Voyagers

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Ben Bova

Stoner knew. The fiery object hurtling toward the Earth was an alien spacecraft. But the world might never know. He was trapped in an iron cordon of secrecy, for the discovery had shattered the world power balance, setting off a brutal struggle for supremacy that raged from the sacred halls of the Vatican to the corridors of the Kremlin and the Pentagon. The forces of fear and treachery would use any weapon at their command, from mind war to sabotage, to keep the world in darkness.

Aided by a brilliant Soviet linguist and a lovely young student, Stoner planned a desperate mission, a wild, heart-stopping gamble to preserve the legacy of the star voyager for all mankind.

Hi-fi sci-fi: listen to the second book in this series, Voyagers II: The Alien Within, and the third book, Voyagers III: Star Brothers.©1981 Ben Bova (P)2006 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Science Fiction, 2007

"The most plausible and convincing account I have ever read of how the human race might really react to first contact." (Analog)
"Voyagers marks the return of one of SF's pros to his favorite subject: first contact. The bureaucratic politics of space is classic Bova...and the sense of awe when Stoner finally gazes upon an alien is pure art." (Chicago Tribune)

Chuck

I've read the series and must say the best is in the first two books. A surprise in Sci Fi in that I didn't expect finding a wonderful love story. The story sees it way through three great stories which are filled with adventure. I would recommend the series as fun reading for the summer.

fascinating subject with real-world actors

I really enjoyed the way Ben Bova approached the et subject and offered a reasonable world wide response.

Eh

Fell asleep to it every night for a week. The end was so lame. The main dude was a 10th degree black belt named Stoner. Ah, the 80’s.

Fascinating and engrossing

This book was excellent in many respects. The reality on how our governments would react was quite convincing. The paranoia, top secret classifications, the fear, all was quite convincing. I loved the main characters as well, I felt as if I knew each one of them personally. The book was well read and once it was finish, it left me wanting more. If I had to rate this particular book I would have to give it a ten plus.

Classic

I absolutely enjoyed this classic sci-fi audiobook. Well written and well performed. I also enjoyed hearing the short explanation from Ben Boca himself!

A fascinating story of what humanity would do if it discovered that we are not alone.

The non traditional love story peppered throughout the science fiction elements is both inspiring and heart wrenching.

I'm hooked

Great read. This is book one of the Voyager series. Can't wait till the rest is offered on Audible.

Enjoyable but a little too idealistic

I enjoyed the story and the intrigue. It kept me going and guessing and expecting a surprise end that would leave me breathless. But alas the protagonist's (Mark Stoner) final swan song sounded like a High School Valedictorian's speech. "We must make the world a better place for all mankind, we all must work together" was a bit too corny for me. However, I really liked it that author avoided the perpetual SF theme of governments hiding the existence of aliens from the population. I always felt that such an action was as stupid and it was implausible, in spite of the public reaction Orson Wells's famous radio broadcast. Over all it was a fun listen.

Not a bad read but..

Considering the book was written in the late 70s a lot of the ideas in it are rather dated, which made it a bit hard to deal with given what we know now, but still not too bad. I wish Audible had the other two books in the series, it's good enought to perk my curiosity at what happens next. Guess I'll just have to pay a visit to a real book store for those!

Future Past 4 Bova Fans Only

This is one of those books (or series of books) that you have to put yourself into the mind set of "alternate reality" when you read it as it is about a future with a Soviet Union and giant pre-hubble telescopes (in space) and mainframe computers in the future and CRT monitors in the future... You have to read it with the same mindset as you would if you were watching old TV shows like Space 1999 or early Star Trek or if you were reading 1984... I went through all three of the Voyager novels as the characters were likeable and the plot was interesting, but I wasn't overall impressed. This was my first Ben Bova novel and I found some of the character's philisophical waxings were on subjects that are quite tired these days - where they may have been cutting edge 20 years ago. If I were looking for a Good Sci Fi novel, I'd look elsewhere. This book is probably for long term Ben Bova fans.