Dense, incredibly ambitious book about the colonization of Mars. I think I'm going to need some time off before I try to read the second book, Green Mars.

While I really enjoyed the hows and whys of the colonization story, I felt my eyes glaze over and I started skimming when I got to the political stuff. Just not my cup of tea. But the whole premise of how the first 100 settlers were chosen, and how they all were really actors pretending to be who they thought the selection committee would pick, was a great point. In the end, the colonists were all just people at the core, and there was no way they wouldn't have fights and love affairs and cliques and all-out hatred for one another. Not only that, deep, deep divisive opinions on how a new society on a planet far away from Earth should organize itself.

I enjoyed the physical descriptions of the planet and its geography and geology--to a point. Again, too much of a good thing is just too much and I got overwhelmed with the detail.

And although the terraforming and settlement of a population on a planet would take more than one lifetime, the longevity of the main characters is achieved by what felt a little like a cheat. And construction of habitats and huge excavations seem to take place at an astonishing pace. I know robots are capable, but it seemed a little too easy.

This guy's the James Mitchener of sci-fi, except maybe without the ability to edit.

Keywords: science fiction, Mars, colonization, terraforming, politics, space travel, society