| Author: | Brian Stableford |
| Copyright: | 1982 |
| Date Reviewed: | 9/29/84 |
| Rating: | 8.5 |
Synopsis: Mike Rousseau is a prospector on the planet Asgard. No one is sure exactly what Asgard is. It may be a planet with its interior carved out or it may be entirely an artifact. Either way, building it was an enormous project. Beneath the surface is a network of levels, perhaps thousands of them. Only the first four levels have been explored. By the time the fourth level is reached, the temperature has dropped to only a few degrees above absolute zero.
While Mike Rousseau is planning his next prospecting trip to the interiors of Asgard, he is framed for murder. According to Tetron law, (the Tetrons are a superior race that own Asgard), a criminal may redeem himself by working for the state. As an alternative, some other group may buy the criminal's service for a number of years. Just before Mike is about to sell himself to the gangsters who framed him, he is 'rescued' by a captain of the Star Force. He joins the Star Force (not quite willingly), an together with the captain and several subordinates, travel into Asgard in search of a giant that the captain believes poses a great threat to humanity.
The giant is an android created by a race that have been all but destroyed by Earth forces in a recent war. The captain is determined to kill the giant. Separated from the Star Force, Mike meets the android and they join forces to search for the true creators of Asgard that may be living in the center of the planet. Mike, the giant, the Star Force and the gangsters that are pursuing them are taken down many thousands of levels where it is reveled that the giant was created by Earth's enemies with the help of a foundation set up to explore Asgard. The biotech secrets that they learned belong to the thousand level inhabitants who accept the giant as their own.
The Star Forces kills the gangsters and are then made to believe that they also killed the giant. Everyone is transported back up, the lower levers are permanently closed and everyone lives happily ever after. We never find out though were Asgard came from and who really built it.
Review: Journey to the Center" is a lighthearted novel about one man's exploration of a made world. Because of the comic infusion by the narrator, the story is made a little less believable but that is a fair exchange. Brian Stableford is a good writer; I enjoyed his style. I also appreciated that the story progressed from point to point without getting bogged down with philosophical discussion of the Asgard builders. Of course some parts dragged a little (like the trip across the surface) but for the most part this book provided a lot of action. This is the first Science Fiction that I've read by Brian Stableford and I am looking forward to the next.