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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I thought this was a sci-fi book. It's actually a soap opera about interpersonal relationships. Who knew?
DNF, unfortunately.
DNF, unfortunately.
slow-paced
took me way too long to finish. an excellent sci-fi novel nonetheless.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As far as SciFi goes, this one felt the most human. I loved learning the plot from the different perspectives of each of the first hundred - the focus on their values, beliefs, love, and loss grounded this book more than other SciFi I have read.
All of that against the dramatic background of the Red Planet undergoing colonization - there were many points of the book that left me absolutely stunned.
And it all comes back to the perspectives of the two American leaders given to us in the first chapter - John Boone, First Man on Mars' belief that they became fundamentally different beings who could break the cycles of human history on this new planet, and Frank Chalmers beliefs,
All of that against the dramatic background of the Red Planet undergoing colonization - there were many points of the book that left me absolutely stunned.
And it all comes back to the perspectives of the two American leaders given to us in the first chapter - John Boone, First Man on Mars' belief that they became fundamentally different beings who could break the cycles of human history on this new planet, and Frank Chalmers beliefs,
Not only had they not become fundamentally different beings, they had actually become more like themselves than ever, stripped of habits until they were left with nothing but the naked raw material of their selves.
I felt this in each of the characters. I didn't necessarily understand each of their motivations, and I'm still not entirely sure what the purpose was of
The central ideological battle of the book, it's beautifully stark and descriptive writing, and groundedness in humanity earn it's place among my favorites.
i fear the worldbuilding completely got in the way of the plot. Detail is important, but holy fuck i don't need to read an extensive list of their supplies on the rover, on their base, and the random drama science formulas
Absolutely incredible, not only as a scifi novel, but as a standalone work of fiction. Kim Stanley Robinson is one of my favorite authors because he splits a perfect balance between hard fact-based science fiction, and novels about human beings that feel real and tangible.
Robinson also does what few others do: characters are portrayed through their interactions with the current narrating character. As the POV changes, other characters are cast in completely different lights. One character might be described as scheming in one POV, but another might show that they are just trying to hold a rapidly devolving situation together the first character was unaware of. The political games end up being one of the main stars of the book, as was the case in Ministry for the Future.
I am so, so excited to continue on in this series, but I'm forcing myself to space things out a bit.
If you like scifi, if you have any interest in Mars, please please pick this up. 5/5
One note on scientific accuracy: since Robinson wrote this in 1993, our understanding of the Martian landscape and its chemical makeup has changed drastically. Much of the science is really speculative, and some of it is flat out wrong, but in ways science was ignorant to until recently. As long as you can brush that aside, it is fantastic.
Robinson also does what few others do: characters are portrayed through their interactions with the current narrating character. As the POV changes, other characters are cast in completely different lights. One character might be described as scheming in one POV, but another might show that they are just trying to hold a rapidly devolving situation together the first character was unaware of. The political games end up being one of the main stars of the book, as was the case in Ministry for the Future.
I am so, so excited to continue on in this series, but I'm forcing myself to space things out a bit.
If you like scifi, if you have any interest in Mars, please please pick this up. 5/5
One note on scientific accuracy: since Robinson wrote this in 1993, our understanding of the Martian landscape and its chemical makeup has changed drastically. Much of the science is really speculative, and some of it is flat out wrong, but in ways science was ignorant to until recently. As long as you can brush that aside, it is fantastic.
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I know I read this, but I can't remember if I finished it or not.
I enjoyed 2312 so much, I think I should go back and read this trilogy.
Okay—somewhere around 10 years later I went back and tried again. It’s a bit to soap opera, frankly. It begins with a flash-forward that makes me feel yucky about all the characters, and then moves backward in time and does not improve. Unfortunate. Not recommended.
I enjoyed 2312 so much, I think I should go back and read this trilogy.
Okay—somewhere around 10 years later I went back and tried again. It’s a bit to soap opera, frankly. It begins with a flash-forward that makes me feel yucky about all the characters, and then moves backward in time and does not improve. Unfortunate. Not recommended.
I was wary of reading this book, since it seemed like a massive tome of hard sci-fi (I like my sci-fi soft) requiring lots of brain and willpower to comprehend and finish. Indeed, the book is (1) long, and (2) brimming with science talk. Yet, despite this - or, okay, because of this - I couldn't put it down.
In light of Curiosity's landing, I was jonesing for some relatively realistic Mars colonization stuff - and Red Mars delivered. The book is ambitious in scale and epic in scope, covering something like 50 years, from the very beginnings of Mars colonization (100 gossipy scientists travel, land and briefly live in a Next Generation-style utopia of trailers, experiments and power tools) to its eventual politicization, commodification and industrialization (everyone else shows up and ruins everything, a la 18th century extractive colonies).
The massively moving plot threads don't *always* pay off - indeed, some things (like the whole narrative with Frank Chalmers, as well as Arkady) felt somewhat anti-climactic, even frustrating, in their non-resolutions - but then again, that's life. And the book seems to be *very* attuned with what life is. That is, Kim Stanley Robinson offers a vision at once awesome (in the original, "ye majestic cosmos!" sense of the word) and familiar: people are petty and kind of dumb (even the smart ones), economic problems still drive scientific research, and the universe is vast and unforgiving and just really fantastic. I loved the characters: the First Hundred scientists were all uniquely drawn and generally interesting: from the extreme environmentalism of Ann Clayborne to the drama queen charisma of Maya, to the wonderful Nadia. The only one who felt a bit too broad was the ostensibly Classical Hero, John Boone. At least, the chapter inside his head was surprising in its decay and frivolous vanity - or maybe Stanley Robinson was making a point about our golden boy heroes/politicians.
Anyway! I'm now properly hooked, and it's time to move onto Blue Mars and Green Mars. Given how much ground was covered in Red Mars, my expectations are high for the remaining two - I assume we'll end up 500 years in the future, in some drastically altered social and geological landscape.
In light of Curiosity's landing, I was jonesing for some relatively realistic Mars colonization stuff - and Red Mars delivered. The book is ambitious in scale and epic in scope, covering something like 50 years, from the very beginnings of Mars colonization (100 gossipy scientists travel, land and briefly live in a Next Generation-style utopia of trailers, experiments and power tools) to its eventual politicization, commodification and industrialization (everyone else shows up and ruins everything, a la 18th century extractive colonies).
The massively moving plot threads don't *always* pay off - indeed, some things (like the whole narrative with Frank Chalmers, as well as Arkady) felt somewhat anti-climactic, even frustrating, in their non-resolutions - but then again, that's life. And the book seems to be *very* attuned with what life is. That is, Kim Stanley Robinson offers a vision at once awesome (in the original, "ye majestic cosmos!" sense of the word) and familiar: people are petty and kind of dumb (even the smart ones), economic problems still drive scientific research, and the universe is vast and unforgiving and just really fantastic. I loved the characters: the First Hundred scientists were all uniquely drawn and generally interesting: from the extreme environmentalism of Ann Clayborne to the drama queen charisma of Maya, to the wonderful Nadia. The only one who felt a bit too broad was the ostensibly Classical Hero, John Boone. At least, the chapter inside his head was surprising in its decay and frivolous vanity - or maybe Stanley Robinson was making a point about our golden boy heroes/politicians.
Anyway! I'm now properly hooked, and it's time to move onto Blue Mars and Green Mars. Given how much ground was covered in Red Mars, my expectations are high for the remaining two - I assume we'll end up 500 years in the future, in some drastically altered social and geological landscape.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated