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sipping_tea_with_ghosts's review
challenging
informative
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Red Mars is ambitious, diverse, complex, and boring.
Intrinsically, irreversibly boring.
The premise is betrayed by an overly dense writing style and a priority on the most dull parts of any other story. I started referring to this story as Red Rover because of how much Robinson seemed to fetishize the amount of time our characters spend just going from place to place. Only about 20% of the story is focused on the actual science that would go into the colonization of Mars or the dynamics between the characters. Even so, the cast of this adventure isn't what I would call well-rounded, representing ideologies instead of personalities. The interesting bits of science and the debate around terraforming the Red Beauty is buried under line after line of superfluous detail and introspective moments that feel well intentioned but patronizing.
The cultural conflicts alluded to by the premise are rather simplistic affairs, but maybe that's because human drama is caustic in its simplicity and divide. The first half of the book was more interesting when all the scientists started putting in their own view on the terraforming debate and the perceived autonomy of being away from Earth agencies, but the second half introduces a subplot with the presence and threat of a doormat. You want some tension? What's that, the thing that comes before eleven-sion? Naw, you want some more dull walls of text and the same old relationship malarkey that's been apparent since the first fifty pages.
I want to like this setting, I want to like more than two characters consistently, but the words on the page threaten my sanity in how relentlessly they enter my brain but leave no presence.
Intrinsically, irreversibly boring.
The premise is betrayed by an overly dense writing style and a priority on the most dull parts of any other story. I started referring to this story as Red Rover because of how much Robinson seemed to fetishize the amount of time our characters spend just going from place to place. Only about 20% of the story is focused on the actual science that would go into the colonization of Mars or the dynamics between the characters. Even so, the cast of this adventure isn't what I would call well-rounded, representing ideologies instead of personalities. The interesting bits of science and the debate around terraforming the Red Beauty is buried under line after line of superfluous detail and introspective moments that feel well intentioned but patronizing.
The cultural conflicts alluded to by the premise are rather simplistic affairs, but maybe that's because human drama is caustic in its simplicity and divide. The first half of the book was more interesting when all the scientists started putting in their own view on the terraforming debate and the perceived autonomy of being away from Earth agencies, but the second half introduces a subplot with the presence and threat of a doormat. You want some tension? What's that, the thing that comes before eleven-sion? Naw, you want some more dull walls of text and the same old relationship malarkey that's been apparent since the first fifty pages.
I want to like this setting, I want to like more than two characters consistently, but the words on the page threaten my sanity in how relentlessly they enter my brain but leave no presence.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Murder, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, and Police brutality
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