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utbw42's review
3.0
The fourth book in the Asteroid Wars picks up after the third, where the Zacharias family ends up fighting for their lives after their ship, the Syracuse, is attacked by Dorn, who has changed after his exposure to an artifact found in the third book. The mother and her two kids are left stranded on the ship and drifting basically in orbit for many months while the father, who narrowly escaped in an attempt to lure Dorn away from his family, must deal with first the knowledge that his family is lost and possibly gone, then the realization that they may be alive as he discovers Dorn's plan to claim all the bodies from the previous conflicts, and an eventual rendezvous with the Zacharias family again. This one is not as good as the previous Asteroid War books, but still an enjoyable read in Bova's Grand Tour stage.
jpv0's review
3.0
As a standalone story, [b:The Aftermath|768917|The Aftermath (The Grand Tour, #12; The Asteroid Wars, #4)|Ben Bova|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442426245l/768917._SY75_.jpg|754977] would have been pretty good. It's an interesting story from a sci-fi take: a family on a space ship out in the belt, hauling ore. They're attacked. One member escapes back to the belt and the rest are sent out on a long orbit with a broken ship, years before they'll return to civilization.
It's an interesting story, showing just how big space is and how dangerous a frontier it can be in a science fiction story can be in the near future solar system, where they don't have magical engines that can go through the system in days (well, they do, but not on a cargo ship like this). And if you don't have an antenna and can't aim a laser, then you can't very well talk to anyone.
Structurally though, it's weird to be placed as the 4th and final book in the Asteroid Wars, since the War ends with [b:The Silent War|267285|The Silent War (The Grand Tour #11; The Asteroid Wars #3)|Ben Bova|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386919740l/267285._SY75_.jpg|2393499]. With parallel events in the beginning of The Aftermath and The Silent War, it stands fairly well as a companion piece, but I'm not sure #4 is the best place to read it. Perhaps intermixed with The Silent War? So it goes.
One interesting thing you do so is the continuing story of Dorik Harbin, now a cyborg named Dorn. The first and really only cyborg character (where most others are healed with nano machines instead) is an interesting space to explore, both in how Dorn is growing and changing as he searches for absolution and in how others react to both a mass murderer and a cyborg (and which of the two is worse).
The alien subplot that first bookended The Silent War is explored a bit more in The Aftermath, but no where nearly as much as I was hoping. We could have used more of that.
One major problem I had with several of the characters in The Aftermath was just how badly
Victor Zacharius was treated when looking for his family. I get that he has no money and basically no options--and so far as anyone knows his family couldn't possibly have survived--but they still basically hold him a slave. Especially from Big George, this just seems weird.
So it goes. Certainly among the weakest of the series this far. Skippable, unless you're the completionist sort.
It's an interesting story, showing just how big space is and how dangerous a frontier it can be in a science fiction story can be in the near future solar system, where they don't have magical engines that can go through the system in days (well, they do, but not on a cargo ship like this). And if you don't have an antenna and can't aim a laser, then you can't very well talk to anyone.
Structurally though, it's weird to be placed as the 4th and final book in the Asteroid Wars, since the War ends with [b:The Silent War|267285|The Silent War (The Grand Tour #11; The Asteroid Wars #3)|Ben Bova|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386919740l/267285._SY75_.jpg|2393499]. With parallel events in the beginning of The Aftermath and The Silent War, it stands fairly well as a companion piece, but I'm not sure #4 is the best place to read it. Perhaps intermixed with The Silent War? So it goes.
One interesting thing you do so is the continuing story of Dorik Harbin, now a cyborg named Dorn. The first and really only cyborg character (where most others are healed with nano machines instead) is an interesting space to explore, both in how Dorn is growing and changing as he searches for absolution and in how others react to both a mass murderer and a cyborg (and which of the two is worse).
The alien subplot that first bookended The Silent War is explored a bit more in The Aftermath, but no where nearly as much as I was hoping. We could have used more of that.
One major problem I had with several of the characters in The Aftermath was just how badly
Victor Zacharius was treated when looking for his family. I get that he has no money and basically no options--and so far as anyone knows his family couldn't possibly have survived--but they still basically hold him a slave. Especially from Big George, this just seems weird.
So it goes. Certainly among the weakest of the series this far. Skippable, unless you're the completionist sort.
worldsinink's review
3.0
A good read. Doesn't really continue the main storyline from the original trilogy, but rather shows the events from a different perspective. Some of the characters from the main storyline return, but the focus is on new characters, the Zacharias family and their struggle to survive and be reunited.
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