The saying “made for this job” is literal with Captain Adam Montgomery. He was genetically triggered to grow while en route to Draco, Saturn’s space station. Adam’s Rings ventures out into vast space and the dangers that astronauts, scientists, and the taxpayers face when setting up home away from Earth. Matthew D. White begins this great adventure with Adam waking up years before his physical body is fully grown and his synthetic memories are complete. Adam must wake up to dislodge a damaged part of his ship, therefore learning the truth about his role on Draco. He comes to terms with his destiny and settles down to complete his education before they expect his first real mission of him. Through his years as the lone occupant of his space ship he learns many valuable lessons. One lesson is that mistakes can be deadly and though they could always create another captain, Adam doesn’t wish to die.  

Matthew D. White gives an amazing amount of detail of space life. His love for space and in-depth study is clear in Adam’s Rings. This novel will teach the average reader much about the planet Saturn. Through genetically triggered gestation, the author offers a solution to the problems of too many years in space and putting astronauts to sleep until they reach their destination. He is very detailed and original in his writing. Science fiction readers will love this novel. I am sure others would love to see this in a movie since it presents a solution for space travel, but also of forming life in space colonies. I loved the ending. It began with an insecure youth and ended with a confident captain doing what was right for the people.

Humans solved the problem of long-distance space travel not by placing astronauts in stasis, but by growing them from blastocytes. Adam is one such astronaut, woken before his time when the Draco station orbiting Saturn is struck by space debris. Although traumatized by the truth of his origins, Adam accepts his mission as station commander. With the first mission scheduled to occur in less than two years, Adam sets about the task of learning everything he needs to fulfil his role from the Draco station's AI. As Adam’s fascination with the gas giant outside leads him to test his capabilities to gather information about it, Adam realizes that Draco station and mission control are keeping even bigger secrets from him.

The hostile environment of space is inescapable in Adam's Rings by Matthew D. White. The concept of being alone on a space station is nerve-wracking enough but when things go wrong, they go very wrong. This is partly what makes the opening of Adam’s Rings so gripping as he struggles to escape from danger with nothing but the Draco AI’s voice to guide him. This makes for a subtler form of tension than the presence of hostile aliens, but I found it far more heart-racing. It’s also satisfying to read about a character encountering danger in the pursuit of scientific exploration. White presents an interesting philosophical concept in terms of how our experiences shape us, and what that means when those memories are contrived. The mental stresses of loneliness and trauma also feature strongly in this novel. Adam’s Rings is a tense, thoughtful work of space opera.