Review: Mammon Book One: Titan, by Robert Kroese

Mammon: Titan is a combination of hard science fiction near-future space exploration story and world-wide apocalyptic disaster tail that strikes all the right notes of personal, political, and economic conflict.

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The story

If you can imagine an Ayn Rand plot as written by Robert Heinlein, you will get an idea of what it is like reading Titan. In the near-future, the United States is, as today, deep in debt. But by the time Titan takes place, the country is in danger of defaulting on its debts and sending its economy spiraling down the toliet. Tech-industrialist Kade Kapur has a crazy plan to save the economy that just might work: he is going to capture an enormous asteroid worth $10 trillion. Uncle Sam gets to sell shares of the profits to eager investors, and Kade will take his dream of colonizing space one step closer to reality. But when the project is sabotaged, Kade’s dreams fall apart along with the United States.

The disparate elements of Titan’s plot fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Each twist and turn follows logically from the last, each puzzle piece put into place until the full picture of the impending disaster is finally revealed.

The characters

The characters in Titan run the gamut from world leaders to billionaires to everyday people just trying to get by. Jumping from these disparate points of view gives the reader a view of the full scope of the consequences of impending final collapse on various aspects of life.

Titan’s characters are invariably competent, but believably so. Kade Kapur has ambitious dreams that he successfully brings into reality, but only after finding the support of brilliant technical experts and the backing of established venture capitalists. His heroes are likeable and good-hearted, but they also have their blind spots that lead them to tragedy.

Kroese skillfully uses the scientific and economic experts in his story to explain technical details in the way that a layperson will understand not only the background of what is happening in the world, but also the implications for future events.

The world

The near future world of Titan is largely the same as our own, following current trends to their logical conclusions. The USA is on the brink of bankruptcy but private enterprise is making large strides in the form of space travel, self driving vehicles, and alternative currencies. As someone with a degree in astronautical engineering, I can tell that the capture of asteroids in the story was meticulously researched, but the explanations were not so detailed so as to overwhelm or bore a layperson.

The fictional aspects of the story, whether the companies founded by Kade Kapur or the small island in the South Pacific that serves as a tax shelter and much more, all feel real. Every fictional aspect of this future works as a natural outgrowth of current technological and social trends.

The economics that drive the story are explained in clear and simple terms. These explanations lent enough credibility to the collapse of the dollar that it made me seriously considering how much preparation I need to be ready for something like the events occurring in Titan.

The politics

Titan’s politics will resonate most strongly with libertarians, but while there are a few characters’ voices lend an ideological lens to view the events of Titan, there are no political screeds to be found. The idea that too much government debt will lead to disaster may be controversial among proponents of Modern Monetary Theory, but the average reader should have no trouble connecting the dots, whether they are on the left or the right.

Content warning

Titan portrays a collapse of the financial system that leads to a breakdown in order, including civil unrest, but almost all of the violence occurs off screen. There are depictions of adultery, but no onscreen sex. Any use of profanity was sparse enough for me not to notice.

Who is it for?

Titan is for anyone who is a fan of Ayn Rand, Robert Heinlein, or well-thought out hard sci-fi disaster stories.

Why read it?

Read Titan for the terrifyingly believable view of America’s descent into financial chaos and the hope that whatever rises out of the ashes might change the world for the better.

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