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outcolder's review against another edition
3.0
Bova repeats himself a lot. You could cut a few hundred pages of characters thinking the same things over and over. There is also a lot of forgettable backstory, that keeps the plot going in slow motion. If you want to go to Mars, go directly to [a:Kim Stanley Robinson|1858|Kim Stanley Robinson|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1217240935p2/1858.jpg] and only read this if that didn't quite scratch your itch.
spaceman5000's review against another edition
3.0
Lukewarm near-future tale of a Mars expedition. The science in this book was great but the human interaction portion really fell apart. Those parts felt like it was written by a Junior High School student, just not very realistic or believable. Also, I understand it was a multi-racial, multi-gender crew, but the author felt like he had to make that point painfully clear all the time...... If I hear the expression "red man" one more time..... Conversely, the scientific portions of the book were well handled, very believable and were certainly the best part. Overall I'm glad I read it, I just wish it was better.....
lprnana6572's review against another edition
4.0
Became interesting at about page 300. At the end, I realized it's a series, but I'm ready to pass.
stricker's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
suzemo's review against another edition
2.0
Ye gods, where do I begin with this one...
Mars is a hard sci-fi piece about the first exploration/trip to, well, Mars with humans. To be honest, I thought this thing was written in the 80s, it felt so utterly dated (attitudes, more than science itself), and I was surprised to see that it was written in 1992. Even more, I don't understand how some people claim that it's not a "typical sci fi" because it doesn't have robots and other "stereotypical" sci fi elements. It's Sci Fi to the core, but I guess that's a discussion for a different day.
It takes place about now (or rather, about 2020 which isn't so far away), and the technology is both behind and ahead of where we are. We're still using floppy disks and smoking up a storm, but we've, apparently made great advances with some of our space tech. Also, (quibble) the space suits in the future suck (seriously, they are inferior to today's if our fearless leader/hero.
Most of the science seems pretty strong, though, and I'll give it to Bova for clearly doing his research and getting a lot of things pretty right (as far as this biologist could tell) with the planetary and physics stuff. Good job there.
But his characterizations go from weak to downright awful. Everyone is a cardboard cut out, and the women are treated worst of all. Most of the non-mission women (politicians, media) are career driven "do whatever it takes" harpies depicted as "dragon lady[ies]" with "claws" and are "fierce." Mission women are sex-kittens or maternal gardeners, except for the one near-virginal good girl. The men are a little more diversified, but are still very caricature-like most of the time. There is a mustache twirling (ok, he doesn't have a mustache, but he does have! Our hero is... spiritual and heroic. It's all a little ludicrous and incredibly clunky.
I had some serious issues with the "scientists." I'm not saying that scientists are unfeeling, don't play pranks, or are asexual, so I expect normal to extreme interactions when a group of 25 people are trapped together for nearly 2 years, but some of the stuff they do is absolutely ludicrous. No scientist I know would act in some of the ways they do in the novel, and they certainly wouldn't take some of the lines of reasoning that are given. It just doesn't make sense at all, and I refuse to believe that the "best of the best" of this multinational conglomeration of scientists include so many boobs. At best, you could make me agree with driven, maybe less sociable stereotypes, but not downright ignorance and stupidity.
The novel promises that the team finds something at the bottom of the "Grand Canyon" of Mars. And I can't decide if the author gave it to us, and then just downplayed it with the "Martian Virus" mystery or if it was hinted at and left. Either way, there was a lot of build up, a lot of expectation and no pay off at the end.
And I still can't figure out where Bova was going with the race relations stuff. Whatever he was going for either didn't make sense to me, or just wasn't written well enough, because I tried to figure it out, and instead just kept sighing at the "red man" comments (yes, the lead geologist was Navajo, sure there could have been interesting race relations/prejudice studies going on, but it didn't work if that was a goal). It was probably just a case of finding a way to manufacture drama for the political parts of the book, but if so, it was weak and cheap.
Bad pacing.
Clunky writing.
No pay off.
Terrible characters.
At least the actual science was good(ish). But I don't feel the need to go any further with the series (Grand Tour).
I should mention that I give this book 2 bonus cookies.
1. Mentioning vinho verde wine.
2. The use of the Russians' patronymics. I'm still coming down from my [b:Anna Karenina|15823480|Anna Karenina|Leo Tolstoy|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352422904s/15823480.jpg|2507928] high so it made me happy.
Mars is a hard sci-fi piece about the first exploration/trip to, well, Mars with humans. To be honest, I thought this thing was written in the 80s, it felt so utterly dated (attitudes, more than science itself), and I was surprised to see that it was written in 1992. Even more, I don't understand how some people claim that it's not a "typical sci fi" because it doesn't have robots and other "stereotypical" sci fi elements. It's Sci Fi to the core, but I guess that's a discussion for a different day.
It takes place about now (or rather, about 2020 which isn't so far away), and the technology is both behind and ahead of where we are. We're still using floppy disks and smoking up a storm, but we've, apparently made great advances with some of our space tech. Also, (quibble) the space suits in the future suck (seriously, they are inferior to today's if our fearless leader/hero
Spoiler
can feel the Martian cold, when there are people space walking now in colder temps without issueMost of the science seems pretty strong, though, and I'll give it to Bova for clearly doing his research and getting a lot of things pretty right (as far as this biologist could tell) with the planetary and physics stuff. Good job there.
But his characterizations go from weak to downright awful. Everyone is a cardboard cut out, and the women are treated worst of all. Most of the non-mission women (politicians, media) are career driven "do whatever it takes" harpies depicted as "dragon lady[ies]" with "claws" and are "fierce." Mission women are sex-kittens or maternal gardeners, except for the one near-virginal good girl. The men are a little more diversified, but are still very caricature-like most of the time. There is a mustache twirling (ok, he doesn't have a mustache, but he does have
Spoiler
a British accentI had some serious issues with the "scientists." I'm not saying that scientists are unfeeling, don't play pranks, or are asexual, so I expect normal to extreme interactions when a group of 25 people are trapped together for nearly 2 years, but some of the stuff they do is absolutely ludicrous. No scientist I know would act in some of the ways they do in the novel, and they certainly wouldn't take some of the lines of reasoning that are given. It just doesn't make sense at all, and I refuse to believe that the "best of the best" of this multinational conglomeration of scientists include so many boobs. At best, you could make me agree with driven, maybe less sociable stereotypes, but not downright ignorance and stupidity.
The novel promises that the team finds something at the bottom of the "Grand Canyon" of Mars. And I can't decide if the author gave it to us, and then just downplayed it with the "Martian Virus" mystery or if it was hinted at and left. Either way, there was a lot of build up, a lot of expectation and no pay off at the end.
And I still can't figure out where Bova was going with the race relations stuff. Whatever he was going for either didn't make sense to me, or just wasn't written well enough, because I tried to figure it out, and instead just kept sighing at the "red man" comments (yes, the lead geologist was Navajo, sure there could have been interesting race relations/prejudice studies going on, but it didn't work if that was a goal). It was probably just a case of finding a way to manufacture drama for the political parts of the book, but if so, it was weak and cheap.
Bad pacing.
Clunky writing.
No pay off.
Terrible characters.
At least the actual science was good(ish). But I don't feel the need to go any further with the series (Grand Tour).
I should mention that I give this book 2 bonus cookies.
1. Mentioning vinho verde wine.
2. The use of the Russians' patronymics. I'm still coming down from my [b:Anna Karenina|15823480|Anna Karenina|Leo Tolstoy|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352422904s/15823480.jpg|2507928] high so it made me happy.
librarian_of_trantor's review against another edition
2.0
disappointing. Mundane science, banal politics. Lichen and scurvy?? Maybe I should have read the third Mars book, at least according to the synopsis they find evidence of past intelligent life.
hagbard_celine's review against another edition
1.0
Hot damn, Ben Bova was a piece of shit. I finished this book entirely out of a morbid fascination with his casual and constant bigotry. It is absolutely wild to read.
It's such a bummer to think that this dude had such powerful influence over the development of the SF genre for so many years.
It's such a bummer to think that this dude had such powerful influence over the development of the SF genre for so many years.
spieroz's review against another edition
2.0
ABANDONED.
At 90% of the way through I gave up. The general exploration and wonder was enough to keep me going. The racism was frustrating throughout, but at least I could see it was written from a point of "this is silly". The sex discussions throughout, the focus from basically every character was just too much and just got worse and worse.
The exploration and science plot, while good, the character flaws and procedure flaws were just too much to justify what would really be in this mission.
