NEW LARGE-SIZE PAPERBACK EDITION! Mars Trilogy Series 3 Books Set

Mars Trilogy #1-3

by Kim Stanley Robinson

This Mars Trilogy Series Books Set includes the following 3 1. Red Mars 9780593358825 2. Green Mars 9780593358849 3. Blue Mars 9780593358856

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Solarpunk, Space, Hard Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

2400 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2015

About the author

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He has published 22 novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his Mars trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The Atlantic has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing." According to an article in The New Yorker, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."

Reviews

[M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in this series, Red Mars, was absolutely enthralling. It was a chance find in a Little Free Library (seriously, support your local LFL!) and after reading the ending, I absolutely wanted more, and to learn what happens to the characters that made it to the end of Red Mars.

Green Mars was not quite as strong, but still a decent read.

I absolutely loved Red Mars, and enjoyed Green Mars. Blue Mars was not without its fantastic (and I do mean fantastic parts) but it was also slogged down with some really slow-moving parts. It's pretty clear that in Red Mars, one of the issues that led to the bigger problem on Red Mars was overpopulation, and I feel that humanity was just basically given a free pass at the end of the trilogy because now humans are expanding to planets beyond Mars. I guess this was realistic, but yet I could not help but feel disappointed.

The whole series could have been pared down to two books, and focused less on politics. However, I will say that as a sci-fi fan, to my fellow sci-fi fans out there, do give this series (or at least the first book) a try.

[Nick Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest sci fi series I have ever been fortunate enough to experience. I have never found myself so inspired by anything. The characters are remarkably unique and engaging, while all contrasting eachother and melding perfectly. The landscapes are painted onto your mind with ease and it becomes more difficult to believe that KSR has not been to Mars himself. He seems to have captured what is ostensibly the most realistic depiction of how we as a species will experience the red planet. This leans HEAVILY towards the sci portion of sci fi, so if you aren't into somewhat esoteric delvings into the sciences it may seem a bit dry. But if you love science fiction for the science and the fantasy of what could be, this has to be the greatest depiction of near future humanity out there. Even if you generally find yourself bored by abstruse musings, you may just find this series is what could change that.

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hugos and Nebulas are awarded to lots of crap novels, but EACH of Robinson’s Mars books won one, so I thought I’d better check them out. The first chapter of Red Mars is fantastic. There’s so much going on: an interesting and unsympathetic protagonist, hard science, implied backstory, stuff I’ve now forgotten. I’m afraid that the rest of the series doesn’t live up to that great first chapter. The first half of Red Mars fills in the back story from other characters’ viewpoints. The vast bulk of that (and it is a vast bulkiness) was totally unncecessary. Other stuff happens in the last half of Red Mars. That stuff was interesting enough to carry me through the sequel and most of Blue Mars, but that last novel was quite a slog. In fact, I gave up before finishing. Normally I don’t post a review if I didn’t finish the book, but I thought I’d better explain what I’ve been reading for the last 2 months (and why the books I received as gifts are still unread on my nightstand).

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘We have been sent here by our governments, and all of our governments are flawed, most of them disastrously.’

On 21 December 2026, one hundred of earth’s most skilled engineers and scientists begin a nine-month long journey to Mars. It’s a joint American-Russian undertaking, aimed at establishing a permanent scientific outpost on Mars with a view to possible settlement and colonisation. It’s one way to solve a number of serious overcrowding and other problems on the Earth.

In the first novel (‘Red Mars’), much of the debate/discussion is centred around the fate of Mars. The physicist Saxifrage ‘Sax’ Russell advocates a ‘Green’ position: arguing for the immediate and rapid terraforming of Mars to make it more suitable for human occupation. The geologist Ann Clayborne advocates a ‘Red’ position: arguing that Mars should be preserved in an undisturbed state. I found their debates are fascinating, even though some of the technical discussion forced me out of the novel to seek clarification of some of the terms. I loved the descriptions, the colours, the sheer size of the landscape.

And then, there are a series of disasters.

