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Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars

Luke T.

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Since the Google home page had a link to this page, I guess it is a good time to mention the trilogy I am in the middle of reading right now.

Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars, in that order.

When I say I am in the middle of this trilogy, I mean I am in the middle. Halfway through Green Mars.

The trilogy is basically about the colonization and terraforming of Mars. Kim Stanley Robinson really lays on the detail. It is an amazing work well worth reading.

The first book, Red Mars, concentrates on the First Hundred colonists and their social structure and eventual development of competing political beliefs of how Mars should be governed and whether or not it should even be terraformed. It ends with a civil war.

Green Mars, which won the Hugo Award, continues to follow the surviving First Hundred and their offspring, as well as the mass migration from Earth to Mars. I guess to keep your interest from the first book, Robinson introduces a life extension vaccine which results in people being able to live for centuries, so the First Hundred can hang around long after they should have perished.

Robinson goes into excrutiating detail on the flora and fauna of the terraforming effort, and I know that is to make it as plausible as possible to see how Mars could be terraformed in a short period, but I find the scientific detail way too deep. I am more interested in the political and interpersonal aspects of the story.

Still a great read. I highly recommend it. Robinson is head and shoulders above any past or present science fiction writer when it comes to Mars. With all due respect to Bradbury, who I enjoyed immensely as a teen.
 
Luke T. said:
Still a great read. I highly recommend it. Robinson is head and shoulders above any past or present science fiction writer when it comes to Mars. With all due respect to Bradbury, who I enjoyed immensely as a teen.
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Bradbury's mars was really the Greeks anyway. I love Bradbury, but he's much more interested in mythology than the science.
 
I read Red mars and Green mars, never got around to Blue Mars. I enjoyed the first two books a lot, I don't know why I never picked up the third. I think I just got distracted.

Anyway, I did like it. It came across as a pretty plausible story, which is a rare thing for sci-fi sometimes.
 
I just read Green Mars in a best of compilation, it was about 50 pages just the part dealing with the climb. I was struck by how well developed the world surrounding the characters was for a novella. Didn't know that he made it into a novel, Thanks.
 
I could never get through Red Mars. I liked the concept, the writing was strong, the science was good . . . but I had no empathy or sympathy for any of the characters. I gave it two hundred pages. I still didn't like anyone, so I put it down.

That doesn't keep me from recommending it to my non-geek friends as a textbook on terraforming, though.
 
I thought Robinson made an exceptionally good job of letting you identify with the viewpoint protagonist, especially as regards judging other characters. Started out really disliking Maya, after reading a couple hundred pages through her eyes, I actually cared for her.
(George R.R. Martin is past master at this shtick, I think. But halfway through "Feast for Crows" I still hate Cersei's guts :D )
 
I empathise with ranson. I read Red Mars, but it was a struggle. I just could not get interested in any of the characters. Normally, I read SF for new ideas rather than character, but I found here the rather 2d characters were not compensated for by much that seemed radically new or interesting. It read like a believable history book. Worthy , but dull.
I have glanced through bookshop copies of the other two. Looks like more of the same.
I'll pass.
 
I suggest you might skip Blue Mars if you didn't like the science. It's the worst of the three, in my mind, and much of it is taken up by speculations about the memory problems faced by immortals and their subsequent attempts at treatment.
 
Floyt said:
(George R.R. Martin is past master at this shtick, I think. But halfway through "Feast for Crows" I still hate Cersei's guts :D )
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But you do like Jamie don't you?
I still dislike Sansa (not as much as I used to though)
 
Oddly enough, I am also in the middle (actually much closer to the end) of Green Mars. I'm reading it slow, since it is my lunchbreak book.
 
I liked Red Mars. Kind of got bogged down and lost interest in the middle of Green Mars. If you like really detailed, plausible SF, you might like it. I have to agree with the posters who found it difficult going though. It just seemed to get so bogged down with detail and discussions of the science behind everything, I felt like I might as well just read a science book on the subject. Even in SF, you need characters that interest you or a compelling story (not necessarily both).
 
Renfield said:
I liked Red Mars. Kind of got bogged down and lost interest in the middle of Green Mars. If you like really detailed, plausible SF, you might like it. I have to agree with the posters who found it difficult going though. It just seemed to get so bogged down with detail and discussions of the science behind everything, I felt like I might as well just read a science book on the subject. Even in SF, you need characters that interest you or a compelling story (not necessarily both).
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Agreed, some authors can pass on the science without it interfering with the story. Shame really, met him ages ago at a book release party and he's a nice bloke :)
 
I have to say I liked the trilogy though it was bogged down with details too a degree that I got tired of reading another paragraph about another rock, what it looked like etc. It did have the plus side of giving a good feel for the place. The language was borderline too complex for me as a non-native english speaker. The science seemed plausible though the costs for sending all the materials from earth did not, I think in reality Earth would have gone bankrupt several times over supporting that colony.
It didn't cross the line and turn into Space Opera and that is a plus. Space Opera is compelling but hardly something you admit that you read.
Overall, the reason I like the trilogy is because it gives you an indea of how colonization of space could happen on a more realistic scale than most SF. No warpdrives or mumbo jumbo forcefields, if you want to stop an space ship you launch a bucket of nails into orbit rather than jump into a X-wing.
 
Martians

Gee, I read all three some time ago, and I think there is a 4th, The Martians, which I also read, it's just been a while so I'm vague on the title. I also like the Years of Rice and Salt. I've read most of K.S. Robinson's books. The only ones I recall having a problem with were a couple of books of what I believe is referred to as the "Gold Coast" trilogy. I"m still trying to find a used copy of "Short, Sharp Shock."
 
I Red Mars ages ago. Like someone else I don't know why I didn't read the rest - just, sort of, wasn't interested ...

Most of the science was good - apart from the Battlestar Galactica mission profile; which is horrendously expensive and unblievable. Other than that I thought it was a good read once they got underway. It, sort of, reminded me of Arthur C Clarke but for no good reason. After I read that I read Icehenge which was a much more entertaining story.
 
I felt like I was actually reading the histories of Martian colonisation. The writing is amazingly detailed. It can get a little dry at times (like reading an actual history textbook), and the politics can drag on, but it was well worth the effort to read all three.

If you like it, try reading 'The Years of Rice and Salt'. Another brilliant masterpiece.

Athon
 
Years of Rice and Salt is great.

People who like the Mars trilogy might also like Antarctica, which explores some of the same issues.
 
I enjoyed his Mars books - but probably won't go back to them in a hurry (as Athon puts it they do get a bit dry at times).

I also agree with Athon & Mojo - Years of Salt and Vinegar is an excellent book - probably his best novel to date.
 
Darat said:
I enjoyed his Mars books - but probably won't go back to them in a hurry (as Athon puts it they do get a bit dry at times).

I also agree with Athon & Mojo - Years of Salt and Vinegar is an excellent book - probably his best novel to date.
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I can't wait for the sequel; Days of Cheese and Onion. I hear he's doing an anthology simply called Pringles. The catch is, you can't stop after reading just one.

Athon
 
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