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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Feels like a hundred plus pages could have been cut out with no loss. The entire Maya focused book drags terribly. A page shadow of Red Mars
This second episode of the trilogy maintains the standard of the first.
Moving into a new political phase of oppression and rebellion, with a mix of new and old characters, the tone builds from the low point at the end of the first volume with increasing rays of hope.
Mars is still at the forefront, in all its meticulously detailed stark beauty.
KSR has quite an astute understanding of politics too, and the way the rebels gradually build up their position is quite engaging.
Moving into a new political phase of oppression and rebellion, with a mix of new and old characters, the tone builds from the low point at the end of the first volume with increasing rays of hope.
Mars is still at the forefront, in all its meticulously detailed stark beauty.
KSR has quite an astute understanding of politics too, and the way the rebels gradually build up their position is quite engaging.
this whole trilogy is good but not exciting. A lot of science.
The Short Answer
A thoroughly well researched and planned book that matches the exacting standards of the first while also failing to generate any real sense of wonder or character. It seems most people who loved the first book still love this one, but the formula failed to work for me a second time.
The Long Answer
I read the first book about a year and a half ago, and I remember really enjoying it. There were times when it was too detailed, or dragged on, but mostly I was engaged the whole time. Part of what made that work was the opening. Starting after settling had occurred and giving us an immediate murder between friends created immediate mystery and tension. There was also the mysterious passenger of the Ares and the slow reveal of everyone's true motivations and desires.
Unfortunately this book has none of that. This would have been fine if the characters were interesting, but they were all insanely flat. None of them have anything resembling a character arc, or even a personality. I constantly had to reread sections to figure out who was saying what which made it hard to care about anyone, leaving the story and the world building to shoulder all the burden.
The world building is impressive in its detail, but tedious in its execution. I got tired of having to remember all the various scientific terms for geological features on Mars, especially since so much of it was just detail for the sake of it. The author bothered to figure out that someone drove around a crater counter clockwise so they could see specific features that haven't been mentioned before (and won't be again), but he never found a way to make it interesting.
It doesn't help that Mars is no longer the Mars we know. The first book allowed me to go on a trip to Mars and see the first steps of living there. Here the planet is far enough along on its terraforming journey that it felt like a whole new planet. The detail of his science got less interesting the further along we went because it all just felt like conjecture at a certain point.
All these problems are compounded by the fact that the passage of time is extremely hard to follow. He starts by teaching us the difference between Mars years and Earth years, but it's never completely clear which he's talking about when years are mentioned later. The story also loves to make big jumps in time and assumes a single casual mention of the date will keep the reader up to date. This might have worked if anything had ever changed, but it always felt like a jarring fast forward to get certain story elements into place. Need some missiles built? Sure, fast forward a few years, but don't worry, nothing else will have changed in that time.
A solid antagonist could have saved this book. There's one girl named Jackie who's constantly being placed in an antagonistic position to the main characters. But we learn very little about her other than she sleeps around a lot and has ideas. We don't know what those ideas are, we just know they are slightly different from the good ideas. She barely ever gets to actually speak and is mostly relegated to doing mystery deeds off page that may or may not get in everyone's way later. A military general from the first book is introduced who would be a perfect foil to all the Martians, but he only appears twice near the very end and ultimately serves no purpose.
This is a book full of grand ambition that never figures out to do with it. I only recommend it to diehard fans of the original and highly doubt I'll read the final book in the series. I hear you can read summaries off Wikipedia, that sounds more fun.
A thoroughly well researched and planned book that matches the exacting standards of the first while also failing to generate any real sense of wonder or character. It seems most people who loved the first book still love this one, but the formula failed to work for me a second time.
The Long Answer
I read the first book about a year and a half ago, and I remember really enjoying it. There were times when it was too detailed, or dragged on, but mostly I was engaged the whole time. Part of what made that work was the opening. Starting after settling had occurred and giving us an immediate murder between friends created immediate mystery and tension. There was also the mysterious passenger of the Ares and the slow reveal of everyone's true motivations and desires.
Unfortunately this book has none of that. This would have been fine if the characters were interesting, but they were all insanely flat. None of them have anything resembling a character arc, or even a personality. I constantly had to reread sections to figure out who was saying what which made it hard to care about anyone, leaving the story and the world building to shoulder all the burden.
