Titan

Titan is Book one of John Varley's Gaea trilogy. It seemed to me to be a cross between Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers and The Wizard of Oz.

A seven person crew, one of Earth's first exploration craft out to study the moons of Saturn. However once they discover an apparently artificial satellite of Saturn, their plans were changed. As they close in to begin their study, suddenly huge tentacles shoot out and tear the ship apart.

Later, the crew find themselves in someplace of sensory deprivation. They eventually are "sprouted" much like flowers. They are separated and they seem normal, but they have been subtly changed. As they finally begin to find each other again, they no longer are a close knit crew. And some go their separate ways.

Captain Cirocco "Rocky" Jones and Gaby and Bill are the main characters that we follow through most of the book, as they begin to explore their new "home". Bill is injured seriously while hunting for some food. This is basically the first major crisis as his wounds are fairly serious and they have no medicine. Enter the Titanides, a species of centaur, and though they are quite different they do have medicine and they take Bill under their care. Rocky and Gaby go in search of the "god" Gaea, and their quest is the culmination of the book.

There is some nice action, some strange goings on and even some humor. John varley is a fine writer as his many awards and or nominations can attest. I look forward to book two, Wizard.