About book Lucky Starr And The Rings Of Saturn (1972)
The world of Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr is a young science geek's wildest dream come true. Imagine: a thousand years from now, the solar system's secret agents and protectors of the weak are...scientists! —Who don't mind showing off what they know!Dr. Asimov often lamented the pernicious and ever-growing current of anti-intellectualism in American society. Was his series of young-adult Lucky Starr novels merely the public expression of an escapist fantasy universe, or did he intend to win young, intelligent minds to scientific inquiry by showing just how cool science could be?In the final story in the Lucky Starr series, we finally meet Earth's sinister enemies, the Sirians. They have secretly built a military base on Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, and seek to legitimize their invasion of the Sol system before a conference of all the peoples of the galaxy. Lucky and his sidekick, Bigman, are taken prisoner after a hair-raising chase through the moons and rings(!) of Saturn. The Sirians plan to use Lucky's "illegal" penetration of the Saturnian system as the centerpiece of their case before the conference. Lucky and the Council of Science, however, have their own ideas about the purpose of Lucky's voyage.While not the strongest story in the series (I would give that award to Oceans of Venus), Rings of Saturn is both the most complex and most suspenseful. Through most of the book, Lucky conducts a series of increasingly nonsensical—and life-threatening—actions, which have the young reader convinced he's gone plumb loco, but in the end reveals springs an incredibly clever trap on Earth's longtime enemy, the Sirian Federation. Dr. Asimov also wove into the story a topical message of tolerance and the importance of human diversity.This story has held up well in terms of astronomy. The most "glaring" scientific error is that the Cassini division is nowhere near as free of orbiting material as it appears from Earth—and only the most serious outer-space geeks among Asimov's target audience would know it.
Lucky (David) Starr, member of the council of science for the terrestrial federation (earth) chases a Sirian spy, agent x, to the rings of Saturn where agent x self destructs his ship while releasing a capsule into the rings of Saturn meant for the Sirians to pick up. The capsule contains intelligence gathered by many robot spies seeking to gain access to earth's superior technical advances, presumably including the coveted anti-grav device. The crisis accelerates as it is discovered the Sirians are in the process of colonizing the Saturn system, a breach of custom, to say the least, amongst the outer 50 worlds and earth in which a solar system is assumed the property of the first colonizer. The outcome looks like nothing less than full scale war as the Sirians seek to recruit the other outer worlds to war against earth, of whom they all have lingering fears due both to earth's technological advances and 'impure' gene pool and reservoir of all sorts of disease purged from the outer planets. The rash and irrepressible Martian, John Bigman Jones, and Lucky are captured by the Sirian Devoure, outpost leader of Titan. Devoure plays unwittingly into Lucky's clever but very uncertain plan to save earth. An effort much aided by the seeming bungling of Bigman, who, at one critical moment manipulates the robot code to do no harm to humans to manage his escape. Asimov cleverly hides just what Lucky's secret plan is until the last few pages and succeeds well at building suspense throughout. Other mentions, the ice moon of Saturn, Mimas. Councilmen Ben Wessilewsky and Hector Conrad. Secretary of State Lamont Finney. Sirian servicemen Yonge and Zayon. Agassi Doremo of the agricultural planet Elam who plays a critical role at the conference of the planets on the neutral territory of Vestas at a moment where Earth's fate is to be decided.
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La serie de ciencia ficción juvenil de Lucky Starr termina con esta novela, en la que el protagonista desbarata los planes de los malvados sirianos y evita una guerra entre la Tierra y sus antiguas colonias en otros sistemas. Para bien y para mal, este libro es puro Asimov. La ciencia juega un gran papel, el argumento descansa sobre un giro que puede sorprenderte o no dependiendo de lo avispado/a que seas, las tres leyes de la robótica son repetidas una y otra vez, los personajes dialogan durante capítulos enteros para explicar las cosas al lector... Con todo, tiene ese encanto irrepetible de la Edad de Oro de la CF, cuando el género estaba comenzando y todo era nuevo y fascinante. Aunque sea solo para transportarse a esa era, las aventuras de Lucky Starr merecen la pena.
—Miguel Pulido
Genial historia que tanca la saga del mestre Asimov. Aquest cas el llibre si sorprèn i no és previsible facilment com els anteriors dos volums, en Lucky Starr s'enfronta, per fi, a l'enemic comú en totes les novel•les: Sirio i resol una situació peluda d'una bona forma! He gaudit amb aquest llibre tot i que entenc la saga com esgotada.El personatge s'assembla a Vorkosigan i per molt que hagi sortit de la ploma d'Asimov, em captiva molt més Vorkosigan que Starr.Bona saga pels no iniciats a la ciència ficció i pel jovent!
—Pere Sanmartí
Part of a presumably young adult series starring David 'Lucky' Starr. Here he chases an intergalactic spy from Earth to Saturn, gets caught up in a colonization dispute and then cleverly outmaneuvers... pretty much everyone, single-handedly saving the day. Light reading. Some interesting facts about Saturn and its ring system (I didn't notice any inaccuracies, though more is known about Saturn now than when the book was written), and other stellar bodies (though Vesta does *not* have a calcium carbonate surface). There was a surprising acceptance and presumption of violence (Starr's loyal, dimwitted sidekick would want to fight whenever someone spoke with him). And a galling lack of women. At the intergalactic summit, no society, even several thousand years in the future and evolved toward other ends than Earth, would elect (or allow) a woman leader. Not that there was a single woman mentioned elsewhere in the book, but you'd think somewhere in the universe some human system could escape patriarchy. There was some genetic diversity, with specific skin color adaptations for other stellar systems, but it seemed like no intermixing and little interaction between these worlds of different, but internally-universal color (and the Sirians were horribly racist too).This book is part of Asimov's robotic universe and thus assumes his poorly structured three laws of robots. The fact that these laws don't make sense is used as a plot device to short-circuit some robot captors. That seems to me to be admitting the laws don't make sense to use, yet he still uses them--baffling, and bothersome. Did he just not try because he intended this for a simpler audience? Perhaps. 'Space' was used as an expletive (was he even trying?).It would make sense for a space/science-interested young boy to want to read this, and to get something out of reading this... but there are better books in writing style, culture, and inclusivity, so why bother?
—Andrewcharles420
