ENCOUNTER WITH TIBER

This saga of humanity's next century or so is the hardest of "hard" science fiction. Essentially an extended speculative essay on the physics, technology and politics of space travel, it's semi-dramatized with a cast of bland, raised-in-captivity technocrats like those in the film 2001. The expository writing, which makes up the bulk of the text, is exemplary pop science, and Jonathan Reese reads it well in a relaxed, pleasant voice with good phrasing. The flatness with which he delivers dialogue, with no attempt to differentiate characters, would be a fatal flaw in a novel. In this book, peopled by soulless cutouts, the fault is hardly noticeable. J.N. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]