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Farside  By  cover art

Farside

By: Ben Bova
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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Publisher's summary

Farside, the side of the moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some 30 light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth - and if it bears life. Farside observatory will have the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the moon’s solid body.

Building Farside is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the moon, under constant bombardment by hard radiation and in-falling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns - mechanical and emotional - are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal. But what they ultimately find will stun everyone, and the human race will never be the same.

©2013 Ben Bova (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc

Critic reviews

"I believe that by far the science fiction author who will have the greatest effect on the science fiction world, and the world as a whole, is Ben Bova." (Ray Bradbury)

What listeners say about Farside

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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Performance
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Engaging

For the most part this kept my interest. The character interaction held together, but some of the motivations just seemed forced.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bova continues with excellence!

My wife and I have loved listening to the Grand Tour series by Ben Bova! In this novel, he presents a believable and scientifically respectable story of the far side of the moon. His characters are multidimensional, and he makes you care about them. The personal interactions and motivations of his characters are often explained by including their unexpressed thoughts. This novel sets the scene for a new sub-series called the Star Quest Trilogy or the New Earth Series (based on the name of the next book.

The reading by Stefan Rudniki is easy to listen to and carries just the right amount and kind of passion for each character. He does a great job here, as he has done in all the other stories that I gave heard him read!

Entertaining and enjoyable. Looking forward to listening to the next in the series: New Earth.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Frustrating

Bland characters and methodical writing aren't helped by the narrator. You can tell who the bad guys are right away, but it's really hard to sympathize with the characters.

I would say it was the science that was frustrating, but it's not really science but more basic logical contradictions that puzzle me. (minor spoilers) - It doesn't matter what caused a leak in a spacesuit, airlock or fuel line, the effects would be the same. When someone can't breath suddenly that means he must have lost air pressure, right? But the suit had half its air left, so why couldn't he breath? It just doesn't make any sense. That's like saying "nanobots pulled the trigger to fire the gun, but the bullet never left the barrel, but the guy died of a gunshot wound anyway". In fact they mention several times how slow the leaks were, which means the pressure loss should be detected before there was a real problem. The same could be said for all instances, it just doesn't make any sense.

And what normal functioning person would take their eyes off someone that was part of the plot against the whole station, someone that kidnapped a person and stole a shuttle, someone that you backed into a corner where he would have to face punishment for his actions, and someone that you had just punched in the face and knocked unconscious for a minute.

This book was interesting in that it seemed like a documentary what life might be like on a moon base in the future, but failed as an interesting work of fiction.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not Bad, But...

Would you try another book from Ben Bova and/or Stefan Rudnicki?

I have fond memories of reading Ben Bova novels when I was younger, but I sort of found the story disappointing. Possibly as I feel the story blurb was more than a bit misleading. Instead of really being a book about a discover of a new planet and "what they ultimately find will stun everyone, and the human race will never be the same". Well, the description and fuss about the planet comprised the last 3 minutes of the book. The book was actually more about nanobots and a scumbag rich terrorist. Nothing wrong with that, but the description doesn't even vaguely sound like this. I still have no idea "what they ultimately" found that would "stun everyone, and the human race will never be the same". No idea at all. I felt like I had accidentally downloaded the wrong book. I was looking forward to a moon base / discovery book.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Described it more accurately

What about Stefan Rudnicki’s performance did you like?

OK voice, but his "Australian" female accent was really bad, like worse than Robert Downey Jr in Natural Born Killers... Sounded more South African than anything. I also wasn't aware Betelgeuse was pronounced Beetlejiuce, like the movie. I could be wrong though.

Did Farside inspire you to do anything?

No

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Another good Ben Bova book.

I have read most of Ben Bova's books, some I liked more than others, but I have enjoyed them all. This is a worthy addition to my Ben Bova library. As usual, Stefan Rudnicki did a most excellent job with the narration. I will recommend this book to my friends who like sci-fi adventures.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ok but not great

What did you like best about Farside? What did you like least?

The idea of having a second earth and a base on the moon

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

If new earth is able to hold life

Which scene was your favorite?

Close the end, not going to spoil

Do you think Farside needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, the story was enough.

Any additional comments?

I had a hard time finishing this book, I liked it in the end but there was a time that I almost deleted it because I thought it was not word finishing but I did. But I will not read it again.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Yep...another good one

Another Bova intrigue book. It had many characters, developed to a "T" and all supporting the whounit plot It's a book in series and it helps to know the past works, but not ctitical. And, it all happens on the moon's far side.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good but not up to Grand Tour par.

Where does Farside rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was a good book but is hovering in the middle ground as far as what I expect from Bova

Would you be willing to try another book from Ben Bova? Why or why not?

I will always give Bova a shot. This book felt a lot like a fill in the gap rushed book.

Which scene was your favorite?

This was a big problem in this book is that nothing really stood out.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No it was ok to split up the listening time.

Any additional comments?

This book was full of mindless sexual content and a lot of re-hashing old plots... OH NO ITS NANO BUGS AGAIN!!!! The plot of leading to finding another world was a great one but little was on that. It seemed like a last minute fill in for the real novel that will be to travel to this new world.

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