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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
This is quite possibly the best book I've read in 10 years. It's been on my list for a long time but I had put it off mostly because I thought it was going to be a technically dense book. It really wasn't at all or at least not more than many other books I've read.
If you are at all on the fence about this book, please stop putting it off. Its just fantastic. I took my time with the book, reading only 10 or 20 pages a day, mostly on my short lunch breaks. Its not action packed, definitely not a page turner. It's more measured. Slowly allowing the world to seep in.
***Spoilers ahead****
I knew I was going to like the book from the opening few chapters. But I really fell in love with it starting with Nadia and Arkady's trip on the dirigible. Just this vast, open, unexplored land rolling away beneath them.
Michel's floating through each day in a deep depression. Ann's anguish at the taking of Mar's purity. John's rover trips with the Muslim workers. John's speech as the asteroid is brought down into the atmosphere. Frank, Nadia, Michel and Ann's harrowing ride next to the massive flooding canyon. And Frank! Taken by the raging flood as he saves the rest of them.
It's like this vast epic set piece. The planet itself is a character in this book in a way I've never felt in any other book. I've never read anything like it. The blurb on the back of the book by Arthur C. Clarke says, "A staggering book." I couldn't have said it better myself.
If you are at all on the fence about this book, please stop putting it off. Its just fantastic. I took my time with the book, reading only 10 or 20 pages a day, mostly on my short lunch breaks. Its not action packed, definitely not a page turner. It's more measured. Slowly allowing the world to seep in.
***Spoilers ahead****
I knew I was going to like the book from the opening few chapters. But I really fell in love with it starting with Nadia and Arkady's trip on the dirigible. Just this vast, open, unexplored land rolling away beneath them.
Michel's floating through each day in a deep depression. Ann's anguish at the taking of Mar's purity. John's rover trips with the Muslim workers. John's speech as the asteroid is brought down into the atmosphere. Frank, Nadia, Michel and Ann's harrowing ride next to the massive flooding canyon. And Frank! Taken by the raging flood as he saves the rest of them.
It's like this vast epic set piece. The planet itself is a character in this book in a way I've never felt in any other book. I've never read anything like it. The blurb on the back of the book by Arthur C. Clarke says, "A staggering book." I couldn't have said it better myself.
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A detailed imagination of what it would look like to colonize Mars.
(3.5 stars) Extremely dense and kind of hard to get through at times, but still made a captivating world that i couldn't abandon. My main critique is that there is a lot of extra padding; repetitive descriptions of things, long scientific explanations that probably aren't accurate, etc. Despite this, i found the characters extremely well written, and I too fell in love with the landscape of mars.
informative
reflective
tense
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:
Yes
I love the plot and the setting, but the book is too slow and it could be shorter. It's a very nice story but be prepared, the real protagonist is Mars in the literal sense. The author spends a LOT of time describing the vistas and locations of Mars.
a sci-fi saga
classic
hard sci-fi used to give an epic of cultural clash
classic
hard sci-fi used to give an epic of cultural clash
adventurous
challenging
slow-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:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
This book was nothing like what I expected. I expected a space opera. Instead this book touches on society formation, philosophy, psychology, biology, geology–and so on. Basically, if you have an interest in something, it will be in this book.
Robinson describes a new and alien planet in beautiful and descriptive language. He has done his research about Mars. That said, the first three quarters of the book were much better than the last quarter. The beginning of the book is about a new planet, how to treat it and how to build a society there. The end gets into a major political uprising, and the sense of vastness and discovery that accompanies the story gets lost in action and explosions.
If you want to read about space, get even more bummed about the shut-down of NASA (we’re supposed to be moving to Mars in 2024 according to this book!), and, quite literally, explore a new world, I recommend Red Mars. It isn’t a fast read, but you will find yourself interested in new topics and exploring new ideas as you go.
Robinson describes a new and alien planet in beautiful and descriptive language. He has done his research about Mars. That said, the first three quarters of the book were much better than the last quarter. The beginning of the book is about a new planet, how to treat it and how to build a society there. The end gets into a major political uprising, and the sense of vastness and discovery that accompanies the story gets lost in action and explosions.
If you want to read about space, get even more bummed about the shut-down of NASA (we’re supposed to be moving to Mars in 2024 according to this book!), and, quite literally, explore a new world, I recommend Red Mars. It isn’t a fast read, but you will find yourself interested in new topics and exploring new ideas as you go.
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated