The Man Who Corrupted Earth by G.C. Edmondson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Can an entire book be redeemed by the ending?

Alas, no, but the ending was pretty damn cool.

So, this relatively unknown SF from 1980 happened to cross my eye in a used section and I just had to grab it because of that damn title. I knew nothing, went in blind, and said, "why the hell not?"

The so/so: the whole entrepreneur stuff was steeped in its milieu, Arab money, angry old men upset about taxes, leveraging this and that to gamble on privatized space. It didn't really hold up for today, but it certainly tried. And if I read "sad Semetic eyes" one more time I might puke.

The fact that this part of the story was pretty neat at the very end when they have some leverage over all the government thieves doesn't really make up for the fact that I thought most of it could have been nixed. After all, we did have a few good astronauts in the Belt using some actual, real science for us readers. That was cool. Between doing calculations and bone density issues and basic survival stuff, I was having a great time.

Where things went from just okay to great was nearing the end when they make their big catch. No spoilers, but it was definitely worth it.

Of course, from my PoV, I was like... HEY! If a good 70% had been sped up to lead us to THIS bit, I think it would have made a great STARTING point. But no one asked me, and it's also a good 42 years too late anyway.

But alas, what do I expect? I randomized my read and didn't expect anything anyway. :)

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