Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime #01: Breaking Strain

I've owned this book for years and finally started it a couple days ago. I really wish I had read it sooner. The first third to half of the book jumps from one storyline to another. If you can get past the disjointed beginning, the different storylines quickly come together and make sense. I've read some complaints about this, but I find these techniques interesting. Preuss does an excellent job of combining science fiction and mystery/thriller. I used to read a lot of mystery books, but quickly tired of the genre. This was a refreshing read in that it wasn't predictible as a mystery or science fiction novel. Ellen Troy, aka Sparta, was enhanced with biotechnology when she was younger and something happened to her that caused her to forget everything that has happend in the past few years. Troy decides to join the Space Board of Control in order to find out what happened to her. Along the way she has to figure out what caused a hole in a spaceship headed to Venus.

After 30 years experience in the Space Program, NASA, and deep Space probes, I have to say this is one of the more intellectuall accurate, and stimulating stories I have read. I am an Clarke fan, having read 2001 when it first came out in 1968, but the combination of Clarke's vision and Preuss's writing skills makes this Venus Prime Series a set of books you will not be able to put down!

Sparta is the name of a bio-enahnced young woman. She wakes everyday, knowing nothing of the day last past. Then one day Sparta's keen senses trip a deep mechanistic response to escape where she is. Only minutes later she finds herself in a mega-fast mega-powerful attack helicopter; somehow, she knows exactly how to fly it... From then on she will have to assume a new identity - hiding in the open as an elect officer. She knows only that she's looking for her true self - she will solve many other mysteries along the way. This is a fantastic trip and an excellent read! Also, it is difficult to get all six (6) in the series - if you find them (all) BUY THEM AT ONCE! It has taken me three years to collect them all.

If you're a guy. You will love SPARTA/LINDA. She is a dream (conceived by male writers... I would love to get a female's opinion of this book). This is very good reading of the Asimov/detective/SF variety. An easy read that combines a good detective mystery with a futuristic setting. There are 6 books in the series, so there is plenty to follow. Although it is a light read, this is a pure SF book. There are few ,if any, fantasy components.

Sparta is a young woman who grew up as Linda, was enrolled in a specieal program for the extremely intelligent, but was kidnapped and changed by the use of an advanced technology so that she has special and unusual skills and abilities. The mysterious cult that changed her cannot bend her will to their purpose; she escapes, assumes an alias, and rises, aided by her powers and a great deal of effort, to become a Space board investigator, wherein she solves crimes that may have been perpetrated by her abductors. Her abductors having blocked many of her memories before she was able to escape, she has to piece together her own history to get a sense of who she is, and piece together clues as to what the cult are about; she is aided in this by her friend Blake Redfield. After having gone through crises and adventures (each gripping adventure being covered by a volume of this series), she learns more of her history. This is crime-solving science fiction at its best, and having read the first 5 volumes I can hardly wait to read the 6th. Volumes of this Venus Prime series are: 1. Breaking Strain 2. Maelstrom 3. Hide & Seek 4. Medusa Encounter 5. Diamong Moon 6. The Shining Ones If you enjoyed Robert A. Heinlein's "Friday," you will like Sparta even better. In this reviewer's opinion, Asimov, Clarke ( & Preuss in this series), Heinlein, and Kaplan are the best autors of this genre. These are well worth the re-rreading! -DM