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In the depths of the Asteroid Belt, many years from now, the aftermath of a short but brutal war for the resources of the asteroids leaves a number of lingering repercussions. One family is torn apart by an unprovoked attack, while an entire space habitat is destroyed, its inhabitants slaughtered. The perpetrator, soon afterwards, undergoes traumatic changes and sets out on a new path, one of attempted redemption. The existence of a mysterious alien artifact, meanwhile, prompts one of the most powerful men in the solar system to hire a team of assassins to wipe out any witnesses to his moment of weakness. And all of these threads will cross and affect one another over the next few years.

If that opening paragraph sounds awkward, it's only because there's some significant backstory leading up to the events in The Aftermath, billed as Book Four of the Asteroid Wars sequence, which itself fits into Ben Bova's much larger Grand Tour sequence (16 books and counting). The casual reader doesn't have to have read the others in order to appreciate that at one point, there was a series of struggles for control of the resources to be found in the Asteroid Belt; in fact, Bova does an excellent job of summing up the salient points early on, but there's still a lot of subtext that factors into how characters relate to one another, and their motivations.

The Aftermath follows a diverse ensemble of characters. Aboard the crippled ship Syracuse, you have Theo, Pauline and Angie Zacharias, three members of a family, desperately trying to survive long enough to get their ship repaired and redirected towards some semblance of civilization. The remaining member of the family, Victor, is rescued, and spends the rest of the book trying to return to his family to save them as well. Aboard the Hunter, there's the elderly, famous sculptor Elverda Apacheta and the war criminal-turned-cyborg priest, Dorn, who have embarked on a mission to grant peace to those slain in the Asteroid Wars. Meanwhile, the Viking plays home to Kao Yuan and Tamara Vishinsky, part of a team assigned to hunt and kill Dorn and his companion. Finally, the salvage ship Vogeltod is full of ruthless men willing to prey upon any ship they can encounter and overpower. All of these people, with their various goals and destinations, tie into the overall storyline, that of one family trying to get home, and a man seeking redemption or death.

Though sounding complicated on paper, The Aftermath is rather well told, and easy to follow, despite the alternating viewpoints and shifting narratives. Taking place over millions of miles and several years, it's an ambitious story in some ways, taking advantage of the sheer size of the solar system to grant room for the action. At the same time, it's a tightly-told tale that relies heavily on characterization and human emotion. In fact, it's a very "human" story, with down-to-Earth motivations and goals, despite the disconcerting presence of an alien artifact at the center of things. Dorn wants redemption, Elvedra accompanies him out of an adopted maternal instinct, Victor just wants to rescue his family, Tamara is motivated by greed, and so forth. Very simple, very basic, and very well done. Bova's strengths are evident here: believable characters and an attention to the details of hard science without obsessing over the minute details. It's a gripping story that keeps moving, with plenty of twists and turns (and a few convenient coincidences), and like most of Bova's work, it doesn't disappoint. If you're interested in hard science fiction that focuses on the human condition, this is a worthy book to pick up. I always enjoy new installments in the Grand Tour, and The Aftermath is no exception.

Michael M Jones enjoys an addiction to books, for which he's glad there is no cure. He lives with his very patient wife (who doesn't complain about books taking over the house... much), eight cats, and a large plaster penguin that once tasted blood and enjoyed it. A prophecy states that when Michael finishes reading everything on his list, he'll finally die. He aims to be immortal.