Empire Builders

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Dan Randolph never plays by the rules. A hell-raising maverick with no patience for fools, he is admired by his friends, feared by his enemies, and desired by the world's loveliest women. Acting as a 21st privateer, Randolph broke the political strangle-hold on space exploration, and became one of the world's richest men in the bargain.

Now an ecological crisis threatens Earth—and the same politicians that Randolph outwitted the first time want to impose a world dictatorship to deal with it.

Dan Randolph knows that the answer lies in more human freedom, not less—and in the boundless resources of space. But can he stay free long enough to give the world that chance?

©1993 Ben Bova (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"I believe that by far the science fiction author who will have the greatest effect on the science fiction world, and the world as a whole, is Ben Bova." (Ray Bradbury)

“Solid action-adventure/politicking/consciousness-raising from a veteran pro.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

"A rollicking good read!" ( Starlog)

Not as good as the others.

Still worth listening to, I did enjoy the idea of a corporation fighting the media and government to do the right thing. I suspect if Global Warming wasn't such an excellent tool in the hands of government to control industry we'd see a situation much like this today.

Don't bother

a couple hundred f-bombs detracts from the story. Ben Bova had the artistic ability to create a good story without them.

I loved it!

I just got so wound up in Dan's situations I couldn't stop listening. Stefan Rudnicki did his usual job of using different voices with each character.....outstanding!

To political.

To old. To political. Not much common sense. Would have been more entertaining if I had read it in the 1980’s.

Global Climate Change

For a one time read this is a good book, but I was a little bored in the beginning. There isn't a ton of action, and some of the topics surrounding economy and management were not very interesting to me. However, I did like the main character and I really like how conclusion wrapped everything up. This book should be praised for its attempt to explore climate change, and the effects of organized crime and a global government in a futuristic Earth where civilization has expanded to the moon. The story also takes a look at government cover ups and the effectiveness of private run corporations verses government. If you are strongly politically motivated you may love or hate this story.

A bit about the story. Ben Bova creates a futuristic society where Earth has expanded to the moon and now mines space. The main character, Dan Randolph, is a wealthy business man who is one of top seven privately owned companies that run trade. His business is regulated by the Global Economic Council (GEC) who are not big fans of Dan Randolph. Some of the GEC leadership is looking to consolidate the world under one power and eliminate private run corporations that operate in space. This leads to some financial and legal trouble for Dan and a quick downward spiral when the GEC goes after him. As a protagonist Dan Randolph is easy to follow because he wants to do the right thing and seems to care more about others more than money despite being one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world.

I have been critical of some Stephen Rudnicki's performances in the past, but in this book he was a good fit. So, I definitely got my money out of this one (5 dollar bin). This is my second Ben Bova read. I am currently enjoying his Orion series. Ben Bova is a well established writer so it is hard to go wrong trying this one out.

The lack of continuity hurts the story.

I love hard sci-fi, but I'm struggling with this book because of the discontinuity between this and the earlier books. Add to that I'm supposed to believe the former president of the US will willingly cooperate with a man that tried to drop a giant meteor on Nebraska 10 years before?

Ben Bova (Chicken Little)

THis "enviromentality" really shows in this one. A little naïve and over steps the climate change logic here. But it does set the stage for his grand tour. Listen only for background information after listening to Powersat and continue on with the Grand Tour books. Stefan Rudnicki preforms this and does it very well.

It’s an Ok story. Narration is very good

Author could use a double damn thesaurus. You’ll see what I mean if you listen.

a minor annoyance

there are inconsistencies in the back stories from book to book and it does not make any sense as to why, but it is annoying.

Ridiculous and totally unrealistic premise

I only made it an hour into the book and gave up. Perhaps that's not a fair representation, but the premise and setup of the plot was totally unrealistic, with larger than life characters plotting against other larger than life characters.

Although most of this "Grand Tour" series is free in my audible plus library, I’ve lost interest, at least for now. The books in this "series" are all stand-alone, although some of the key characters from Powersat are also key characters in this book. I may give another book from this series a chance somewhere down the road, but this one really put me off.

As always, Stefan Rudnicki is excellent in his narration.