[lemming]

Nice to see others reading this series. It is my all-time favorite SF trilogy, and as people have already said most of the good things I would say about it (and I have little to say to the detractors--if you don't like the Mars descriptions you are indeed out of luck), I don't have much to say now. Except, of course, do keep reading, because some pretty crazy stuff happens and it's a fun ride. ;)

I agree with whoever said the immortality treatment is primarily there to keep the main characters "main" throughout the story arc. Most of the first hundred do die during the series, but a few are still left at the end of Blue Mars, and I for one think that's nice... it's good to watch them evolve all the way through the series. And yes, there ARE some critical character development issues held back for the last book. Some of the newer characters from later generations are also quite engrossing and worth the extra reading time to meet.

[FicusFan]

I found one of the follow-up books in a used store and I got it. They also had something else by KSR called The Martians which seems to be a book of short stories about the various characters on Mars. Not sure if it is more in depth with the characters and stories from the trilogy, or if it focus on characters and stories that didn't make it into the trilogy for one reason or another. Any one read it ? Is it worhtwhile or just capitalizing on the fame of the previous work ?

[lemming]

Is it worhtwhile or just capitalizing on the fame of the previous work ?

A little of both, actually. Thanks for the reminder, I meant to comment on it yesterday but forgot. It's mostly a collection of stories and vignettes (and even a few poems) set mostly in the Martian world as set down by KSR in the trilogy. You get to see some favorite characters and meet some new ones, and most of it is pretty good--though it does not stand alone at all and would not make much sense without the trilogy. I seem to recall it also has a preface or something that goes into some detail about KSR's constantly thinking/imagining what things would be like on Mars in preparation for writing the trilogy. I liked that part.

The really weird thing about The Martians is that some of it takes place in an alternate future history where the Mars mission got cancelled, and all the characters live out their life on earth! And there's no particular warning on when you'll stumble into one of those. Very odd... though very nice to see Michel in France.... :) I think KSR just took the book as an opportunity to play with his world--not a complete sellout but not a masterpiece either.

[clong]

I read this book a couple of years ago. This is a review of it that I posted some time later on another site. Many of the other posters at that site really hated the book, and think that Robinson is one of the worst storytellers out there.

Obviously, this is a book that has elicited a wide range of responses from readers. I thought it was a great beginning to what turned out to be a pretty good trilogy.

The story turns on the conflicting priorities and beliefs within a group of one hundred scientists sent to establish the first settlements on Mars. These scientific settlers soon break into several idealogical groups with differing goals, with rabid preservationists and rabid terraformers at the extremes. A small group of natural leaders within the colonizing scientists drives the action--interesting, though not always likeable characters. As the story moves forward the diverging interests of the scientists on Mars from those of the government back on earth that sponsored the expedition in the first place becomes a bigger and bigger factor.

I'd be the first to admit that the story get a bit soap opera-ish at times, but for me the strengths of the book far outweighed the weaknesses. Certainly it avoids romanticizing the process of planetary colonization. The most memorable aspect of Red Mars is its truly poetic descriptions of the characters' immersion in the awe-inspiring majesty, beauty and difference of the alien landscape.

The book opens with an unusual plot device . . . a "flash forward" to the murder of one of the main characters by another one of the main characters.

[Ropie]

Just wanted to post some thoughts on this great book before I go off it. ;) I'm about a third of the way through. So far it has been gently fascinating, not exactly gripping but there's something about the entire situation that is beginning to really interest me.

I have to admit I wondered what Robinson was going to write about, from such a supposedly realistic point of view; once the journey and the landing were over I expected it to get a bit dull. There's only so much fictional interest you can inject in to what is essentially a plausible and experimental scenario. Fortunately he seems to be quite adept at creating interesting scenarios and squeezing his array of characters for various interesting plot devices. I suppose if I I have a criticism at the moment it is that what has taken 200 or so pages could easily have been condensed by around 30 pages without losing any of the meat. Still, Robinson's writing seems largely competent and focused, if tending to veer occasionally into confusing passages of akward character development.

More comments later, probably.

[LordBalthazar]

A friend of mine who is a big KSM fan likened his writing to "future history" and, in reading Red Mars, and it's meticulously detailed hard scifi treatment of the colonization and subsequent political infighting, I couldn't have agreed more. Robinson certainly knows his stuff, fashioning a very believable setting for his occasionally not-so-believable characters. The incredibly thorough descriptions of the various aspects of the Mars mission and the terraforming process in particular lent the narrative a level of validity not found in most scifi - but, alternately, did prove incredibly tedious on many occasions.

I agreed with those who felt that the immortality treatment felt more a writer's contrivance and very unusual in an otherwise plausible novel. I didn't mind most of the characters and their occasionally juvenile decisions (I know otherwise mature individuals who behave like this), but found some of them - Maya in particular - just a little too emotionally unbalanced to be leading such an important mission.

Golinub - Bien fait! Great argument on the Red vs. Green debate. For my part, I would be a hardcore Green looking to establish a foothold on Mars that could be used to step out to other propsective worlds and potential future colonies. Onwards the Empire!

[Tony Williams]

I agree with the sceptics.

I read the book some years ago when it first came out in paperback so I don't recall much about it, but I remember being underwhelmed. Exhaustive descriptive detail, but uninvolving characters and a plot I can't recall. The impression I had was that he allowed his obsession with world-building to dominate the story, which is always a Bad Idea IMO. All in all, one of those worthy-but-dull books; it didn't engage my imagination and I didn't bother to read the two sequels.