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Chronicles the colonization of Mars in the year 2026. For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny. John Boone, Maya Toitovna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers an opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists, " Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life, and death. The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planet's surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces, for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed. Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity,… (more)
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Red Mars is the first of three books dealing with the colonization of Mars. Starting in the year 2026, the story deals
While not really going into plot here (trust me -- plot synopses are everywhere), let me say that I'd recommend this book to those who enjoy hard science fiction. If you're looking for little green men or other types of monsters, you won't find it here. I would guess that a lot of people will find it too long, so if you want something quick & easy requiring very little thought, you're not going to like this one either. If you're a reader who likes to pause and think, then you'll find a multitude of things to ponder between the covers.
I plan to go on and finish the trilogy, so that should be a recommendation within itself. Be sure you have lots of time before embarking on this book. You'll need it.
My only complaints are with the constant feeling of false starts (which I must admit, may be more my genre expectations that a weakness in the text), and the not-actually-subverted treatment of Asian and Arabic characters as alien, or inscrutable.The focus on Americans and Russians of both genders, and word-choice in other-wise neutral passages makes the assumed audience very noticeable, and the passages concerning Muslims and the Middle East unfortunately date the text, not just that it was published before there was an agreed-upon spelling for "Muslim" in mainstream English, but also their assumed bargaining position in the more political portions of the story.
For fifteen years old though, it's not holding up badly at all.
The ideas in Red Mars are big, really big. Should Mars be terraformed so that it be more habitable? Should we leave it alone and frozen in time to be studied? Should the politicians on Earth be the ones to
The real meat of this book, however, are the descriptions of the alien landscape and science behind making Mars a place for human habitation. The descriptions will make you believe that you are seeing the sun setting on the polar dunes and looking down from the rim of Olympus Mons on the planet far below. You can practically hear it when a huge aquifer bursts and floods Valles Marineris with a roiling sea of ice and steaming water. It truly is a magnificent world that Robinson was able to build from the ground up. The technical details of their colonization and terraforming efforts are well thought-out. Full of the small details of geology, physics, genetic engineering, mechanical engineering, ecology, robotics, and spaceflight exhibit the research and our level of knowledge of Mars at the time the book was originally published (1993) that Robinson managed to include not as after thought, but as the main course. The detail wasn't confined to the sciences of terraforming. Robinson isn't afraid to explore the softer sciences of psychology of isolation, the economics of martian derived mining, and the politics of multinational corporations. What was really impressive to me was that Robinson managed to do all this without every talking down to the reader. I appreciate it when an author allows the reader to think with them and not force feed the reader into a particular scenario the author has predetermined is the right course.
Red Mars isn’t a perfect book, but there is so much in it that is great, it is certainly worth reading.
It's a massive effort and sometimes it flows along effortlessly and sometimes it requires you to dig in your heels and stick with it as he catalogs the entire landscape of the planet (usually by describing what one of the settlers sees through the windshield of a transport as they go from Point A to far distant Point B…which they do a lot). Some have found this aspect a bit daunting but I have a reasonable tolerance for it and actually enjoyed coming to know Mars in such detail.
I liked this story. I can't say it's the best Nebula winner to come down the pike, but I definitely liked it enough that I'm ready to take up Green Mars and, if nothing unexpected occurs, Blue Mars thereafter.
My main complaint is that—in my opinion—the central personal conflict that we encounter at the beginning of the book and the actions that get taken as a result, never really get justified by the remainder of the story. Avoiding spoilers, let me just say that Frank's actions don't ring true for me and that failure is exemplary of a general lack of depth to the motivations of characters. In a nutshell, while Mars the planet is present in IMAX, the characters amble along in early cinematic color.
It's a good book and, as I said before, I'm not surprised it picked up the Nebula…particularly against the Kress or Wolfe books it faced in competition.
"Or more," Nadia said. (323)
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars is now twenty years old, but it still provides a compelling story about 21st-century colonization of Mars. The hefty book describes the lives and work of the "first hundred" in the initial settlement expedition, who subsequently become something of a free-floating elite within colonial Martian society, as well as the inception of the project to terraform Mars. It is very "hard" science fiction, with lots of "areological" (i.e. the Martian equivalent of geological) detail, and a good deal of political and philosophical reflection.
