Grand Central Arena

This was just a fun book to read with lots of action. Definitely a Space Opera type of book. My favorite character was Marc C. DuQuesne. Definitely someone you want on your side.

A group of eight explorers from the not too distant future set out to test-fly The Holy Grail, the very first faster-than-light experimental ship. Instead of finding themselves in interstellar space, they find themselves at a massive artificial construct that houses thousands of different intelligent species, and has existed for long enough to house creatures that have evolved to live within it. The Grand Central Arena is vast in ways that defy comprehension: it is apparently large enough to provide for a large population of every intelligent species in the universe, and has a history dating back though occupation by many species that have since become extinct. It has rules of conduct that it rigidly enforces, and a culture that is beautifully diverse yet may be suddenly deadly. For Ariane Austin, the beautiful rocket racing pilot and default skipper of the expedition; for Dr. Carl Edlund, Ariane's crew chief and design expert; Dr. Marc DuQuesne, survivor of a massive genetic and psychological experiment; for Dr. Simon Sandrisson, inventor of the FTL drive and the rest of this elite crew the challenge becomes far greater than a simple test flight. The stakes in this arena run from full partnership in an interstellar trading community far beyond their greatest dreams, to slavery or destruction of the entire human race. Spoor does an outstanding job of bringing together a disparate party of human adventurers and an eclectic set of aliens with a wide variety of motivations. He also dragged this reader right into the midst of the battle to create a place for humanity amongst the stars.

Ryk is very much a world builder, having known him through the old rec.arts DND Usenet Newsgroups. I won't go over the worldbuilding so aptly covered in a review previously, but his skill and dedication show through in this book. The homage to early pioneers in the work (E.E. "Doc" Smith for DuQuense and the Skylark,for example) was very much a pleasure to read. I very much suspect that this universe was based off of his time at the gaming table, with several different factions, marvelous powers and technology to encounter and explore, and a very much unlimited palette to paint with. I am very much looking forward to more set in this milieu.

I found Grand Central Arena to be an enthralling, gripping adventure tale in the tradition of the old SF Space Opera stories. I had difficulty putting this one down to do necessary chores, and read the whole book in a day. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the book up until the end with very few pauses in the action. The characters are constantly confronted with ever-increasing challenges, and they manage to rise to the occasion wonderfully. I know that I'm going to be passing my copy around to most of my friends. I just wish there was a sequel already, but I know an author can only write so fast, not to mention convincing someone to publish it.

Grand Central Arena (2010) is a standalone SF novel. It is set about two centuries in the future. Mankind has achieved breakthroughs in fusion power and artificial intelligence. Now they have developed a faster-than-light drive. Humanity has also had calamities during this period, including the Hyperion experiment. Government has been reorganized to prevent the reoccurrence of such disasters. The new government has strict limits on their surveillance of the population and the capabilities of AIs. In this novel, Ariane Austin is an obstacle racer. She flies her ships through especially constructed courses in space. She gets high on adrenaline and risk. Carl Edlund is Ariane's crew chief and control engineer. He has an advanced degree and certification in control and interface design and another in small-craft drives. Simon Sakuraba Sandrisson is a renown physicist and creator of the FTL drive. He has tested the concept with probes, but the results are anomalous. Now he is gathering a crew for a manned craft. Steve Franceschetti is a renown structural designer. He is designing the FTL spaceship. Marc C. DuQuesne is an expert in power systems. He is also a Super from the Hyperion experiment. Thomas Cussler is a nanotechnology engineer. Tom is a Transcender, although he hasn't completely downloaded his consciousness into the nanotech. To do so is to lose his citizenship, since the law considers such downloads as artificial intelligences. Gabrielle Wolfe is the physician on Ariane's crew. She has broad experience in emergency medicine. Laila Canning is a renown biologist. She wishes to monitor the humans on the FTL ship. In this story, Ariane is close to winning against the reigning champion of obstacle racing. She and Hawke are far ahead of the pack. Carl warns her about the keyhole coming up. Ariane tries to lag behind or get ahead of Hawke, but he matches the velocity of her ship. They enter the keyhole together and Hawke makes his move. But Ariane avoids his ship's wings and tries a counter move. Then they exit the keyhole and Ariane gains time in the driftmaze. She wins the race and eagerly rejoins her crew to celebrate their triumph. She hugs Carl and the rest of the crew. Simon is waiting at the dock to talk to her, but first he gets the attention of Carl. Then Carl waves Ariane over to meet Simon. They settle around a table and Simon makes his pitch. He wants Ariane to join his crew as the backup pilot. All the surviving probes seem to have lost the use of their AIs. Mechanical devices and some simpler electronics had continued to work and test animals seemed unharmed. But smart devices did not appear to function at all. Ariane agrees and brings Carl and Gabrielle with her. The ship is under construction by Steve, but will be ready in a couple of weeks. The main problem is providing manual controls and instruments that will work without smart devices. When the time comes, Ariane is at the controls o