CHILD OF VENUS

Belatedly wrapping up the trilogy (Venus of Shadows, 1988, etc.) about the terraforming of Venus, with some of the previous characters making minor reappearances. After the disastrous Resource Wars, Earth is ruled by the Mukhtars; Habbers with their advanced technology occupy numerous space habitats; the Mukhtars, aided by the Habbers, have embarked on an ambitious project to render Venus habitable, increasing the planet’s rotation, decreasing insulation, reducing the crushing, suffocating atmospheric pressure, and bringing in hydrogen to make water—though Sargent’s scientific details make little sense. Mahala Liangharad’s parents, involved in unpleasant goings-on, died before she was conceived, artificially gestated, and raised by her grandmother Risa. A promising student, Mahala attends advanced schools on a flying island. Too soon, though, all the students are sent home and the advanced schools are closed; amid big confabs between Habbers and Mukhtars, it emerges that the Habbers have detected an alien beacon more than 500 light-years distant. They’re organizing an expedition to send a habitat off at near light-speed to investigate. If Mahala signs up, she’s aware that if and when she returns, everybody she knows will be more than a thousand years dead.

Like the previous installments, if anybody remembers that far back: all talk, no passion, with an anonymous planetscape and characters largely free of personality.