The second novel, (‘Green Mars’), picks up the story some fifty years later. While many of the ‘First Hundred’ are now dead, there are now children and grandchildren as well as those who have survived. The multinational/transnational control of Mars has sparked unrest. Corporations on earth seek to exploit rich mineral deposits on Mars. There are underground factions as well: those on Mars seek control over their destiny. Alongside the political machinations and the exploits and adventures of the characters, are beautiful descriptions of the Martian landscape. This book ends with a major catastrophe on Earth which has a huge impact on the importance of Mars.

The third novel, (‘Blue Mars’) follows closely after the conclusion of the second novel. Terraforming efforts, resulting in liquid water being present, help to enable Mars to become preeminent. Events on Earth diminish the power of the corporations. This novel covers a century, which allows the reader to follow both developments on Mars, and the fate of the remaining members of the ‘First Hundred’. Sadly, politics and intrigue exist on Mars as they did on Earth, and despite the wonderful scientific achievements enabling Mars to be inhabited, it seems that existing problems have been imported. Will we even learn?

By the end of the trilogy, the longevity of characters (thanks to the development of a gerontological treatment) has potential to have a significant impact on population growth. Believable or not, it enables us to follow the key characters for more than two hundred years. Also, by the end of the trilogy, humanity has colonies across the solar system, and is looking beyond.

I enjoyed this trilogy, and I intend to reread it. Mr Robinson has created a detailed Martian world and while I sometimes became lost in the detail, I could appreciate the whole. At times the behaviour of some of the characters frustrated me, but I can just imagine the mono-focus of individuals who believe that they are right and acting in the best interests of both planet and people. Many of the characters are interesting, especially Arkady, Ann, Nadia and Sax. While we have access to their internal viewpoints, we also see them through the eyes of others. Some viewpoints may be more reliable than others.

I finished the last page thinking that the colonisation of Mars as written in this trilogy could well be possible, but probably not in my (normal mortal) lifetime.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read anything else like it. I don't usually enjoy switching between character narratives when reading, but Robinson's characters are such that I was excited at every transition. He composes the most beautiful prose, full of subtle and obvious metaphors and allegory. He doesn't ramble until the reader is bored, but rather he builds then sweeps you off your feet or blindsides you with beauty or sorrow or innovation or brutal grotesquery. I often found myself asking my family to listen to passages as I read aloud.

Each character is given their own style of prose. The vocabulary, sentence structure and musicality of the narratives are singular to each character and their perception of the world around them: poetic and wistful, indifferent and clinical, morose and fatalistic, buoyant and hopeful, cool and calculating, passionate and intense, wise and childlike, hungry and brutal. Yet, as each character develops and evolves over time, the style of prose remains faithful, but the vocabulary and mood shifts, while somehow staying true the core of their being. There's always something vital to learn and uncover about each character.

Regarding the story...the research.... this is true science fiction at its finest. While reading this series, I became an areographer, an economist, a politician, a climatologist, hydrologist, biologist, topagrapher, geologist, architect, social engineer, a cult member, and a nomad. Perhaps, as it continues to work its post-ictal euphoria upon me during the next few weeks, I shall become an optimist as well.

I became a colonist. Kim Stanley Robinson took me to Mars.

[Lucas Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most hopeful sagas in sci fi that I have read.

A perfect encapsulation of everything I love about the genre. It made me both saddened by the flaws of the characters but gave me the hope of a brighter future.

An absolute marvel of a series that needs to be read as one whole. I can not recommend it highly enough.

[D. Krauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars novels go from Red to Blue. And since these were published from 1992- 1996, pre-date that whole silly red state/blue state thing, which is in itself wrong because red is the color of Marxism and what we currently consider red states are as far from Marxism as the color blue is, or was, until Tim Russert thought he’d be cute in the 2000 election and switched the colors and for reasons I still don’t get, everyone has followed along. I mean, all you have to do is take a casual glance at Soviet flags to see what red really stands for. But it may be appropriate here because Robinson’s Mars moves from a free and downright anarchic society in the first book to an unbelievably sophisticated (and unrealistic) communo-socialist-capitalist-barter system in the last one. Red to Blue. Get it?

The story itself is fairly straightforward: Earth selects 100 people (dubbed the First Hundred. Catchy) to colonize Mars and, from their arrival to about 200 years later, Mars is turned from an arid, dead, frozen hell into somewhat of a nice place, say Alaska in the summertime. Replete with polar bears. No seriously; Ann Clayborne, one of the highlighted characters who manages to survive through all three novels, gets chased by a polar bear while hiking the outback. There are about ten highlighted First Hundred characters, from John Boone, the first man on Mars, to Hiroko Ai, a ghostly highly influential non-presence from Green Mars on (but hold on, she’s actually everywhere. Even back on Earth), who bring the story along, from training in the Arctic to sailing on Martian seas. Then there are the children of the Hundred, decanted mostly from various in vitro tubes (with a few natural childbirth outliers here and there) and immigrants and later arrivals and spies and cops and paramilitaries all over the place who add their two cents but, mostly, it’s the story of these ten or so First Hundred, over a couple hundred years. Wait, what? Yeah, folks are living well past their shelf life, thanks to Martian science, which is science done on Mars, as opposed to done on Earth, which somehow becomes tainted and evil if it’s done on Earth, unlike the science on Mars, which is pure. Depending on your viewpoint.

And viewpoints are all over the place, from the ultra Reds to the ultra Greens, which also does not mean what is does today: the Reds are those who want to keep Mars untouched, therefore red, as opposed to the colonists who want to terraform into a more earth-like place, turning it green, so to speak. See? Those colors should be reversed, by today’s definitions. Which makes this somewhat of a confusing read, that is, if you try to apply today’s definitions to novels written 20 years ago. Which is revisionism. Which you should not do. Have to read a book in its context, not in modern parlance trying to impress someone with how sophisticated and with-it you are.

But I digress.

And digression is the watchword because, Holy, Hannah, does this trilogy range all over the place. Red Mars begins at a festival 33 years after John Boone lands on Mars, and, after he is murdered during that festival, flashes all the way back to the Hundred’s selection and training and then launching of the first colony ship, the Ares (natch), and then landing and putting things together resulting in the first actual town, Underhill, and then we’re back to the point John is killed and then revolution. Which doesn’t go very well. See, it’s a little difficult to revolt against Earth when all they have to do is pop the bubble of your little town and let all that nice fresh oxygen out into the not so fresh Martian atmosphere. Which may be an incentive to green the place up so Earth can’t do that and then we are in Green Mars with the terraforming going apace, except for the Reds who are willing to blow up and/or flood your town to keep Mars an arid, dead, frozen hell. Really? Really? And then Earth basically blows up and Mars becomes more of a liferaft than a science experiment and who do you think is going to win this argument? Ergo, Blue Mars.

Man.

It feels very much like we are taking the long way around, out past Jupiter and back, to get to Mars. This has much to do with Captain Digression, Mr Kim Stanley himself, who simply cannot resist writing overlong descriptions of things that were better left on the editor’s floor, such as a painfully detailed exposition on lichens and fungus, which is far more about both topics than anyone actually wants to know, except the micro specialists involved. This is the problem when big-brained scientists write scifi, they are bent on (a) showing how much they know and (b) keeping their other big-brained colleagues from finding fault: “Aha, you said the lichen spyrogyra numnutsias grows at 25 Kelvin when in reality it can only grow at 26 Kelvin! So therefore you are an idiot and your book is invalid!” You know stuff like that, like everybody yelling at Ray Bradbury because he had the sunrise on Mars coming up at the wrong place. Or was it the sunset? Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s friggin’ fiction. Lighten up.

But Kim Stanley does not, giving us several more interludes, including a painfully detailed political convention reminiscent of the Simpson’s take on the Galactic Senate in The Phantom Menace. Oy. Stop. And I almost did, but forged on because this was my second attempt to read this trilogy and by God, I was going to do it this time and not throw it across the room like I did 20 years earlier because of all. These. Sidebars!

And I’m so glad I did because, halfway through Blue Mars, you see the point. And the point is, we keep going. To Jupiter. To the Kuiper Belt. And past.

