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kynan's review against another edition
2.0
Originally published in 1891 in Belfast, the language and oft times now archaic viewpoints require a little leeway when reading this tale.
The bones of the story concern the discovery of a means to travel through space and the subsequent creation and use of a vessel to do so. The story is populated by a small group, hand-picked for adventure: a core of "solid men" (the scientist, explorer and capitalist) and those required to "look on and talk about, write about, paint about, or report about what men of action achieve".
The story cracks off at high speed and doesn't really let up for the first two-fifths of the book. Unfortunately (from my perspective at least) the latter three-fifths are a somewhat plodding, melodramatic and inevitable romantic tragedy with occasional didactic railing against the people and customs external to the colonial United Kingdom thrown in for good measure.
There is a good measure of "futuristic" technology and the beginnings of an interesting foray into the ramifications of living in a high-tech society, but the author suffers an imagination deficit and this dead-ends rather quickly (to be fair, a particularly significant imagination would be required circa-1890 to think up some of the more commonplace post-technology or -singularity of today...but he started out so well).
The version I read included the brief forward by [a:Jules Verne|696805|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1322911579p2/696805.jpg] and I think he summed it up best:
"...For myself, I should perhaps, preferred more details, more facts and figures in connection with the stupendous phenomena we encountered. But the pace at which we travelled was not favourable to minute inquiry—one does not reckon the wavelets when one estimates the strengths of the tides..."
I don't think I'd be too likely to recommend this to anyone due to my general dislike of the majority of the book but I'm quite interested in getting a hold of [a:Cromie's|863798|Robert Cromie|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] 1895 novel [b:The Crack of Doom|6329003|The Crack of Doom|Robert Cromie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328308474s/6329003.jpg|6514635] (and I really should get around to reading all of the [a:Jules Verne|696805|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1322911579p2/696805.jpg] back-catalogue that I've inexplicably skipped - with the exception of [b:Around the World in Eighty Days|54479|Around the World in Eighty Days |Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1308815551s/54479.jpg|4537271] - up to now).
The bones of the story concern the discovery of a means to travel through space and the subsequent creation and use of a vessel to do so. The story is populated by a small group, hand-picked for adventure: a core of "solid men" (the scientist, explorer and capitalist) and those required to "look on and talk about, write about, paint about, or report about what men of action achieve".
The story cracks off at high speed and doesn't really let up for the first two-fifths of the book. Unfortunately (from my perspective at least) the latter three-fifths are a somewhat plodding, melodramatic and inevitable romantic tragedy with occasional didactic railing against the people and customs external to the colonial United Kingdom thrown in for good measure.
There is a good measure of "futuristic" technology and the beginnings of an interesting foray into the ramifications of living in a high-tech society, but the author suffers an imagination deficit and this dead-ends rather quickly (to be fair, a particularly significant imagination would be required circa-1890 to think up some of the more commonplace post-technology or -singularity of today...but he started out so well).
The version I read included the brief forward by [a:Jules Verne|696805|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1322911579p2/696805.jpg] and I think he summed it up best:
"...For myself, I should perhaps, preferred more details, more facts and figures in connection with the stupendous phenomena we encountered. But the pace at which we travelled was not favourable to minute inquiry—one does not reckon the wavelets when one estimates the strengths of the tides..."
I don't think I'd be too likely to recommend this to anyone due to my general dislike of the majority of the book but I'm quite interested in getting a hold of [a:Cromie's|863798|Robert Cromie|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png] 1895 novel [b:The Crack of Doom|6329003|The Crack of Doom|Robert Cromie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328308474s/6329003.jpg|6514635] (and I really should get around to reading all of the [a:Jules Verne|696805|Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1322911579p2/696805.jpg] back-catalogue that I've inexplicably skipped - with the exception of [b:Around the World in Eighty Days|54479|Around the World in Eighty Days |Jules Verne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1308815551s/54479.jpg|4537271] - up to now).
lex_y's review
4.0
I really, genuinely enjoyed this book. Perhaps because I read it immediately after finishing Romeo and Juliet (yes), the language was refreshing. It's nice to remember that people back then had senses of humor.
So, plot-wise, a Scottish adventurer, an English scientist, an Irish Politician, a wealthy nobleman, a heartsick author, an artist, and a newspaper reporter go to Mars. As a friend said while I was describing it, "Wait, is this a set up to some joke?" And the answer is, well, yes and no.
Step 1: break gravity.
Step 2: float a ball.
Step 3: GO TO MARS.
(to be continued)
So, plot-wise, a Scottish adventurer, an English scientist, an Irish Politician, a wealthy nobleman, a heartsick author, an artist, and a newspaper reporter go to Mars. As a friend said while I was describing it, "Wait, is this a set up to some joke?" And the answer is, well, yes and no.
Step 1: break gravity.
Step 2: float a ball.
Step 3: GO TO MARS.
(to be continued)
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