Critical Mass

Former crew members of an unsanctioned mining operation on the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu race to rescue the colleagues they left behind in bestseller Suarez’s dragging and excessively technical sequel to Delta-v. Taikonaut Jin Hua Han, cave diver James Tighe, and roboticist Priya Chindarkar have four years to use the resources mined from Ryugu to build a space craft capable of traveling back to the asteroid to rescue their friends. It’s an exciting premise coupled with a high-stakes obstacle: the Russian, Chinese, and U.S. governments are each determined to claim the mined resources for themselves and so prevent their rivals from making any space-based advancements that would put them at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, the narrative is bogged down by bland, long-winded exposition as Jin, James, and Priya realize they will have to build all the infrastructure they need themselves, including a space station, a lunar mass-driver, and a solar power satellite. Suarez paints a depressingly realistic picture of a near-future Earth ravaged by climate change, but the exhaustive detail makes this read more like a textbook than a thriller. Even ardent genre fans will have a hard time getting into this one. Agent: Raphael Sagalyn, CAA. (Jan.)