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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Simultaneously boring and uncomfortable. Not my vibe.
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story, concept, and writing are interesting. I see why it is considered a sci fi classic. It evokes interesting lines of thinking about how it could work to design a society from scratch, with some cool revolutionary and leftist perspectives. But (saying this as someone who reads lots of sci fi by all kinds of authors) it's also one of those sci fi/fantasy books that is obviously written by a man. When I saw the author's name I didn't know if it was written by a man or woman but the writing made that clear. Lots of commentary about women that isn't made about the male characters and pretty much all the main women end up with some kind of relationship/sexual subplot. That said, the author does a great job of writing characters that aren't really supposed to be lovable so it's hard to say what perspectives are his vs trying to write someone who is not likable. Same goes for how the characters tended to think about all the different cultures and nations referenced. Often felt like orientalism. And a lot of it. It's hard to say if it was meant to be portrayed as negative or not, so I probably won't finish the series. It's fine to portray things that aren't good as a way to examine that concept but there wasn't enough characters I really liked to motivate me to keep going.
Exceptionally ambitious. Exceedingly flawed.
I'm not sure how anyone could possibly rate this as a 5 star book. It's riddled with blemishes and they're glaring. However, I could see how someone might loathe Red Mars. It's less of a story and more of a theoretical exercise on how humans might colonize and begin to terraform Mars, with some thin, interchangeable characters filling up the background.
As if this wasn't dry enough, Robinson felt the need to spout his opinions on religion, economics, and politics through several mouthpieces throughout the book. Sure, some of it is handled well, with genuinely enjoyable, intelligent, thoughtful discussions and arguments between characters. However, much of the time, especially when the subject is on economics and politics, the debate isn't on the what/why but on the how. For example, all of his likeable main characters are somehow all vaguely Marxist/socialist, and Robinson tries to distract from this by having them argue about the implementation of their economic goals. Red Mars switches main characters halfway through the book and it's barely noticeable, as the opinions and goals of the two characters are almost exactly the same. This gives one the impression they're less reading a novel and more just reading Robinson's opinions on things. And, unfortunately, as other people have commented, Robinson's scientific understanding is impressive, but his opinions on the social sciences feel shallow and mishandled. His economic opinions especially feel right at home in a freshman college dorm.
It's unclear to me why Robinson decided to switch between main characters so much. At first it was interesting having a large cast of scientists settling Mars, but with most of their opinions and goals (minus the subject of terraforming) being so similar it felt like a waste - he would've been better off just focus on one or two characters. After hundreds of pages, the reader gets little connection with anyone.
The weak characters take a back seat to the grand scale of the plot. The sheer size of Robinson's ambitious plot was enough to keep me impressed for much of the book, but it was also not without some flaws. For example, Robinson grants his characters some pretty impressive technology to complete their colonization goals: self-replicating robots, super-tensile materials, machines the size of towns able to synthesize chemical reactions on a massive scale, and even a cure for old age. But we're told that while the colonists of Mars are implementing these tools with ease, Earth is in dire straits. You're telling me 100 people on Mars are able to terraform a planet with all this technology, but no one thought to implement it to improve the lives of people on earth? No one's using these robots or materials to haul resources from asteroids to Earth?
What the book does well is tackle how we would colonize Mars. Robinson obviously researched the heck out of the planet, and details the various problems - water, heat, atmosphere, etc., and their various solutions. Unfortunately, he does go a bit overboard and by page 500 or so you're more than ready for it to end. Even when Robinson throws in a war, it's told in such a detached way, and you feel so little for the characters at that point, that its still registers and little more than a blip on the excitement radar.
I'll probably pick up the next book in the series sometime, but I need to brace myself for experiencing the dryness of Mars again.
I'm not sure how anyone could possibly rate this as a 5 star book. It's riddled with blemishes and they're glaring. However, I could see how someone might loathe Red Mars. It's less of a story and more of a theoretical exercise on how humans might colonize and begin to terraform Mars, with some thin, interchangeable characters filling up the background.
As if this wasn't dry enough, Robinson felt the need to spout his opinions on religion, economics, and politics through several mouthpieces throughout the book. Sure, some of it is handled well, with genuinely enjoyable, intelligent, thoughtful discussions and arguments between characters. However, much of the time, especially when the subject is on economics and politics, the debate isn't on the what/why but on the how. For example, all of his likeable main characters are somehow all vaguely Marxist/socialist, and Robinson tries to distract from this by having them argue about the implementation of their economic goals. Red Mars switches main characters halfway through the book and it's barely noticeable, as the opinions and goals of the two characters are almost exactly the same. This gives one the impression they're less reading a novel and more just reading Robinson's opinions on things. And, unfortunately, as other people have commented, Robinson's scientific understanding is impressive, but his opinions on the social sciences feel shallow and mishandled. His economic opinions especially feel right at home in a freshman college dorm.
It's unclear to me why Robinson decided to switch between main characters so much. At first it was interesting having a large cast of scientists settling Mars, but with most of their opinions and goals (minus the subject of terraforming) being so similar it felt like a waste - he would've been better off just focus on one or two characters. After hundreds of pages, the reader gets little connection with anyone.
The weak characters take a back seat to the grand scale of the plot. The sheer size of Robinson's ambitious plot was enough to keep me impressed for much of the book, but it was also not without some flaws. For example, Robinson grants his characters some pretty impressive technology to complete their colonization goals: self-replicating robots, super-tensile materials, machines the size of towns able to synthesize chemical reactions on a massive scale, and even a cure for old age. But we're told that while the colonists of Mars are implementing these tools with ease, Earth is in dire straits. You're telling me 100 people on Mars are able to terraform a planet with all this technology, but no one thought to implement it to improve the lives of people on earth? No one's using these robots or materials to haul resources from asteroids to Earth?
What the book does well is tackle how we would colonize Mars. Robinson obviously researched the heck out of the planet, and details the various problems - water, heat, atmosphere, etc., and their various solutions. Unfortunately, he does go a bit overboard and by page 500 or so you're more than ready for it to end. Even when Robinson throws in a war, it's told in such a detached way, and you feel so little for the characters at that point, that its still registers and little more than a blip on the excitement radar.
I'll probably pick up the next book in the series sometime, but I need to brace myself for experiencing the dryness of Mars again.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
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:
Yes