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Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel One of the most enthralling science fiction sagas ever written, Kim Stanley Robinsons epic trilogy concludes with Blue Marsa triumph of prodigious research and visionary storytelling. A breakthrough even from [Kim Stanley Robinsons] own consistently high levels of achievement.The New York Times Book Review The red planet is no more. Now green and verdant, Mars has been dramatically altered from a desolate world into one where humans can flourish. The First Hundred settlers are being pulled into a fierce new struggle between the Reds, a group devoted to preserving Mars in its desert state, and the Green terraformers. Meanwhile, Earth is in peril. A great flood threatens an already overcrowded and polluted planet. With Mars the last hope for the human race, the inhabitants of the red planet are heading toward a population explosionor interplanetary war.… (more)
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These books are really a monumental accomplishment within the science fiction genre. Their precedents have already been notable in the work of excellent writers such as the aforementioned Stross and Ian McDonald, and it would not be undeserving if they came to have an influence on early 21st-century sf comparable to that of The Lord of the Rings on late 20th-century fantasy. In addition to the high literary quality and philosophical substance of these books, the futurism of the story has weathered the subsequent decades better than any other sf (of a similar scale) that I can recall.
Blue Mars is a much gentler book than the two earlier volumes. I had hypothesized occult infrastructures for the others: Egyptian myth in Red Mars and alchemy in Green Mars. Notice that even in those two points there is a progression from the theological to the naturalistic, and in this third phase, the power in question -- the conception of viriditas, as Robinson denominates the fundamental life force -- has become even more immanent to humanity and our worlds. Seen from the esoteric pattern laid down in the first book, however, the series progresses from the reign of Osiris (John Boone), to the work of Isis (Hiroko Ai), and finally to the generation's end still watched over by Anubis (Desmond "Coyote" Hawkins).
The earlier books had already distanced Robinson's Mars from the escapist entertainment that some identify with science fiction, and in Blue Mars the customary open-ended serial form is declined, in favor of a completed work of impressive scope and integrity.
The characters are not particularly well-developed, but that hardly matters, because 80-90% of story is taken up with descriptions and theoretical explorations of possible future developments. The writing sometimes seems to go on and on (and on), and at times the reader just wishes the editor had been more brutal with Robinson. But although each volume is less than perfect, they add up to a solid 5 stars as a whole. As irritating as the writing can be, this work will make you think, think, think. And keep a dictionary at hand - Robinson gives no ground in using scientific jargon, some of which I think he may have made up. I used the dictionary function on my Kindle ever page or two and was well-rewarded.
It is a fine book and a must read if you liked the first two installments. Robinson creates deep, realistic characters and the stories are more about their evolution than the planet's. The detail
But it is far too long. As can happen when a writer gains status it becomes harder to edit out extraneous passages. Often I found myself understanding what he wanted the reader to see about a character or a plot point then slogging through ten more pages of (frankly well written) over kill. Thios book could easily be 200 pages shorter without losing anything.
When pure science fiction goes too far into the future it is hard to keep out of the realm of fantasy but Robinson so carefully builds upon the advances made in previous books it all seems plausible. But you do see the biases of 1990's thinking everywhere by the end. There is a a lot of the "men bad, women good" slant of the early Oprah show in places. But to his credit he writes strong female characters and many of them are not admirable.
The best part of the book is the way characters react to one another over hundreds of years.
The trilogy is a masterpiece. But it could have been a lot shorter.
The narrative style is the same as the first two books - each section is tight third person prose from the viewpoint of one of the central characters - not always a remaining member of the First Hundred, but mostly. However many of the section in this book are much shorter than in the previous volumes, giving us greater jumps thorugh time (and space). Although it is difficult to keep precise track, Blue Mars covers something like 100 terran years.
The plot such as it is, contains the same pressures that featured in Green Mars - and over burdened earth attempting to ease it's gerontolically extended population pressures, and a still inhospitable Mars, trying to preserve it's way of life. Sax Russell is again the chief protagonist - scientist hero - exploring the consequences of extended age and the complexities of memory while his friends including the ever defiant Ann, attempt to finesse the politicing. With asides and diversions everywhere, mostly into sociology and governance but also what science IS, and aspects of geology and ecology.
As with the earlier novels some of the actual technological speculations are at best unlikely - quantum effectes are far too unstable at metabolic tmeperatures to play any signigicant part in memory effects for example, and Aldebaran is a few hundred years away rather than the 20 or so stated - but these minor technical niggles don't detract from the studies of hummanity that the rest of the book is based on.
It's a wonderful meandering and rambling account of the problems of being old amoung other things, and has huge references to todays problems - immigration and climate change, how we repsect the environment, what it means to be human and of course love. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but for anyone who loves to get to grips with a slow novel go out and read, settle down and enjoy all it's quirks.
Hiroko where art thou?
The entire trilogy has been a wrestling between views that cannot all achieve their vision. The author proved he can move the story to any character's perspective on this problem and bring me to believe in that person's viewpoint. As much as I side with the terraformers and ultimately rooted for them, consequently I can appreciate the other views that were shared. My greatest frustrations are with the characters who can't or won't share this empathy (especially Jackie and Zo).
To my mind, the focus was always on characters' positions along the political spectrum rather than their individual stories, more geared toward exploring approaches and ideas for our future than moving its characters through a plot. I saw them primarily as symbols or little more than a thin fictional lens through which to explore how the settling other worlds might play out. But I was surprised by how much I came to care about these characters after all. Even without intricate plots laid out for them, they led realistic lives with confusions, hopes and loves that I could relate to. And this ending gets so many things right.
The Mars Trilogy offers no simple solutions to complex problems. Instead it dives fearlessly headlong into that complexity, exploring all the layers. It comes up for air to provide the glimpse of a possible future that will never shed that complexity but one that doesn't have to end in chaos, anger and mutual destruction.
Robinson puts the capstone on his Mars trilogy which is one of the few sf series that, upon publication, one can unequivocally state will be regarded as a classic. This book continues the tradition of this series being an epic, heady mixture
This is also a political novel. In that regard, I didn’t find Robinson’s arguments for a mixed-economy convincing. First Hundred member Vlad Taneev dispatches the arguments of the somewhat libertarian minded Antar in a contrived manner even less convincing than the dialogues of Plato’s The Republic. Robinson, a rather Marxist-minded writer, sees egalitarianism, self-rule, and democracy as the ultimate aims of government, but tries to put forth the idea of a mixed economy with its guarantees of “housing, health care, food, education” as being compatible, even fostering, liberty. However, his cooperatives may be a workable idea though I don’t buy – especially in this age of increased self-employment and job mobility – that capitalism is a form of feudalism. (Robinson puts forth the idea of socioeconomic evolution where each new form is a synthesis of the two most recent forms -- in effect a reworking of the Marxian dialect.) Still, Robinson postulates a situation where even the basic biosphere and atmosphere, necessary for maintaining an Earth-like existence, must be constructed by someone. It’s possible market forces may not be up to this, but I’m skeptical.
It is clear at novel’s end that this book is intended, as much as anything, to be a modern utopia. A new political-economic order is synthesized, life is spreading across the universe in the viridatas. And it’s the most interesting, superficially plausible, and pleasant utopian work I’ve read. (Though I’m also highly dubious that, given the high population and technical skills and tools “very few weapons” exist on Mars.) It’s air of a pleasant place of fellowship and craftsmen who take joy and pride in their work reminded me of William Morris’ pastoral News from Nowhere. The very fact that I take Robinson’s constitutional proposals seriously is a measure of the realism and verisimilitude of his writing. I also was reminded of Olaf Stapledon in the off Mars sections where we see man’s work moving out into the universe – to other stars, the outer planets and moons, the asteroids, and the wonderful city that move’s through Mercury’s termination.
This impression was furthered heightened with Sax Russell and other scientists discovering more scientific truths about the universe, most of which point to some sort of anthropic principle. (Robinson throws a lot of scientific notions out in this book. Nearly all sound plausible with seemingly realistic jargon.). Man is beginning to speciate if not physically than psychologically on his different worlds. Robinson keeps most of the book focused, as with the first two novels in the trilogy, on the First Hundred and the second generation of Martians. But history marches on – and a new generation grows up which knows not of the First Hundred except as vague legends. Robinson takes time out to explore the short life of one of these, Zo who is Jackie Boone’s daughter. A creature entirely of the Martian civilization, she spies on Earthly briefly for her mother, visits Minoan ruins in a religious pilgrimage, flies the Martian skies in birdlike contraption, enjoys group sex in bathhouses, does scientific work in a cooperative, and is an ambassador to Uranus and Mercury. In short, a typical child of her world.
In addition to many wonderful descriptions of the terraforming process and the land animals and plants it creates, there are many moving human dramas here. Michel Duval returns to his beloved Provence. Maya finds herself suffering the most severe case of a problem affecting most of the surviving First Hundred – increasing memory loss. She also must contend with the death of her lover Michel. She finds a new life as a theater director. As more and more of the First Hundred suffer “the quick decline” – a general condition of physical deterioration of which memory loss is but one symptom, Sax Russell puts his formidable mind to the task of finding a cure. (Some of the best parts of the Sax appearances are his fascination with etymology as a therapy for the aphorism induced by multi-national torturers and the fascination he shares with Maya of naming the many hues of sunsets.) Eventually, he decides to focus on solving the problem of memory blackouts. His therapy involves returning the First Hundred to the preserved remains of Underhill, their first settlement on Mars. (Robinson presents some fascinating theories on memory though I don’t know if any are real psychological theories.) During his preliminary experiments, he uncovers the truth behind John Boone’s assassination in Red Mars.
But the most interesting parts of the book involve arch-Red Ann Clayborne. She transforms into what she calls a ‘counter-Ann” – sentimental, “stupid”, emotional – and then a third person much like Zo. Her oppositions to terraforming decrease, she has an experience with a Martian polar bear that causes her to appreciate the life of Mars’ new biosphere and not just the life denying wilderness of rock. For his part, Sax Russell is obsessed with making Ann understand the beauty and complexity of a green Mars. It eventually occurs to him (and Robinson handles this romance very well) that he loves Ann. Surprisingly, Ann’s attitude towards Sax gradually changes and, near the end of the novel, we discover that both were mutually attracted to each other in Antarctica but that their social ineptness left each with the impression of being rebuffed by the others and set the tone for their future alienation. I liked that the novels with them in love and the last words show the reverie of Clayborne at the entirety of Mars, the joy of life “On Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars.” During the final political change when the conflict between an earth that wants to use Mars to relive population change and Martians comes to a head, the switching of positions between Sax and Ann symbolizes a new Martian unity in their relations with Earth. I also liked the feral hunting groups that spring up on Mars too.
Independence, yet again. Well done, in a familiar setting.
The only viewpoint character I didn't really like was Jackie's daughter Zo; she was definitely the worst viewpoint character across all three books. Hiroko was actually bearable this time around, mostly because she spent the entire book missing. This was good, because I'd never really bought Hiroko as a character; she was always felt unmotivated to me, and I could never figure out why she was held in such high esteem; I personally just felt she was weird. Unfortunately Nirgal, Art, and Nadia draw the short-straw here after some wonderful fleshing out in Green Mars; the latter two's character arc is just kinda dropped and never concluded.
Throughout most of the book, my real problem was that I didn't really know what it was about. Red was about the colonizing and first revolution; Green was about the second revolution. Though Blue was initially about building a new Martian government (and there was some neat stuff here), the middle of the book felt pretty aimless to me. The end introduced the immigration crisis, but it was at this time I realized what the book was actually about.
Unlike the first two, Blue Mars is not really about the history of Mars. This novel is about long life, and the problems of living the centuries that the First Hundred can. Michel returning home to Provencal was one of the best parts of the novel; the looking-back provided was wonderful. Maya coping with her increasing distance from her own past (a plotline introduced in Green) was also very interesting. Sax's determination to solve this problem gave a strong focus to the end of the novel, because we saw through him and through Maya just how serious this memory problem was.
The best part of the problem was, well... the solution. The scene where Sax summons the remaining Hundred to Underhill, and they take the treatment was downright wonderful. If any part of the book was going to move me to tears, this was it. Sax's almost stream-of-consciousness rush of memories was extraordinary. The ending was also great in that it finally restored the bond the Hundred had had during the journey on the Ares but lost since. As the memories poured in, for the first time in centuries, the Hundred understood one another once more, and lost the distance that had been created between them. Sax and Ann finally figuring out why they were antagonists was great; as were the two brief bits with them rock climbing and sailing. (By the by, Sax's boat is almost as cool as the Zygote boulder-cars. Almost.)
Though I have had much praise for the book here, I would still place it second beneath Green Mars because of its lack of a strong plotline (the memory thing and coping with being so old is more of a theme until the very end) but above the plodding story and one-dimensional characters of Red Mars. (originally written August 2004)
Overall, a great work of imagination, and scarily predictive of where we are now in terms of increasing concern about environmental impacts and Earth's resources (not to mention SpaceX!)
I read Red Mars and Green Mars so long ago now (possibly when they came out) and kept saving this one for a time when I could pay it my full attention. That did put me at a slight disadvantage for a chapter or two whilst I got back into the rhythym of
plot.
I'm not going to try and condense the plot of all the books (they're around the 700 page mark), but Earth is overcrowded and headed for self destruction. They send a ship forth to Mars with a group of colonists to see if they can sustain a new life on a new world. They get termed 'The First Hundred' and all the books revolve around them. The first book is mostly about them settling on Mars and starting to build a new life and colony. Then we get onto the start of the Terraforming, the schisms in ideology, the addition of new settlers and the first of the children to be born there. Really, we're talking soap opera in space with the addition of some fairly weighty but interesting science. Underpinning it all is the
authors Eco-credentials and his dream of a utopia - his vision of Mars as a new start where everyone is equal and all the petty squabbles of earth are left behind.
The scariest thing about these books is how close we seem to be on the path to destruction that he's outlining - the trilogy was written in the 1990's - with the changes in our weather and the population movement that is already underway. I loved these three books and I'm told they're his best works. I went to #EdBookTweetUp2 on Monday and was discussing this with another fan - he'd read some other of KSR's books and not been quite so taken with them, but also loved the Mars Trilogy. Will see for myself soon as I have another of his books on Mount TBR!
What I did not like was the
It's a shame, as the book has some wonderful imagination in it. The city on Mercury. The asteroid colonies, the base on Miranda. We get a glimpse of all of those. But, by the time I got to the end, I couldn't wait for the book to end.
So maybe that does wrap the whole trilogy up, tie together the major themes and tensions.
The description of the development of futuristic technologies is also ... well, I would call it technobabble. I understand it is science fiction, and some of hand waving is always there - it's the future, we don't know about it yet. But no reason to spend dozens of pages describing the process of developing the next memory treatment, when we all know that it is imaginary.