled with SF cliches and stock characters, Bova's sequel to Moonrise is nonetheless an exciting high-tech adventure that puts the fledgling lunar colony known as Moonbase in dire jeopardy as political forces seek either to wrest control of it or to destroy it. Nanotechnology has been outlawed on Earth, but it is essential to Moonbase's functioning. The colony's leader, Douglas Stavenger, whose body is full of benevolent nanotech, must find a nonviolent way to foil the United Nations' Peacekeeper forces long enough for the base to be declared an independent nation and thus one that can legally continue to work with the outlawed technology. Georges Faure, Secretary-General of the U.N., has his own greedy plans for Moonbase, but he succumbs to the sexual charms of Edith Elgin, a gorgeous reporter who wheedles her way onto the U.N.'s troopship and then into the base itself. Her dispatches blow open the truth about what is occurring on the besieged colony, even as her presence creates a romantic dilemma for Doug. Spies, fanatics, sexy women and broad expanses abound as technology and good planning overcome brute force and canny capitalists. Readers who don't mind female reporters who "give some head to get ahead" and U.N. directors who proclaim that "resistance is futile" should find Bova's latest romp on the moon exciting and fun.