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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
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
Red Mars kicks off KSR's Mars trilogy and excels in making Mars a place and the people who come to live there real people with plans, dreams, and elements to their personalities that are both noble and abhorrent.
I think I am allergic to Kim Stanley Robinson. Loved the idea behind this book, extremely disliked the execution. I tried reading 2312 years back, and similarly, any cool tingly science feelings I got from that book (which if I'm remembering right, starts with a moving, mechanized city on Mercury) was completely murdered by the boring as hell characters and lack of emotional throughline. I just remember the boredom with that one, but here I was not only bored but frustrated and annoyed by KSR's attempt at character work.
The first third of this book is practically consumed by a "love triangle" between a psychopath, a hot Russian astronaut who is supposedly smart but can't manage to figure out how not to have sex with the psychopath, and the man that the psychopath hates but who is an international hero, the "first man on mars." What a boring, stupid fucking thing to put in your Mars colonization book! The rest of the characters are about as three-dimensional as soggy, moldy cardboard.
I mean, at this point, fuck character arcs, KSR. Just do a faux-history of colonization and include all the science and political evolution you want. Your characters murder everything else you do.
Oh my god it was interminable.
Also, it's an older audiobook and the narrator wasn't bad, but he wasn't really good either.
I will admit as well that one of the central conflicts here I thought was dumb. There's a philosophical argument about whether or not to terraform Mars, and a bunch of geniuses start following this idiot who came to Mars to colonize but doesn't want to actually do anything to the planet that would make that possible. Who cares about preserving the lifeless red rock when humanity is fighting for survival! Why the fuck did you come!!?? Go home!
Two stars.
The first third of this book is practically consumed by a "love triangle" between a psychopath, a hot Russian astronaut who is supposedly smart but can't manage to figure out how not to have sex with the psychopath, and the man that the psychopath hates but who is an international hero, the "first man on mars." What a boring, stupid fucking thing to put in your Mars colonization book! The rest of the characters are about as three-dimensional as soggy, moldy cardboard.
I mean, at this point, fuck character arcs, KSR. Just do a faux-history of colonization and include all the science and political evolution you want. Your characters murder everything else you do.
Oh my god it was interminable.
Also, it's an older audiobook and the narrator wasn't bad, but he wasn't really good either.
I will admit as well that one of the central conflicts here I thought was dumb. There's a philosophical argument about whether or not to terraform Mars, and a bunch of geniuses start following this idiot who came to Mars to colonize but doesn't want to actually do anything to the planet that would make that possible. Who cares about preserving the lifeless red rock when humanity is fighting for survival! Why the fuck did you come!!?? Go home!
Two stars.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
It was quite an epic and quite believable. Loved how the description and timelines if the various projects are given and how things change when you put the people into the mix. Looking forward to the other books in the trilogy.
A character driven hard sci fi story of the near future colonization of Mars by humans. There's a lot of science in Robinson's narrative but you don't have to understand it for the book to be perfectly readable. When I encounter an unknown term I usually stop, look it up, figure how it works in the story and move on. In Red Mars there was a lot I learned about chemistry, meteorology, and geology, mostly technical terms and different types of natural systems.
But the book is about the people. Seldom do you find the kind of in-depth character development in regular literature, much less in sci-fi. But these people you will know and remember like few others you've encountered. Oh, they're all human, without superpowers. But their humanness is what drives the entire enterprise both in terms of the story in and in terms of our reading it.
Wonderful book. I intend to continue the trilogy when I can.
But the book is about the people. Seldom do you find the kind of in-depth character development in regular literature, much less in sci-fi. But these people you will know and remember like few others you've encountered. Oh, they're all human, without superpowers. But their humanness is what drives the entire enterprise both in terms of the story in and in terms of our reading it.
Wonderful book. I intend to continue the trilogy when I can.
adventurous
challenging
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:
Complicated
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated