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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.
amyborch's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Spoiler. First people on Mars. They face various trials and discover lichen type life. Perhaps there is intelligent life once, they weren’t able to fully investigate. The bad part was the scurvy. Not very realistic
xmenji's review against another edition
2.0
This would have been DNF'd 10-20% of the way through, but I'll admit that I enjoyed the author's prose. I think the technical aspects were done well and I liked Vosnesensky. But that's pretty much it. There were good parts throughout the book, but the story is littered with so much casual racism and misogyny there were times where I wanted to rip the book apart. For a maiden voyage to a distant planet, Mars, it seems like nearly none of the crewmembers really take their jobs seriously. There were so many times where situations were handled stupidly and made the scientists and physician look like complete morons. I kept wondering how likely is it that NASA would actually choose such incompetent people to handle a first mission to Mars. It doesn't seem likely to me but who knows? All the guys think about is hooking up with the women as opposed to their actual jobs. The "beautiful" women are written as shallow and easy; the "ugly" women are described how ugly they are in detail but are also the only "competent" ones in the project. Jamie sucks. He commandeered an entire mission to go to an area that hasn't gone under any reconnaissance at all--and that's why they get stuck in sand at the end of the book. All the crew's doctor thinks about is hooking up with Joanna, the crew's biologist, instead of his actual job which is making sure the crew remains healthy. The entire crew ends up contracting scurvy because of his incompetence. Vosnesensky is the only character who acted competently throughout the entire mission. Actually, basically all the Russian crewmembers were the most likable ones in the entire story. No one else had any real redeeming qualities.
pitsy's review
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
ronschae4's review against another edition
4.0
Mars is a great story with some good scientific/technical insights to what a human expedition to the Red Planet might entail - as well as a plausible political scenario as well! This is a well-written story with good characterization and plot continuity and depth. Not a five-star favorite, but something I would recommend to a SF reader who is looking for a well-written story based in hard science.
wdkilpackiii's review against another edition
5.0
A lot of sci-fi writers look into the far future, where science is more like magic. Few seem to look at those interim steps, particularly of the not-so-distant future. Bova does just that in Mars, where he takes a look at early exploration of Mars, counterbalanced by looking at it through the lens of a scientist born on an Indian reservation. The story takes hard science fiction and blends it with something of a detective story, taking smart characters who have to figure out the mysteries of what life deals them on Mars. Love the characters, love the story. Highly recommended!
javamamanc's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
chuckeddy's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5