Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, Book 1)
by Kim Stanley Robinson
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100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books set on or about Mars
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1426)
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Sci-fi fans
This book is the first in a trilogy about the colonization and terraforming of Mars, told (mostly) from the perspectives of the first hundred colonists. It is grand in its scientific scope, but it is also a very human story. There is always something a little bit inspirational about exploring stories, about people who risk it all to learn something new, and this book is really the ultimate.
It starts a mere 30 years in the future, and given that the book is 15 years old, it's more like 15 yea...more
It starts a mere 30 years in the future, and given that the book is 15 years old, it's more like 15 yea...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
fans of hard sci-fi
I picked up Red Mars at an airport bookstore on a layover in Kentucky. It's a good read in that it presents a plausible story of traveling to and colonizing Mars that isn't grounded in science that hasn't been invented yet (or that will never be invented, based on everything we think we know to be true today). While the science is sound as far as I can tell, it is the characters who drive the story and there is an enormous and diverse cast of them.
"Red Mars" presents char...more
"Red Mars" presents char...more
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This was an interesting book to read, for several reasons. First was the position that it occupied historically; published in 1993, it represents the state of where science fiction was prior to the WWW. It also obviously predates the popularity of cyberpunk within science fiction; throughout the entire text, there is minimal use of computer networking, and nary a leather jacket or jaded hacked is in sight.[return]As far as the book itself is concerned, it's definitely an interesting read. It'...more
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Read in June, 2007
Since I talk about these books nonstop and everyone around me is tired of hearing about it, I figured it's time to write a review. They are totally, totally good. The premise is that 100 colonists travel to Mars in 2028 (or so) and create a life there... Immigration, transnational corporations, the UN, terraforming, politics, social change, revolution, more revolution, and liberal Martian hippies in low-g ensue, all across the span of 200 years. And since everyone lives a long time thanks to new...more
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Read in June, 2008
I have to admit I couldn't follow the science here to any great degree, but that really didn't deter me from what I consider one of the best sci-fi novels I've read in a while.
Red Mars is the first of three books dealing with the colonization of Mars. Starting in the year 2026, the story deals with the first 100 men and women selected to go to Mars -- scientists and others known collectively as "the first hundred. " Not all of them see eye to eye on how things should go on the pl...more
Red Mars is the first of three books dealing with the colonization of Mars. Starting in the year 2026, the story deals with the first 100 men and women selected to go to Mars -- scientists and others known collectively as "the first hundred. " Not all of them see eye to eye on how things should go on the pl...more
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Read in September, 2007
I found this book to be intensely frustrating, because I had such a love-hate relationship with it. At one hand, I was fascinated to learn all about the colonization of Mars, the various technologies used, and I really loved seeing what the scientists came up with to develop the planet. Likewise, I enjoyed reading about the experience of exploring the planet's surface and learning about it's unique geography. The landscape descriptions are breathtaking.
It's such a shame that I hated just ab...more
It's such a shame that I hated just ab...more
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Instead of re-hashing my own old review (did one at Amazon already yanno), let me offer up this BRILLIANT routine about Jaws 4: The Revenge by the late (and lamentedly so!) Mr. Richard Jeni:
"Have you ever seen a movie where they don't even try to have it make sense, they just slap you in the face with how shitty it is? You're sitting there, and you're going, "Maybe this movie isn't so bad and maybe I'm not wasting my life," and the movie slaps you in the face and goes:
Yes ...more
"Have you ever seen a movie where they don't even try to have it make sense, they just slap you in the face with how shitty it is? You're sitting there, and you're going, "Maybe this movie isn't so bad and maybe I'm not wasting my life," and the movie slaps you in the face and goes:
Yes ...more
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This series is epic in scope, so the first thing is be prepared for a long, dense read. But the reward is well worth it, because not only does Robinson write expertly plausible science fiction, but the setting is undeniably human and grounded in reality. Just as important as the science of terraforming Mars are the social, economic, political, ecological, and moral issues surrounding humanity's desperate push off its own planet.
