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Ben Bova, six-time winner of the Hugo Award, brings us a fascinating look at the future in Power Play. Astronomer Jake Ross wants nothing more than to teach a few university classes each semester and continue his research. However, Frank Tomlinson, an ambitious politician with his eye on the U.S. senate, is determined to land Dr. Ross as his science advisor. Tomlinson is in need of an edge that will allow him to defeat his opponent at the polls, and Dr. Ross can contribute just that edge with a new innovation that will allow electricity to be generated at less than half the price of nuclear power. But the technology is still in its infancy, and although the outlook is extremely promising, there are great--and deadly--risks. Dr. Ross soon discovers that the world of politics carries its own dangers. Nothing has prepared Dr. Ross for the extreme tactics that desperate and powerful people are willing to use.
Reviews with the most likes.
I was hoping for an interesting mostly hard science fiction book.
But the new technology, magneto hydrodynamic power didn't ring true.
I either missed or they didn't explain how it magically burned high sulfur coal and produced no CO2 or SO2.
But what did me in was that the hero of the story was interested in two women. His relationship was mostly about whether they would have sex with him or if they had had sex with the other men in the story and so on.
This managed to make both him and the two women too boring to continue.
This was okay...Jake Ross is a bit of a 2-dimensional annoying protagonist. I'll probably listen to the sequels, but I can't really give it a more enthusiastic endorsement than that.