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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Hard SF is a tough sell for me, but I really loved this book. It manages to balance a host of really fascinating characters, heartbreaking descriptions of an alien world undergoing immense geological and ecological changes, along with a good dose plot, politics, and intrigue. There are just enough rounded female characters to keep me from clawing my eyes out, and a lot of tough questions about our relationship with our environment that deny easy answers. I did feel like the ending lacked the emotional resolution I would have liked, and it did read very much like the first part of a series (I prefer self-contained stories, even when they're part of an ongoing saga), but I'm looking forwards to getting stuck into the next one all the same.
If you like endless descriptions of Martian geology, read this book.
If you like interesting plots and complex characters, don't read this book. They don't exist.
I got within two chapters of the end and DNF.
If you like interesting plots and complex characters, don't read this book. They don't exist.
I got within two chapters of the end and DNF.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was pitched this series as game of thrones politics on mars, and it definitely did not hit that note for me. With that said, there is something of a hypnotic quality to this book for me and I will probably listen to the next book as well. Some of the scientific concepts went way over my head, but a lot of the ideas were really interesting. The mixing and blending of cultures the author uses, as well as how cultural bias impacts science, there’s some cool stuff in here.
I can't express how much I love this book. Holds up real nice even on a third reading. As always, I find the science and tech in the book so convincing that I have a hard time not understanding why we're not farther along in our Mars colonization program.
This is the opening book to a great series. However, before I hit the last 100 pages I wasn't sure I was even going to finish the book and had no intention of reading the others. There were simply too many characters for me to keep track of and much more detail of the Martian landscape than I what I could digest. Robinson opens with a murder on the red planet itself before jumping back in time to the first human voyage to Mars. Presumably, this was meant to pull the reader into the book before diving into the necessary (though somewhat tedious) set-up. However, as the reader has no idea who these people are, it is really just confusing.
If you find yourself enjoying this book straight off, then good for you! If not, I strongly encourage you to persevere. The trilogy is worth it.
If you find yourself enjoying this book straight off, then good for you! If not, I strongly encourage you to persevere. The trilogy is worth it.
This book is really too much to absorb in a single reading: much like the characters in the story found, there is simply too much going on at once to be understood. At best, you can only sweep through the main storyline and try to pick up bits and pieces as you go.
Calling this "a story about the colonization of Mars" would be like calling Death Valley hot and dry. Robinson describes, in detail, the first part of the process, from the initial wave of scientists to the first big change in the planet ... it's difficult to say much more without taking away some of the suspense in the book.
The first section of the book, 20-some pages, is actually the middle of the story. You won't get most of it on the first reading because it's told as if it appeared in the middle of the book, but it gives you an idea of what's to come ... except there's so much more than you can imagine from that first chapter. It's really an interesting way to approach the story, and it's a refreshing change from something like "When we first touched down on Mars in such-and-such year ...." (It may, however, make it difficult for people with e-books who are not accustomed to making notes or flipping back and forth to specific locations.)
As Robinson takes you through the full story, starting with Chapter 2, you get a much better idea of what's happening, but he does it through different characters, so your perspective is always changing. There are parts of the story where time flies by fairly rapidly, but always in places where it doesn't seem to make a big difference, and in this way Robinson is able to gather up this long tale and hold the main points close enough together that it is possible to understand, in some way, what has happened through the first book.
It's not a book that I would recommend for the average science-fiction reader, mostly because of the depth and the details (you can learn quite a bit about science, given that some characters go into great detail - this is touted as one of the best hard-science novels in recent times), but if this type of story interests you, I definitely recommend that you pick up the series and read it. It'll be worth your time.
Calling this "a story about the colonization of Mars" would be like calling Death Valley hot and dry. Robinson describes, in detail, the first part of the process, from the initial wave of scientists to the first big change in the planet ... it's difficult to say much more without taking away some of the suspense in the book.
The first section of the book, 20-some pages, is actually the middle of the story. You won't get most of it on the first reading because it's told as if it appeared in the middle of the book, but it gives you an idea of what's to come ... except there's so much more than you can imagine from that first chapter. It's really an interesting way to approach the story, and it's a refreshing change from something like "When we first touched down on Mars in such-and-such year ...." (It may, however, make it difficult for people with e-books who are not accustomed to making notes or flipping back and forth to specific locations.)
As Robinson takes you through the full story, starting with Chapter 2, you get a much better idea of what's happening, but he does it through different characters, so your perspective is always changing. There are parts of the story where time flies by fairly rapidly, but always in places where it doesn't seem to make a big difference, and in this way Robinson is able to gather up this long tale and hold the main points close enough together that it is possible to understand, in some way, what has happened through the first book.
It's not a book that I would recommend for the average science-fiction reader, mostly because of the depth and the details (you can learn quite a bit about science, given that some characters go into great detail - this is touted as one of the best hard-science novels in recent times), but if this type of story interests you, I definitely recommend that you pick up the series and read it. It'll be worth your time.
I really wanted to like this but maybe hard science fiction isn't my thing. I found it to be a slog.
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A science fiction epic that's grand in scope. Red Mars tries to do it all and only succeeds at some of it. And, sadly, what it succeeds at has been discredited by further data gathered about Mars and an overly optimistic projection of what global politics will be like in the future. Also, I doubt robotics will work so well anytime soon, if ever.
The characters were either forgettable or interesting but held little importance to the story. I liked Ann and Arkady and the French psychiatrist, what's-his-name.Frank should've died way earlier in the novel, what was even the point of his character?
Every character that isn't a white westerner has a poor showing. This book really shows its age in that respect.
The characters were either forgettable or interesting but held little importance to the story. I liked Ann and Arkady and the French psychiatrist, what's-his-name.
Every character that isn't a white westerner has a poor showing. This book really shows its age in that respect.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
I loved this in its day, but it feels very dated now.