- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Del Rey; Reissue edition (Oct 12 1986)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345329325
- ISBN-13: 978-0345329325
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.4 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 91 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The scope, the ideas...,
By Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Jupiter Theft (Mass Market Paperback)
Donald Moffitt just can't write about tiny things. His ideas become huge engineering projects, of such massive scope that it boggles the mind. Using a whole gas planet as as fuel, taking it along and protecting your ships from the radiation by putting them behind a moon is something that NOBODY would of thought of before. Yet by making it seem simple, if not also a tad ruthless, he makes the Cygnans seem totally alien. The scope, the time, the very sweep of their plans and projects force the reader to see them as a totally alien culture.In fact he did such a good job that Cygnans are in both Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials AND Clifford Pickover's The Science Of Aliens (along with a different artist's drawing of what a Cygnan looks like). The science of planet stealing might be questionable, but the design of the aliens, their history and their ways, in the book is a first class example of how to do it RIGHT.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The scope, the ideas...,
By Michael Valdivielso - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Jupiter Theft (Mass Market Paperback)
Donald Moffitt just can't write about tiny things. His ideas become huge engineering projects, of such massive scope that it boggles the mind. Using a whole gas planet as as fuel, taking it along and protecting your ships from the radiation by putting them behind a moon is something that NOBODY would of thought of before. Yet by making it seem simple, if not also a tad ruthless, he makes the Cygnans seem totally alien. The scope, the time, the very sweep of their plans and projects force the reader to see them as a totally alien culture.In fact he did such a good job that Cygnans are in both Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials AND Clifford Pickover's The Science Of Aliens (along with a different artist's drawing of what a Cygnan looks like). The science of planet stealing might be questionable, but the design of the aliens, their history and their ways, in the book is a first class example of how to do it RIGHT. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed but fun,
By TChris - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: THE JUPITER THEFT (Mass Market Paperback)
An object the size of a large planet moves into the solar system at nearly the speed of light. Shortly after astronomers on the moon detect the object, however, it slows and shrinks. It seems to be entering a solar orbit when it suddenly changes course and begins to orbit Jupiter. Coincidentally, a planned scientific mission to a Jovian moon has been preparing for departure. A hastily assembled military force armed with nuclear weapons joins the team of scientists on its voyage. What they discover, of course, are aliens who appear to be moving into the neighborhood. It turns out that the aliens aren't interested in being good neighbors.The Jupiter Theft is a plot-centered story that revolves around two alien species (with another playing a minor background role), although one of the species doesn't appear until the novel is nearing its end. Moffitt devoted considerable effort to alien building and ship building but gave less attention to character building -- a common enough failing in hard sf stories. Military characters are militaristic, government officials are bureaucratic, scientists are smart, and everyone else suffers from thought deficiency. If some of the loving care devoted to the novel's science had been diverted to character development, this would be a better book. Fortunately, the central idea (revealed about halfway through the story) is creative and the plot is entertaining. Moffitt's prose style is less than scintillating and the dialog is wooden, sometimes silly. From time to time the story gives way to a science lecture -- another common failing of hard sf novels, but fortunately not a frequent occurrence in The Jupiter Theft. Some of the storyline is all too familiar, as when an alien tells a human: "You are too puny to interfere with our purpose." There's nothing very original about puny humans encountering (and being held captive by) technologically superior aliens. Moffitt's attempt to add a political dimension to the novel by commingling Americans and devoutly socialist Chinese in the crew adds unintended humor to the story. Nonetheless, some aspects of the story are clever, some chapters are exciting, and most of the time the novel is sufficiently fast-paced to keep the reader soldiering on despite the novel's flaws. The ending is satisfying. There's enough fun here to entertain fans of alien cultures, hard sf, and fast action. I would give The Jupiter Theft 3 1/2 stars if that were possible.
4.0 out of 5 stars
semi-firm sf action -- great fun,
By Wikileaker - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Jupiter Theft (Paperback)
I found the 1977 edition of Jupiter Theft in a mom-and-pop used bookstore. Read it about fifteen years ago and fondly remember it as an enjoyable pasttime. The science seems a bit iffy: alien spacecraft circles Jupiter at near lightspeed and relativistic mass increase enables it to "drag" the planet out of the solar system!One notable quality concerning the plot is that it actually has a focus. It is somewhat similar to that of two other SF classics, Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Niven's Ringworld, in which a band of intrepid humans get to adventure within a gigantic alien spacecraft. In Clarke's and Niven's books, the humans are essentially on an exploration. But in Moffitt's book, the humans must thwart the Cygnan's plan because their projected trajectory out of the solar system will take Jupiter and the Jupiter-mass Cygnan spacecraft destructively close to Earth. That is, the humans are engaged in a do-or-die mission (unlike the humans of the other two named novels). Moffitt's story is somewhat predictable and cliche -- but it was tolerably well written and made for fun reading. Recommended. |
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