URANUS

For nearly 30 years, Bova has been exploring the solar system in his Grand Tour novels; this entry is the first of an Outer Planets trilogy.

Through the series, certain themes tend to recur—there are alien life-forms, environmentalists battling wealthy industrialists, scientists clashing with religious fundamentalists—but not here. Of conditions on Earth we learn only that there's still much poverty and hardship and, jarringly, no shortage of well-funded scientists eager to jaunt off to remote planets. An idealist, the Rev. Kyle Umber has commissioned a huge habitat orbiting Uranus to accommodate disadvantaged folk from Earth. He offers education, employment, and, optionally, religion. One such refugee, the beautiful prostitute Raven Marchesi, seizes the opportunity and soon finds herself working for astronomer Tómas Gomez, who wants to know why Uranus' hidden ocean is lifeless. But Raven is determined to snuggle up to the habitat's moneybags sponsor, Evan Waxman. Big mistake: Waxman's idealism is just a cover for narcotics manufacture and distribution. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like we're a very long way from Earth or that there's a large and extremely peculiar planet nearby—the habitat could be parked anywhere. In plotting and development, the book is just as formulaic as it sounds. Take a well-meaning but deluded religious leader, a former sex worker, an obsessive scientist, and a criminal lurking behind a mask of riches. Stir. Decant. Decorate with froth about ancient aliens. Work it through to an unsurprising conclusion.

Bland.