And that’s marvelous.

[Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first of the trilogy. I may go back and read the other two but right now it's unlikely. I bought the trilogy set on the strength of the recommendation and while I can really appreciate the depth and science that went into this, with a few exceptions around the finalé of Red Mars, I found it mostly unengaging and sterile. I started a bit of the second book but it felt like more of the same dense prose without really drawing me in.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Social and scientific aspects of this story are so realistic and believable ... I loved all three!

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this up - 2K+ pages and it feels like an accomplishment! This series is so much more than the sum of its parts. I rated each of the Mars books 4 stars each, but combined they create such an incredible sweeping narrative of the terraforming and settlement of Mars that I could not resist rating a five. This is hard science fiction at its finest - although you do have to slog through some long sections on lichen growing in the tundra (in contrast the physics of warming a planet and increasing the nitrogen levels while decreasing the carbon dioxide levels was super cool). But the sheer magnitude from when they touch down on the untouched red planet to the water filled wonderland at the end is astonishing. I also really enjoyed the characters - particularly Sax., the renaissance scientist and architect of green Mars. I would say most of the folks comes across as unlikeable in the first book - Ann, Maya, Frank, even Sax. But they grew on me significantly and I loved the interplay between Sax and Ann in the third novel. The nuanced view of aging (when you live to 200+) was fantastic. I would say that definitely made me contemplate the pros and cons of living for an extended period of time.

There is a not insignificant chance you will hate this book (and I took many years between reading Red Mars and the final two; see growing Lichen comment earlier) but it is so worth it. This is the type of book that makes me wish I would have gone into science rather than business!

[Almustafa Couch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two parts of the Trilogy are bordering on greatness but unfortunately the 3rd part really let it down it was full of predictably and ended such a great Trilogy on such a bad note. The 1st book is worth 9/10 the 2nd is at least 8/10 the 3rd is worth only a 2 points from 10 I feel that the author had run out of breath at this point and just wanted to finish the Trilogy.
It starts with Red Mars in which a group of 100 are sent to Mars to do some scientific research and develop a base for future use. Green Mars follows the same mission then Blue Mars which does have a similar theme but for fills it only by default.
K. S. Robinson really did let himself down with blue Mars. The other books Red and Green Mars are so much better. It is my feeling that KS Robinson is worth trying again.
I would recommend this Trilogy to anyone interested in Polar exploration or sociology and looking at the formation of groups for a goal.

[Charlie Huenemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing trilogy. It recounts a human endeavor to colonize Mars, in a very plausible and realistic possible future. There are enough details about geology, terra-forming, biology, agriculture, material science, bio-engineering, and psychology to suggest that KSR pursued graduate degrees in all these areas and kept us posted as to his progress. On top of that, there are lengthy explorations of the political complications and opportunities that would arise when colonizing another planet. Wrapped in and around all of these things is an intriguing story about a cast of central characters who change in surprising and exciting ways over their long lifetimes. So, in short, an imaginative, gripping, and realistic tale that has a whole lot of science and politics to chew your way through (which is pretty much the KSR MO).

[Hasan G · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I had read a series where the character stuck with me long after I finished the books.

There's something about the way Kim Stanley Robinson writes that makes the setting a character in and of itself, but also he has a truly profound way of simultaneously depicting the inner turmoil most people feel. No character ever felt truly set in their ways, even the most stubborn ones. Their outer resilience was always at odds with the churning waters underneath.

It's a slow burn book series. Most books I only give about 50-75 pages before I decide if I wanna keep reading, but this one I wasn't truly hooked until around page 150 and then I was truly and fully along for the ride.

[Nenufeur · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai adoré le tome 1, le tome 2 était vraiment bien aussi, mais j'ai un peu décroché au 3, qui m'a donné l'impression que l'auteur ne voulait plus lâcher ses personnages.
En tout cas, ça restait une bonne lecture ; j'ai beaucoup aimé que la terraformation ne se résume pas à la science, avec la création de nouveaux systèmes politiques, par exemple. Les descriptions sont toutefois parfois très longues - il faut garder en tête que c'est de la hard SF, ce qui rend certains passages compliqués.
Je n'ai néanmoins pas beaucoup apprécié la fin, que je trouve étonnamment trop rapide et un peu trop utopiste.

