According to Bova, every book in the series is a stand-alone in its own right. However, part of the payoff from reading a series is the recurring characters and a sense of understanding of how the world works.
What keeps bringing me back to his work is how plausible his vision of the future is. Since there is no FTL technology, his stories show just how enormous the Sol system is.
The only complaint I have is something I've found in all the books; his antagonist is always a mustache-twisting egotist who suffers from some kind of mental break. Oh, and the women. Yikes! Why does the author feel that every female must fall in love with one of his male characters?
Okay, that's the complaining. As a science fiction adventure, it's a pretty darn good read. It centers around a research station orbiting Jupiter. Below the clouds, there is an ocean thousands of kilometres deep where life exists.
Robotic probes and lives have been lost in trying to learn about the leviathans that inhabit this strange place. But now, after a secret project to build a better human-rated ship is completed, the station manager must work against time and his superior to launch the mission before he is ordered to stop.
It is a rather unlikely crew that makes the dangerous trip but that doesn't matter as I was treated to a terrific yarn below the clouds.
After reading the book I still want to experience the series from the beginning.
Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/
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