The world building is impressive in its detail, but tedious in its execution. I got tired of having to remember all the various scientific terms for geological features on Mars, especially since so much of it was just detail for the sake of it. The author bothered to figure out that someone drove around a crater counter clockwise so they could see specific features that haven't been mentioned before (and won't be again), but he never found a way to make it interesting.
It doesn't help that Mars is no longer the Mars we know. The first book allowed me to go on a trip to Mars and see the first steps of living there. Here the planet is far enough along on its terraforming journey that it felt like a whole new planet. The detail of his science got less interesting the further along we went because it all just felt like conjecture at a certain point.
All these problems are compounded by the fact that the passage of time is extremely hard to follow. He starts by teaching us the difference between Mars years and Earth years, but it's never completely clear which he's talking about when years are mentioned later. The story also loves to make big jumps in time and assumes a single casual mention of the date will keep the reader up to date. This might have worked if anything had ever changed, but it always felt like a jarring fast forward to get certain story elements into place. Need some missiles built? Sure, fast forward a few years, but don't worry, nothing else will have changed in that time.
A solid antagonist could have saved this book. There's one girl named Jackie who's constantly being placed in an antagonistic position to the main characters. But we learn very little about her other than she sleeps around a lot and has ideas. We don't know what those ideas are, we just know they are slightly different from the good ideas. She barely ever gets to actually speak and is mostly relegated to doing mystery deeds off page that may or may not get in everyone's way later.
Spoiler
They don't. Her plans have no effect on anything, but we get to slut shame her a bunch.This is a book full of grand ambition that never figures out to do with it. I only recommend it to diehard fans of the original and highly doubt I'll read the final book in the series. I hear you can read summaries off Wikipedia, that sounds more fun.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Better than I remember but also longer. Easy to take for granted.
Green Mars improves on what made Red Mars so interesting. Throughout this novel, Robinson develops a world so full of realism and life that it is hard not to become engrossed and feel as if you yourself are fighting a rebellion on Mars. The science is of course deeply interesting and well-told, a constant in Robinson’s work, but the characters are so much more developed and interesting than in Red Mars that I find myself caring more about the interactions of the characters than the actual science in this science fiction novel. Another marked improvement in this novel is Robinson’s plot, the story actually seems to be one full story set in a larger world and aside from some dragging in the end and a rocky start, it really does feel like Robinson progresses the story from start to satisfying finish. Aside from my aforementioned qualms, the most agonizing aspect of this novel that definitely prevents it from earning a fifth star is Robinson’s constant lengthy descriptions of Mars geology and geography. While some amount is necessary to help one picture the world being crafted, reading multiple page descriptions of escarpments and pistes does bore after 700 pages. In all, I am happy I decided on a whim to continue this series that interested but did not amaze me with its first entry. I am now fully on board with Kim Stanley Robinson and I am excited to read Blue Mars sooner rather than later.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So much policy writing omfg. Just blow something up already!!!
I wont lie, Sax's first chapter halted my progress on this for literally 4 years. KSR's penchant for nerding out on the incredible research he does is so commendable, but it is has never been what interested me the most about his books. But I returned with the understanding that skipping a paragraph describing atmospheric pressure conditions is totally okay. Im left feeling like this book was nearly as good as the first, if not standing toe to toe. Maybe not so breakneck in its pace but certainly creates an slow avalanche of tension. And to cram the entire revolution into the final 70 pages! And all told secondhand through Nadia watching livestreams and videochats! Great stuff.
His ultimately very (watch out im gonna say it) materialist perspective on history makes for really incredible, decades spanning stories. The fact that so much happens outside the actions of main characters, yet you dont feel for one moment that Maya, Nirgal, Art, Nadia, etc. are disempowered, that is incredible narrative achievement. Sally Rooney asked once if it was even possible to write a "marxist novel" and I think this is maybe one way that KSR has a knack for. To create moving, breathing worlds where our characters are important and central to the narrative, yet disempowered to shape their world on their own. They are simply trying to ride the tiger.
His ultimately very (watch out im gonna say it) materialist perspective on history makes for really incredible, decades spanning stories. The fact that so much happens outside the actions of main characters, yet you dont feel for one moment that Maya, Nirgal, Art, Nadia, etc. are disempowered, that is incredible narrative achievement. Sally Rooney asked once if it was even possible to write a "marxist novel" and I think this is maybe one way that KSR has a knack for. To create moving, breathing worlds where our characters are important and central to the narrative, yet disempowered to shape their world on their own. They are simply trying to ride the tiger.