Saucer - The Conquest
By Stephen Coonts Wheeler Publishing, 2005
Large Print Edition
ISBN: 1-58724-848-4
Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
Reviewed by Herbert White - April 4, 2005
In the tradition of the 1950 and 60's science fiction high adventure stories that took readers on fantastic voyages to the moon and beyond, Stephen Coonts brings us Saucer: The Conquest. This is space adventure at its best. The story is humourous, has well-defined heroes, and the story's premise is based upon hard science.
Saucer: The Conquest is the sequel to Saucer. In the first book in the series, Rip Cantrell discovered a flying saucer buried in the Sahara desert. It turns out that the ship is more than 140,000-years-old. In a spirited story filled with action, intrigue, and of course, danger, Rip and his companion, Charlotte "Charley" Pines learn the secrets of the craft and how to fly it. Now, Rip and Charley are both handsomely rich and looking for adventure - and they find it...
In this installment of the story, Charley has been hired as a co-piolet for the Jeanne D'Arc, a modern, French-made space plane that is bound for the moon. Once there, she discovers that Pierre Artois, a lunatic millionaire, is building a moon base that is equipped with an awesome weapon constructed with stolen saucer technology. Artois plans to use this weapon, which can project an anti-gravity beam, to conquer the world by offering the various governments of the world the option of bowing down to him, or being obliterated. His goal is to make himself into the King of the Earth, and his equally diabolical wife Julie, his co-ruler. Being a good guy, and knowing her own limitations, Charley steals the Jeanne D'Arc and flies back to the earth in order to seek help in stopping Artois before he can carry out his fiendish plan.
At the same time, Egg Cantrell, Rip's uncle is kidnaped by a mad scientist named Newton Chadwick. Egg is forced to fly the spaceship that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, to the moon. Chadwick was present when the Roswell spacecraft was first opened, and 'just' happened to manage to steal a key piece of technology from the craft. To save Egg, Rip and Charley must once again join forces. This time stealing a spaceship from the Smithsonian Museum, which they use to fly off to the moon. Soon even more spaceships are in the air, and a space battle ensues with each competing faction in this convoluted tale sending their own forces out to do battle against the good guys.
From beginning to end this is a madcap adventure filled with spaceships dog fighting over the moon, a frenzied scientist gleefully rubbing his hands, and a megalomaniac with dreams of world domination. The bad guys in this book are decidedly bad, and the good guys decidedly good. There is, apparently, an unprecedented variety of space ships, both human and alien made, just laying around for the taking. There are a few inconsistency and unbelievable elements in this story, but who cares? Saucer: The Conquest is simply good, old-fashioned fun that delivers a fast-paced and enjoyable read that will transport you to the moon and away from all your earthly cares... at least for a few hours.
Related Reviews:
Saucer, by Stephen Coonts.
When Rip Cantrell finds a flying saucer buried in the sands of the Sahara, his life changes forever. The US Air Force, an Australian billionaire, and the Libyan army are just a few of the many people who want to take the ship off Cantrell's hands. To keep the ship from falling into the wrong hands, Cantrell must figure out how to get the ship flying again - and he does... (Large Print)
The Trouble With Tycho, by Clifford D. Simak.
Several lunar expeditions to the crater called Tycho were made, but no one ever survived to tell the world what they discovered there. And no one with any sense would ever try to find out what happened, least they too meet the same fate as everyone else who had ever gone into Tycho. So why then, does Chris Jackson, an otherwise level headed prospector, agree to enter this forbidding area, and what does he hope to find there.... (Large Print)
