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A review by tomasthanes
Delta-V by Daniel Suarez
5.0
I discovered this author, [a:Daniel Suarez|1956402|Daniel Suarez|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1265394868p2/1956402.jpg], by reading his very first book "Daemon" which I was impressed used the spelling of the word which, pre-LINUX, was used by UNIX programmers to describe background processes that provided services to other programs on the computer or to neighboring UNIX computers.
Set in the 2030s when mankind should've been restlessly moving out into the cislunar area surrounding the planet, things were still mostly happening in Low Earth Orbit. I had fairly high expectations about this book and they were all met. I personally believe that this book was on par with Andy Weir's "The Martian".
There was more than enough plausible detail to satisfy most hardened Sci-Fi readers. Plus the protagonist's diver's knowledge of breathing and gasses fit well.
The “crystals” were a bit undefined in this book but the author was kind enough to expand their name in the “Critical Mass” book (second in the series): “biphasic crystal work glasses”. I assume that they were built into the visor in the "clam suits".
The "clam suits" were interesting as Peter Clines had single person entry suits that were clamped onto the outside of his lunar rovers in "Dead Moon" published in August 2019. This book was published just a few months earlier (April 2019). It would be interesting to ask both authors if either influenced the other or just uncovered the same idea in their reading through the massive repositories of NASA documentation.
There were a number of pleasant twists in the plot and only one thing left hanging at the end (but, after all, this is the first in a trilogy) (the astronauts with the red, white, and blue flag patches on their space suits).
The only detail that I would've dropped was the reference to "bang-bang controls".
The cover of the Kindle version of the book appears to be yet another example of a book cover where the artist did not read the book.
BTW, if you're curious what the Konstantin or the various mining robots looked like, the author was kind enough to provide an Appendix at the end of the book with a number of helpful renderings. I did not discover this until I'd finished reading this book.
I've easily moved onto the second book in the series "Critical Mass".
Set in the 2030s when mankind should've been restlessly moving out into the cislunar area surrounding the planet, things were still mostly happening in Low Earth Orbit. I had fairly high expectations about this book and they were all met. I personally believe that this book was on par with Andy Weir's "The Martian".
There was more than enough plausible detail to satisfy most hardened Sci-Fi readers. Plus the protagonist's diver's knowledge of breathing and gasses fit well.
The “crystals” were a bit undefined in this book but the author was kind enough to expand their name in the “Critical Mass” book (second in the series): “biphasic crystal work glasses”. I assume that they were built into the visor in the "clam suits".
The "clam suits" were interesting as Peter Clines had single person entry suits that were clamped onto the outside of his lunar rovers in "Dead Moon" published in August 2019. This book was published just a few months earlier (April 2019). It would be interesting to ask both authors if either influenced the other or just uncovered the same idea in their reading through the massive repositories of NASA documentation.
There were a number of pleasant twists in the plot and only one thing left hanging at the end (but, after all, this is the first in a trilogy) (the astronauts with the red, white, and blue flag patches on their space suits).
The only detail that I would've dropped was the reference to "bang-bang controls".
The cover of the Kindle version of the book appears to be yet another example of a book cover where the artist did not read the book.
BTW, if you're curious what the Konstantin or the various mining robots looked like, the author was kind enough to provide an Appendix at the end of the book with a number of helpful renderings. I did not discover this until I'd finished reading this book.
I've easily moved onto the second book in the series "Critical Mass".