When despite all the danger, there was another reference to "hows your love life" - I had enough. Its not worth finishing. 2 Stars because clearly it gave me enough to bother getting through 90%.
At 90% of the way through I gave up. The general exploration and wonder was enough to keep me going. The racism was frustrating throughout, but at least I could see it was written from a point of "this is silly". The sex discussions throughout, the focus from basically every character was just too much and just got worse and worse.
The exploration and science plot, while good, the character flaws and procedure flaws were just too much to justify what would really be in this mission.
When despite all the danger, there was another reference to "hows your love life" - I had enough. Its not worth finishing. 2 Stars because clearly it gave me enough to bother getting through 90%.
kynan's review against another edition
3.0
Mars has been in my to-read pile for five years. I bought it at the same time as Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, but by the time I reached the end of *that* I was all Marsed-out.
Ben Bova's story of the first manned mission to the eponymous planet is a more succinct read. It's hard sci-fi with plenty of detail on the hows and whys regarding long-term space travel, living on a planet that isn't Earth and the research to be done in places that aren't Earth. For a "hard" sci-fi book, it's relatively light on infodumps. It does talk about geology, biology, chemistry and some basic physics but, similar to the KSR trilogy, also delves a little bit into the social and psychological impact that such a long trip would have on the cooped up humans.
There isn't anything to really say about the plot that the back of the book blurb hadn't already covered without getting into potential spoiler territory so I'll just state that I really enjoyed the way that Mr Bova carefully trod the "is/was there life on Mars?" plotline! I'm not giving anything away, suffice it to say that they've gone looking for it and it's a tangible thread of tension throughout, all the way to the final paragraph.
Speaking of which, the ending was strangely reminiscent of another book we read last weekend, My Teacher Is An Alien. Both books wrap up with a wistful and a very geeky 90s-esque (which, given its publishing date, Mars can be forgiven) call to arms, almost a throwback to the 60's space race propaganda of "do science, for great good and personal enrichment!".
I didn't realise I was heading into a trilogy. I guess in this case is not so much a planned thing as a revisiting of the same place and characters. There's enough left open at the end that finding out what happens next is reason enough to dive straight into Return to Mars!
Ben Bova's story of the first manned mission to the eponymous planet is a more succinct read. It's hard sci-fi with plenty of detail on the hows and whys regarding long-term space travel, living on a planet that isn't Earth and the research to be done in places that aren't Earth. For a "hard" sci-fi book, it's relatively light on infodumps. It does talk about geology, biology, chemistry and some basic physics but, similar to the KSR trilogy, also delves a little bit into the social and psychological impact that such a long trip would have on the cooped up humans.
There isn't anything to really say about the plot that the back of the book blurb hadn't already covered without getting into potential spoiler territory so I'll just state that I really enjoyed the way that Mr Bova carefully trod the "is/was there life on Mars?" plotline! I'm not giving anything away, suffice it to say that they've gone looking for it and it's a tangible thread of tension throughout, all the way to the final paragraph.
Speaking of which, the ending was strangely reminiscent of another book we read last weekend, My Teacher Is An Alien. Both books wrap up with a wistful and a very geeky 90s-esque (which, given its publishing date, Mars can be forgiven) call to arms, almost a throwback to the 60's space race propaganda of "do science, for great good and personal enrichment!".
I didn't realise I was heading into a trilogy. I guess in this case is not so much a planned thing as a revisiting of the same place and characters. There's enough left open at the end that finding out what happens next is reason enough to dive straight into Return to Mars!
alles_allerlei's review against another edition
4.0
4,5 von 5 Sternen
Ein grandioses Buch über den Aufbruch zum Mars und dessen erforschung und ein zeitloses Buch dem man sein Alter von fast 20 Jahren beim lesen nicht angemerkt hat.
Auch wenn der Klappentext alles sehr viel dramatischer erscheinen ließ wie es am ende war, so war es dennoch unglaublich spannend und fesselnd.
Ein grandioses Buch über den Aufbruch zum Mars und dessen erforschung und ein zeitloses Buch dem man sein Alter von fast 20 Jahren beim lesen nicht angemerkt hat.
Auch wenn der Klappentext alles sehr viel dramatischer erscheinen ließ wie es am ende war, so war es dennoch unglaublich spannend und fesselnd.