- Paperback
- Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc; Reissue edition (Sep 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0812534891
- ISBN-13: 978-0812534894
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.4 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,386,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
For somebody looking for realism in Science Fiction this book is not for you (despite the "Riveting Account of the Future" accolade claimed to be by the Wall Street Journal on the front cover). My main problem was the central character, who must have been a Ben Bova wannabe at the time this was written. Try this: He's young. He's already a billionaire. He has a "hard" well-toned body. His sexual success puts 007 to shame: He sleeps with a new secretary every other week (all are physical goddesses as it so happens), top Hollywood actresses (two at the same time even), and even the United States woman President who just so happened to be the wife of his now deceased best friend. He seduces a young, innocent and of course beautiful woman who so happens to be the daughter of the soon to be Venezuelan president. He's a brilliant military tactician, and can somehow transform his corporations' technical employees into becoming a spacefaring SWOT squad able to covertly rescue comrades from a heavily armed Russian prison facility. He's also a tactful politician, influential and connected at the highest levels. He has time to run a huge business empire by himself, as well as frolic with women and attend lavish cocktail parties. Achievement to say the least, but lets get a bit real Ben.
There is a common theme in his other books (again the Moon, Mars and Venus sagas); all seem to have a central character with loads of money and incredible sexual success. This seems to be the main vehicle by which the author can get the things done he wants to use in his plots, and it gets a bit boring after a while.
When I first opened the cover I noticed that the book was Copyright dated 1985. I have no idea whether the book was published then but I have a theory why it came out only in Paperback after such successes such as the Mars, Moon and Venus Sagas. Its because "Ben Bova" has become a success only since Privateers was written, and this is just an opportunity somebody has seized on to cash in.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Some things age gracefully, others don't. This book was 15+ years from date first published 1985 when I read it, and it was not much of an experience. It's about a near-future where the Soviets have quietly de-facto conquered the world, and the US is in disarray with starvation and no future. Dan Randolph, seeing this and being a vague shadow of Ayn Rand's John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, leaves and starts a space-business in Venuzuela. The story line is average, the background feels very outdated, and Mr. Randolph is a thoroughly unpleasant character, although I'm sure that this was not the intention of the author. He frolicks in bed with drug-dazed models without a thought, while in fact wanting the 20 year younger daughter of his rival - who is admittedly rather young and capricious but does have a nice body... There's a stale breath of the 70's over the protagonist. Boring read, stick to Mr. Bovas more recent work, some of which is quite enjoyable even if never really great literature.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In later work, Ben Bova proved himself in the sci-fi thriller arena, however early on Bova was the equivalent of a sci-fi Cussler. Privateers is a hokum sci-fi actioner with plenty of hijinx on terra firma, the Moon and in-between. It's a wildly speculative alternate future, with the central character from PowerSat (no previous reading required) in a James Bond style role - women, confidence and a large does of heroic courage. Privateers is an entertaining read, not Bova's later style, however a page turner none-the-less.
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