[Sergio Visinoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite modern sci-fi saga.
Kim Stanley Robinson has the ability to mix very relevant and contemporary reflections on society and its most extreme and dangerous trends towards "corporate control" with solid science and a lot of vision to imagine how humans could colonize Mars, terraform it, and experiment with all sorts of social and political organisation away from mother earth.
It's a strongly recommended read to everyone that is either into social science, science fiction or politics.

[Lonna Cunningham · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I had stuff to do that needed a background audio track that wasn't too intense, this was ... okay. Loads of diversions into science, psychology, sociology, and political theory - as an exploration of those ideas, it did well, but as a "fascinating story", not so much.

I doubt I'd have been able to get through it on paper, even with the excellent audio production I found myself fast forwarding through long sections of technospeak ... which is rare for me.

So ... a solid "ok, if that's what you are interested in" rating.

[Adon Coya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very satisfied with the hard science framework and the very well researched, all around, reality of living on Mars and the connections to Earth.
Not so much so with the plot, the scenes and the characters. Getting into the third book, I found I couldn't bring myself to care about them, their feelings and thoughts, anymore.
A pity, really; instead of closing the trilogy with a bang! the writer let the music slowly fade into silence.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book gets a five stars, as it’s engaging, with great characters, and I enjoyed the fact that it felt like classic “hard sci fi.” However, Robinson gets too attached to his characters in the later books and is unwilling to let them go when he should. Three stars to book two and two stars to book three.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Mars: A United Nations experiment to colonise Mars is tackled purely from the scientific angles of how it can be done. But mankind isn't just about science and some of the old prejudices and vices soon appear on the Red Planet.

Robinson has written a novel which oozes authenticity, making this science fiction feel very factual and all too visceral as humanity finds a foothold on a new world.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest sci fi series I have ever been fortunate enough to experience. also. I picked up Red Mars in a drop off book shelf.....I just HAD to get the remaining volumes....am over half way in Greenm Mars.....such a great insight into the many differing views on how a new world should be run...and conflicts resolved. AM looking forward to Blue Mars.

[David Svane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best books I've ever read. An emersive journey through scientific challenges, cultural differences and ideological ideas. A huge gallery of characters, all in perfect dissonance, yet one way or the other relatable, once you get invited inside their minds one at the time. Absolutely inspirational and priceless work ❤

[Searobin56 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this series. Red Mars was slow and dragging. Green Mars was much better; good action, good character development, good story. Blue Mars was much the same as Red Mars. There was way too much scientific explanation, in detail, about EVERYTHING. If you like science, you will like this series. Otherwise; pass!

[Ry Herman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book is a true classic of science fiction. The second book is good but flawed. The third book is frankly awful -- tedious, dull, and uninteresting. Still, the strength of the earlier parts leads me to give the series as a whole a good rating.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

By turns epic and intimate in scale and as committed to the political, psychological and ontological aspects of the endeavour to make life flourish on Mars as it is to the incredibly detailed science.

[Janet Connery · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were my mother's favorites. She was very concerned about how we are destroying this planet and was very active in conservation efforts. These books show what can go wrong when people act recklessly and selfishly.

[Bücherfrosch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man begleitet hunderte von Jahren eine große Zahl an Charakteren, die im Laufe ihres Lebens alle möglichen Trauma und Störungen durchmachen und dabei behandelt werden. Ausserdem gibt es ein bisschen bioengineering um Menschen zu areoformen (terraforming aber für den Mars).

[Nik Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essential reading for all science fiction enthusiasts. It is frighteningly plausible that the events and themes explored in this trilogy could very well occur in reality; the situations are sadly possible.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an experience reading this book, I have vivid memories of many scenes, I'll have to read it again sometime in the future. In short: I loved it!

[Larry]

Pamela recommendation.

[Mack Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I said with the first installment, this entire series is an exciting and fulfilling read. Great all the way around. Beautifully put together and executed.