Millennium

This is a book I've been meaning to reread for a number of years now. I've had it on my shelf since my high school days. It's set in December of 1999... as envisioned in the mid-seventies. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Energy is scarce, pollution is running rampant, and the United States and the Soviet Union are both racing to gain the tactical high ground as they both endeavor to complete their orbital anti-ballistic missle defense systems. Colonel Chet Kinsman, commander of the American Moonbase, is sick of it. Moonbase is a lunar colony existing side by side with the Soviet station Lunagrad. The stations were built years earlier, when a brief spirit of co-operation existed between the two superpowers. That spirit still show more exists amongst the lunar colonists, fueled by the necessity of interdpendence to survive the dangerous environment. As the threat of war grows closer, Kinsman tries to insure that the inhabitants of the Moon will retain their peaceful lifestyle despite events on Earth. Of course, such independence is a complex thing and Kinsman's efforts have reprercussions that go far beyond his plans. It's an interesting tale about what might have been. In one sense, I'm glad I put off rereading this book so long. I think the book with its elements of environmental troubles, patriotism, and looming world war would have seemed more anachronistic in 1999 than it does in 2004. Anyway, as a book of speculative future that has become alternate history, Millenium has aged well.
--J. (in 2004) show less

Millennium by Ben Bova is being re-released. The novel originally published in 1976 is highly recommended

Millennium is set in 1999 on the moonbase Selene. Selene is the name the Americans and Russians living on the base call the moon, in contrast to the names given by the officials on Earth to the separate American and Russian areas in the moonbase. Inhabitants of Selene call themselves "Luniks" and the two coexisting communities have a good working relationship. Things are different on Earth, where the Americans and Russians are heading into an undeclared war. Both sides are trying to destroy the others defense satellites and are trying to pull the moonbase into the battle. In a shocking move, American Colonel Chet Kinsman and Russian show more Colonel Piotr Leonov declare themselves the independent nation of Selene and take control of the orbiting stations that control the satellites of both sides.

While reading Millennium, the first thing you will notice is the 1999 date and how the novel shows it's age. The cold war from the 1970's is alive and well. (Of course, China is nothing and of no concern as far as the world political climate is concerned in this novel.) The Americans versus the Soviets was certainly timely when Millennium was written. Additionally, the setting may be sci-fi, but this is a novel more concerned with social commentary on the cold war. Certainly Bova has added sci-fi aspects. And, since this was written in 1976, it's interesting to see how he envisioned technological advances in the future.

It is well written, but it does show it's age in the subject matter and in the societal interactions depicted. Whether to recommend reading Millennium depends upon your own point of view. Read it with the idea to simply enjoy some old science fiction (from your younger days for me) and you will find it enjoyable. If you focus on the flaws, you won't.

Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher for review purposes.

http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/2016/07/millennium.html show less

Now this is a dated book. Reading this 13 years after it was supposed to happen shows the ambitions of people back then. The whole "moon base" idea hasn't even been started yet, but I did enjoy the ideas of an independent entity existing in space.

The year is 1999 (remember this was written in 1976 so it was the future then) and the Russians and Americans share a colony below the surface of the moon. Can they join together to save humankind from themselves before a devastating nuclear war is started?

An interesting novel. The real millennium wasn't anything like this though. It does have colonial and cold war politics issues that seem rather dated.

Excellent SF novel about a sort of cold war settlement on the moon co-occupied by Russian and American colonists on the eve of the new millenium.

KINSMAN SAGA