Bova, Ben. The Precipice. Tor, 2001. Grand Tour 8.
The Precipice is the first of the Asteroid Wars sequence in Ben Bova’s Grand Tour future history. It pits Dan Randolph, the environmentalist head of Astro Manufacturing, against the villainous Martin Humphries as they compete to take control of the nascent asteroid mining industry. The story is most notable for introducing his pilot, Priscilla “Pancho” Lane. As is often the case in Bova’s writing, the plot has believable near-future tech, tense action, and bad romantic melodrama. The Asteroid Wars is one of the better subseries of the Grand Tour and it is worth a read with all its flaws. 4 stars. ( )

[b:The Precipice|267302|The Precipice (The Grand Tour, #8; The Asteroid Wars, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386919746s/267302.jpg|293551] does two things rather well: it introduces technology that will change the Grand Tour universe and it makes me actually ... kind of like Dan Randolph.

For the former, we finally have one possible solution to the fundamental problem of near future science fiction:

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space. -- Douglas Adams

In this case, if you want to have stories even on Mars, it takes months to get there. If you want to go to the Asteroids? Jupiter? It becomes impractical. There are a couple reasonable ways to solve the problem, in this case: fusion drives, small enough to drive a starship. A large chunk of The Precipice deals with building and testing this new technology which, as mentioned, has the potential to change the Grand Tour universe.

The other half of the plot is mostly corporate, with new baddie Martin Humphries trying to edge in and take over all the powerful corporations of Earth for... reasons? He's a bit one dimensional, but that's not terribly surprising. He makes a decent enough counterpoint to Randolph.

Speaking of which, you may recall that from the very beginning ([b:Powersat|267291|Powersat (The Grand Tour, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385225039s/267291.jpg|259144] / [b:Privateers|267332|Privateers (The Grand Tour, #2; Privateers, #1)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1299514897s/267332.jpg|893485]), I have not cared overmuch for Dan Randolph. His heart is often in the right place and I'll admit that even before the Precipice, he was growing on me. But this time around... I actually find myself rooting for the man. Well done Bova. Well done. And then he has to go and die. Oy.

Once again, sexism abounds. In particular, just about every single description of Pancho and Amanda includes their description, especially to contrast them against one another. And Amanda ends up marrying a man she's never kissed in order to save herself from another man?. Eesh. Par for the course at this point.

It's a driving read though and I look forward to seeing where the Asteroid Wars go from here. Need to take a quick side trip to [b:Jupiter|267334|Jupiter (The Grand Tour, #9)|Ben Bova|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442052818s/267334.jpg|293541] first for some reason? ( )

Dan Randolph is a space entrepreneur and owner of the Astro Corporation in this book set in the kind-of near future. A Global Warming cliff has struck and the Earth is a mess; the future of humankind seems to be elsewhere, like the Moon, where there is a thriving colony already, which has won independence before the start of the book. Dan concocts a plan to use a new fusion technology to travel more quickly than was previously possible to the Asteroid Belt, where the resources would now finally be possible to mine with this new tech.

Meanwhile, one of Dan's partners, Martin Humphries, is really plotting for the mission to fail so he can take over Astro Corp and add it to his already-massive holdings. Dan recruits his astronauts and gets the mission off with himself on it, but runs into complications that threaten to kill the crew.

Another important plot area is the use of nanomachines to construct the ship, and the politics of use of such things, which are outlawed on Earth due to their potential danger as a weapon (and due to bureaucratic small-mindedness and religious nuttery). Finally there are the two female pilots, Pancho, a highly competent and daring flyer, and Amanda, a stunningly beautiful and accomplished pilot who seems to cause all men in her vicinity to go weak in the knees.

Amanda's character is an embarrassment. Bova is already an old man when he writes this, but the one-dimensionality of this character makes it look like it was written by a 14 year old boy. He tries to have it both ways- to make the point that she's competent and her looks get in the way of men seeing that; and yet the author never stops ogling her on the printed page.

The book is gripping over the last 150 pages as the adventure ramps up. The ending is fine, but more of a setup for future books in the series. I don't think I'll keep going. ( )

I love the Grand Tour books by Bova, and this one fits right in with the entire saga he has created. The earth has reached greenhouse hell, and Dan Randolph knows that going out into the solar system to harvest minerals for industry is the way to save the earth's economy, and perhaps the earth itself, as well as make Randolph extremely rich. Martin Humphries agrees, but is only interested in the money potential, earth status be damned. Thus begins the race to the Asteroid Belt to claim this treasure, Randolph breaking every rule he can to get there and Humphries doing everything he can to sabotage the mission out of sheer jealousy. Bova manages to write a well-paced, tense journey for these characters, and it sets up well for future volumes in the Asteroid Wars series. ( )

Long range mining of the asteroid belt? What an idea. Inside fighting on a corporate board and development of an engine that cuts weeks off the flight make feasible a journey that will save Earth from massive flooding. Exciting right up to the last minute. Where's the next book in the series? ( )