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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My favorite part was the French guy who just wanted to be on the Côte d’Azur, which is coincidentally where I want to be right now
Just so bored. Narratively I found it weird that the "big event then backtrack in order to lead up to said event" was followed by around 100 pages of falling action and it just couldn't keep my attention.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
libbed out but fun premise taken to ever more extreme degrees
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
A very strong start; compelling prose and good character studies. The shifting POV and clear differences in perspective between characters kept things fresh, and complemented a developing theme of observation and perception being at odds with experience and interaction. It’s a thought-provoking book. There are the scientific and technological aspects typical of hard sci-fi, but also a lot of philosophising as characters try to make sense of their new world and put forward their own beliefs about what a Martian society should or could possibly look like. Take this quote about the concept of nature:
“Both sides say they are in favor of nature, of course. One has to say this. The reds [those who want to preserve Mars] say that the Mars that is already here is nature. But it is not nature, because it is dead. It is only rock. The greens [those who are in favour of terraforming Mars] tell this, and say they will bring nature to Mars with their terraforming. But that is not nature either, that is only culture. A garden, you know. An artwork. So neither way gets nature. There isn’t such a thing as nature possible on Mars.”
But ultimately it seemed like the themes and ideas being toyed with were discarded in favour of a basic nationalist narrative; “transnat” corporations vs a burgeoning Martian identity, their incompatibility largely taken as a given and not explored with the depth that might be expected. Maybe that’s deliberate? Maybe philosophical debates about nature and beauty and spirituality are frivolous, and unimportant in the face of material reality and hegemonic power. Yet so much of that philosophising is wrapped up in the material conditions of establishing a colony on Mars and political implications of doing so.
I will read the rest of the trilogy (eventually) but for now I have only Red Mars to evaluate and I really don’t know what to make of it. I liked it. I loved parts of it. John’s section dragged on far too long (again, deliberate? His directionless rambling really was a waste of time.) The momentum was lost and was never really recovered, even with one cataclysm after another taking place. The latter half of the book is pretty bleak. Some of the more interesting characters were sidelined or removed from the narrative. In the end it felt like setup for the next book, irritatingly, rather than a story which stands up on its own.
Anyway...
Shikata ga nai
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No