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A review by tellthebeeees
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
When I say it's character-driven, I'm including Mars as a character. The title of the book really says it all - it's a story of humanity's relationship with the planet.
The characters are generally good, though one of the women is pretty two dimensional, I'm sure everyone who's read it knows who I mean.
Robinson either did exhaustive research, or is incredibly good at faking it, because the whole thing felt really realistic to me. Everything, both the scientific and political side of the story, felt very believable. The development of the different societies was especially interesting, and seeing how much or little they are shaped by Earth politics - whether they want to be or not.
I think the strongest part of the book for me was just how many talking points and debates were represented: terraforming vs preservation, how a Martian society should be created, and if it's possible to dismantle or limit corporate control even when starting a civilization on a whole other planet. The question of how people would/should start a society from scratch really was the heart of the book.
Saying all that, the book was slow. It was long, and had so much detail that it was overwhelming at times. I think it might take a while for me to pick up the sequels - hopefully I still remember enough of the first book when I do.
The characters are generally good, though one of the women is pretty two dimensional, I'm sure everyone who's read it knows who I mean.
Robinson either did exhaustive research, or is incredibly good at faking it, because the whole thing felt really realistic to me. Everything, both the scientific and political side of the story, felt very believable. The development of the different societies was especially interesting, and seeing how much or little they are shaped by Earth politics - whether they want to be or not.
I think the strongest part of the book for me was just how many talking points and debates were represented: terraforming vs preservation, how a Martian society should be created, and if it's possible to dismantle or limit corporate control even when starting a civilization on a whole other planet. The question of how people would/should start a society from scratch really was the heart of the book.
Saying all that, the book was slow. It was long, and had so much detail that it was overwhelming at times. I think it might take a while for me to pick up the sequels - hopefully I still remember enough of the first book when I do.