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teokajlibroj's review against another edition
1.0
Red Mars was an interesting adventure to a new planet, with a few weak spots. Unfortunately, Green Mars has all these weaknesses and none of the strengths. Honestly, I got halfway through before my spirit was completely crushed and I just couldn't care less about what happened, and felt sure nothing would.
The characters were never the strongest part of Red Mars, but Green Mars doesn't even try to make them even slightly engaging. They are all dull, featureless people who are incapable of having a normal conversation that isn't about their work. At no point does anyone have anything remotely close to fun in this book, they work, talk about work, think about work, talk about someone else's work and work some more.
The best way to describe this book is to imagine speanding hours stuck in a car and the only way to entertain yourself is by looking out the window. That's most of the book, just endless descriptions of the geography of Mars. The Sax chapters were particularly awful and as interesting as watching paint dry. You would think an undercover spy would make an interesting story, but he just spends most of his time looking at rocks.
I'm not sure if there is a plot in this book or why I should care about it. There is some mumbo jumbo about the need for a new society and a new way of thinking but no one ever gets around to what it should be. The economics is as incoherent as a stoned hippie "Hey man, what if people, like, just, man, shared everything?" The philosophy is "something, something, love". There are numerous points where characters spend hours or days in silent contemplation, it's just a shame we never learn what they are thinking in anything except the most vague way.
Some people claim this book is political or deals with the social impact of life on Mars. I have no idea what they are talking about.
The characters were never the strongest part of Red Mars, but Green Mars doesn't even try to make them even slightly engaging. They are all dull, featureless people who are incapable of having a normal conversation that isn't about their work. At no point does anyone have anything remotely close to fun in this book, they work, talk about work, think about work, talk about someone else's work and work some more.
The best way to describe this book is to imagine speanding hours stuck in a car and the only way to entertain yourself is by looking out the window. That's most of the book, just endless descriptions of the geography of Mars. The Sax chapters were particularly awful and as interesting as watching paint dry. You would think an undercover spy would make an interesting story, but he just spends most of his time looking at rocks.
I'm not sure if there is a plot in this book or why I should care about it. There is some mumbo jumbo about the need for a new society and a new way of thinking but no one ever gets around to what it should be. The economics is as incoherent as a stoned hippie "Hey man, what if people, like, just, man, shared everything?" The philosophy is "something, something, love". There are numerous points where characters spend hours or days in silent contemplation, it's just a shame we never learn what they are thinking in anything except the most vague way.
Some people claim this book is political or deals with the social impact of life on Mars. I have no idea what they are talking about.
_ottavia_'s review against another edition
5.0
Ho preso tutto il tempo che mi serviva per finire questo libro, bellissimo ma sfiancante. Ci vogliono tanta pazienza e concentrazione ma ne vale davvero la pena. Un capolavoro. Semplicemente geniale.
ginjafox's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
daeros's review against another edition
Well I'm not really a skilled critic to be fiercely honest, not really what I do, I read for pleasure, so always take what I say with a grain of salt as critical review is not really my forte, I just thought it made sense to caveat with that. There are far more discerning readers who are far more likely to have complaints.
As for me? Well, I found the prospects of rebellion against the metanats, which we would call globalist elites here on earth, for multinational corporations that really salute no flag except the flag of profit, interesting.
The ongoing terraforming of Mars is reminding me, too, That this is an eventual option here on earth to combat the worst of climate change, as it would actually be pretty cheap to use sulfur in our atmosphere with planes.
Which would reflect the heat back into space.
Admittedly, the energy transition we're under is happening at breakneck speed for Capitalism , which usually doesn't change all that quickly. But It still isn't happening as fast as it needs to, heed off impeding disaster.
The energy transition needs to happen at a rate completely unheard of for capitalism to avoid the warming.
But solar and wind and batteries are growing like weeds.
Anyway, the themes in these books, are topical, owing to the ARTMEIS mission from NASA, our return to the moon and the ongoing reality that the problems holding back Asteroid mining are only a matter of time before resolved as, Technology will continue, as it always has to improve.
Of the book, though, what is there to say? Kim Stanley Robinson is an incredibly talented writer, I don't really have any major complaints, the dude didn't win all those awards for nothing.
I would totally rec this series in light of what's happening in the real world and the reality that science fiction has a long history of becoming science reality.
What writers in this space envision often comes to pass, look at the cryptonomicon as an example, it predicted cryptocurrency years before that actually happened.
As for me? Well, I found the prospects of rebellion against the metanats, which we would call globalist elites here on earth, for multinational corporations that really salute no flag except the flag of profit, interesting.
The ongoing terraforming of Mars is reminding me, too, That this is an eventual option here on earth to combat the worst of climate change, as it would actually be pretty cheap to use sulfur in our atmosphere with planes.
Which would reflect the heat back into space.
Admittedly, the energy transition we're under is happening at breakneck speed for Capitalism , which usually doesn't change all that quickly. But It still isn't happening as fast as it needs to, heed off impeding disaster.
The energy transition needs to happen at a rate completely unheard of for capitalism to avoid the warming.
But solar and wind and batteries are growing like weeds.
Anyway, the themes in these books, are topical, owing to the ARTMEIS mission from NASA, our return to the moon and the ongoing reality that the problems holding back Asteroid mining are only a matter of time before resolved as, Technology will continue, as it always has to improve.
Of the book, though, what is there to say? Kim Stanley Robinson is an incredibly talented writer, I don't really have any major complaints, the dude didn't win all those awards for nothing.
I would totally rec this series in light of what's happening in the real world and the reality that science fiction has a long history of becoming science reality.
What writers in this space envision often comes to pass, look at the cryptonomicon as an example, it predicted cryptocurrency years before that actually happened.
uhhhlyssa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
abgolds's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Dragged more than the first one (especially the last Maya chapter), but is a satisfying continuation of the characters and world
annievannie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
grayjay's review against another edition
2.0
In this second volume of the Mars trilogy, there have been three generations of Mars-born humans and the struggle for contro over Mars continues. A few of the first 100 settlers remain, thanks to anti-aging treatments, to manipulate their grandchildren, pretend to be heroes, and dominate discourse on how to terraform Mars, and how or whether to form a separate Martian society from Earth.
Terraforming is now largely out of their hands as so many disparate colonies and corporations try out their various methods with varying interests.
It is hard to assess my enjoyment of these books. They are interesting in total, but extremely tedious page to page. I didn't know there was still so much I could learn about lichen.
I was interested in the parts about Mia growing older. What would it be like to be fit at 120, but have a mind full of 120 years of experience?
Terraforming is now largely out of their hands as so many disparate colonies and corporations try out their various methods with varying interests.
It is hard to assess my enjoyment of these books. They are interesting in total, but extremely tedious page to page. I didn't know there was still so much I could learn about lichen.
I was interested in the parts about Mia growing older. What would it be like to be fit at 120, but have a mind full of 120 years of experience?
holtopia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25