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Supernova | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Roger MacBride Allen and Eric Kotani | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
Supernovas are, basically, exploding stars. They're arguably one of the most powerful explosions possible in the universe, the only possible exceptions being colliding black holes and neutron stars. If you're in the same solar system, you're dead. In this book, one goes off in the Sirius system, less than nine light years away. That's pretty darn close, stellar-wise, but it's still far enough away that it won't do much. Or will it?
This book is a combination scientific discovery plot and disaster plot. And it does both of them perfectly. The science feels right, even to a reasonably educated reader like myself. It was also well-writen. I felt excited with each discovery, and rooted George, the main character, along as he defied common beliefs and made his predictions. The supernova itself does not go off in one fell swoop, but told in stages. Yet it didn't make me impatient for the story to get on with it, because the plot back on earth was good too. Indeed, 80% of the book goes by before the disaster portion occurs. And when it comes, that is described well also.
The only thing I had an issue with is that nearly everything is discovered by the George and his friends, the people who first look into the subject. That's not how science works. It's not like industry, where once you have a lead you tend to keep it unless you squander it. But all the other scientists are conservative to the extreme.
Oh well. It's really a minor thing, and it'd be hard to write it in a more realistic fashion. It's a good book, if you like the type.
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