Titan by John Varley is a book that I read for a recent book club meeting. I had never read anything by this author until now. This is the first book in the Gaea trilogy. Read on to see what I thought (paid links).
I had a hard time finding a blurb for this one, but eventually located two short versions:
The first one: When Cirrocco Jones, captain of the spaceship Ringmaster, and her crew are captured by Gaea, a planet-sized creature that orbits around Saturn, they find themselves inside a bizarre world inhabited by centaurs, harpies, and constantly shifting environments.
And a second one: It begins with humankind’s exploration of a massive satellite orbiting Saturn. It culminates in a shocking discovery: the satellite is a giant alien being. Her name is Gaea. Her awesome interior is mind-boggling—because it is a mind. A mind that calls out to explorers, transforming all who enter.
Those blurbs don’t really explain much of what this book is about. In many ways, it reminded me of Ringworld by Larry Niven (which I didn’t like) (paid links). Like that book, the story in Titan follows a group of explorers as they travel across a toroid-shaped artificial world. In Titan, this party is all human, but they are scattered when they enter Gaea and have to search for each other while exploring the place.
I did like the characters in this book (definitely better than the ones in Ringworld) and was pleasantly surprised to find that the protagonist was a (mostly) well-drawn female character written by a male author in the 1970s. Not that there weren’t some missteps, but overall Cirrocco Jones was a daring, gutsy, and believable heroine.
The opening chapter with the emphasis on relating how all of the astronauts on the Ringmaster had all had sex with each other over the course of their journey to Saturn was a strange way to start the story, and I think this could have been worked in better in another way. The relationships were important to the story, but I didn’t need it spelled out up front.
This is the first book in a series, but did reach a satisfying conclusion and could be read as a stand-alone tale. The other books finish out a trilogy and are Wizard and Demon (paid links). I’m undecided about whether I’ll read them.
Have you read Titan or any other novels by John Varley? Which would you recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).
Find more of my reviews here.
Salvage – a flash fiction science fiction story with a winter holiday theme
Feb 05, 2024 @ 23:39:35
I have read all the Varley books and while I am glad to have read them, I would not re-read them and especially not this trilogy. Steel Beech begins with, “”In five years, the male penis will be obsolete,” said the salesman.” which is one of the best “hook lines” I’ve found to draw the reader into continuing reading. But it’s been a couple of decades and I don’t think it stands the test of time. I much preferred Varley’s short stories although I concede he writes some intriguing characters.
The second book introduces a character that I considered much more interesting, largely for her backstory.
Feb 13, 2024 @ 22:42:00
I was not aware of him as an author at all prior to this book that someone in my book club had suggested. I’m glad to have read it but I’m not sure I’ll read the next one – just too many books, too little time!