Furthermore, because of the long time scope of the book, the e...more
Furthermore, because of the long time scope of the book, the e...more
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Read in January, 2002
I debated between a 3 and 4 on this book. The whole time I was reading the series, I was fascinated and bored at the same time. Kim Stanley Robinson gives a very realistic picture of the colonization of Mars beginning with the first hundred scientists, engineers, and other specialists who were selected to live on Mars. Everything from his descriptions of the clouds to his formula for transforming the atmosphere into something breathable are very accurate based on available information, and it...more
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Red Mars opens with a tragic murder, an event that becomes the focal point for the surviving characters and the turning point in a long intrigue that pits idealistic Mars colonists against a desperately overpopulated Earth, radical political groups of all stripes against each other, and the interests of transnational corporations against the dreams of the pioneers./ This is a vast book: a chronicle of the exploration of Mars with some of the most engaging, vivid, and human characters in recent s...more
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Read in February, 2008
I usually don't go for super hard sf, but this book totally pwned me. Red Mars is a supremely well thought out imagining of the colonization of Mars, with time and research put in to all of the scientific aspects as well as the cultural facets of transplanting human beings to a truly alien world. I found especially interesting Robinson's consideration of the question, how will Terrans become Martians? How will their minds begin to work differently? How will their metaphors, their stan...more
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Read in May, 2008
I love Kim Stanley Robinson as an author. He writes very interesting sci-fis about space and exploring the universe but he also ties the book into current day issues (no matter how far in the future it is.) He creates in-depth characters that explore realms of science, religion, and relationships in all of his stories.
Red Mars takes place several decades in the future, around 2040ish (it begins) with Earth slowly collapsing because of populat...more
Red Mars takes place several decades in the future, around 2040ish (it begins) with Earth slowly collapsing because of populat...more
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Read in January, 2005
Robinson's Mars trilogy is the worst kind of trilogy: it hooks you with an excellent first book, then drags you through an uneven second book and halfway through a kind of boring third book before you finally scream "ENOUGH! I will no longer particiapte in this trilogistic marketing conspiracy!" (Then you skulk off to watch Star Wars Episode 6, and get even more depressed.)
But Red Mars, the first book, is really wonderful. Like a lot of SF, it gets away with some flaws because th...more
But Red Mars, the first book, is really wonderful. Like a lot of SF, it gets away with some flaws because th...more
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Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars is a great sci-fi trilogy. It takes the basics of our current global political, social and environmental situation and projects into the future, asking, what would happen if it became possible to colonize another planet? How would political and environmental pressures on Earth influence how we view that new planet's resources? How would the current system of global capitalism attempt to exploit labor and resources? How would the poor and rich countries and of t...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
hardcore sci-fi heads only
An extremely detailed and ridiculously well researched novel on the colonization of Mars, this book is absolutely maddening. The characters veer from believable three dimensional humans to weird caricatures and plot devices within a few pages. And the author's exploration of the political implications of a newly habitable planet filled with resources for civilization is at first fascinating and then just boring. At least five or six times someone would yell out "This isn't like the discover...more
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Science Fiction is hard, because there is a lot of crap to sift through to come to the really researched, really interesting books. This is one of them. Based on the content and thoroughness of this book, you'd think Kim Stanley Robinson was a geologist, botanist, archaeologist, historian, politician, spiritual leader, physicist, etc etc etc, you get the drift. He switches 1st person perspective between an array of different people, all sent to Mars in order to begin 'terraformation' (making ...more
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Read in November, 2007
It's a very well-written, dense, fascinating book that explores the colonization of Mars from the first settlers, to established cities, to terraforming, and then to revolution. Lots of interesting science; the research alone must have taken years. It's about geography, politics, economics, various hard sciences, psychology, and pretty much everything else. The characters are strong and interesting; Robinson writes from a different perspective in each long chapter. He also gets my Not-Sexist Sea...more
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recommended to Kristen by:
Suzanne
Suzanne and I had a long conversation at Nisha's wedding about Science Fiction. She persuaded me that I have perhaps been too judgmental about science fiction books and audiences, and that instead of scorning it, I should give it a try. I did love the Time Traveler's Wife, which could be considered science fiction. And I really loved The Speed of Dark, written by a science fiction writer (and recommended by Suzanne).
In addition to Red Mars, she recommended a book called Kindred in which...more
In addition to Red Mars, she recommended a book called Kindred in which...more
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Read in January, 2006
This is the opening book to a great series. However, before I hit the last 100 pages I wasn't sure I was even going to finish the book and had no intention of reading the others. There were simply too many characters for me to keep track of and much more detail of the Martian landscape than I what I could digest. Robinson opens with a murder on the red planet itself before jumping back in time to the first human voyage to Mars. Presumably, this was meant to pull the reader into the book befor...more
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Read in January, 2008
At first I was afraid this was going to be horrible because it seemed to start out with the premise that Human Settlement on Mars Is About to Implode Because Two Men Love One Woman. But then it wasn't really about that. It was kind of about Marxist revolution, which is what I was hoping it would be about.
It's good, kind of classic sci-fi -- kind of science/tech-geeky, and it's trying to be as much about our present as about one possibility for our future. It's got some weird stuff about &...more
It's good, kind of classic sci-fi -- kind of science/tech-geeky, and it's trying to be as much about our present as about one possibility for our future. It's got some weird stuff about &...more
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