The novel also includes a lot of literary allusion, not only of the predictable Martian sort (to Bogdanov, Burroughs, Bradbury, etc.), but conspicuously to The Lord of the Rings and to the stories of Phillip K. Dick (on whom Robinson wrote a dissertation). The "hardness" of the story can make a reader overlook its intense metatextuality. In fact, I was about 80% of the way through my read of the book before I realized -- long after the telling quote reproduced above -- that the key members of the first hundred who serve as the book's protagonists correlate very closely to ancient Egyptian gods. Once discovered, I find the relationship so vivid that I'm surprised to see no discussion of it in a quick search of the 'net. For the details of this correlation:
The opening novella "The Festival" is nothing other than the murder of Osiris (John Boone) by Set (Frank Chalmers). Next we are supplied in "The Voyage Out" with their backstory conflict involving a contest for the affections of Nephthys (Maya Toitovna). Over the course of the whole book, we are introduced to Isis (Hiroko Ai) as the priestess of the gods who invents the areoaphany, and the mother by magical means with Boone/Osiris of young Horus (Kasei). She is assisted by Anubis (the stowaway "Coyote").
Ra is, I think, Arkady Bogdanov, with Nadia Chernyshevski as Bast/Sekhmet. (Her triggering the destruction of Phobos realizes the legend about Sekhmet/Hathor as the vengeful agent of Ra.) In more tentative correlations, I read Sax Russell as Ptah, Ann Clayborne as Maat, Vlad Taneev as Thoth, and Michel Duval as Besz.
In more recent science fiction, the blindingly bright future of information processing seems to have eclipsed many of the still-valid technological concerns that are foregrounded in Red Mars. So it was very refreshing to read such an "old fashioned" story written with such care for them. The "first hundred" characters, despite their sometimes superhuman intensity, are all believably flawed. Robinson makes it possible for the reader to care about even the worst of them. (Except for Phyllis Boyle. I did not like her a bit!)
Red Mars is the first volume of a tightly-composed trilogy. Popular opinion seems to consistently rate it as the best of the three, but that does not deter me from reading further, because it is very good. I suspect that the larger work suffers from the syndrome that afflicted the Matrix movies. The brilliance of the initial installment stands out in contrast to prior work in the larger genre, while the sequels -- no worse, and in some respects better -- fail to provide the same sense of astonishment, since they are conserving and continuing the story developed in the first.
Where it surprised me was that it goes well beyond just being about applied science in the earliest days of the colony. The initial hundred settlers we get to know a sampling of are soon lost among the thousands who arrive to populate fast-expanding settlements, and the story expands to address psychology, economics, religion, multiculturalism, politics, the media, law and order - every aspect of human society is attended while exploring how events might unfold. There's also no shying away from the ramifications. Every hurdle becomes an ongoing complication in the plot rather than being magically resolved off-stage, which can be refreshing and taxing at the same time. Conveying the wonders of Mars is secondary to describing technology and how it is applied, and then also to the turmoil of a rapidly growing Martian society. The story runs hot and cold, fast and slow, with parts that fly past and more technical parts that slowed me right down. It felt like a bit of work to get through it, so avoid this if you're looking for light and breezy. A far cry from fantasy SF like Dune, this is an excellent capture of how things might really play out. It feels like a true glimpse into a possible future beyond what I'll live to see, unless someone comes up with that age-prolonging drug in time.
This story of the first hundred colonists on Mars accomplishes a very difficult task: Not only are there seven or eight main characters, but it swaps viewpoints between them, allowing you to see what Frank, Nadia, Maya and Michel think of John before you see John's own viewpoint, for example. I think the characterization is one of the best strengths of this book, how you see how characters are, at the core, consistent, but the different interpretations and different aspects of them you see in the eyes of these others. Each has their own story, encapsulated in the greater story of the colonization of Mars.
Because of the disparate viewpoints and stories, the main narrative thread of the book can flag periodically. As one other reviewer mentions, at times it seems like all the characters do is drive or fly around Mars. But I was still definitely engrossed by the book, compelled to keep turning pages to find out more about the characters and how their lives and viewpoints intertwined.
Fortunately, while the characters are spending their time driving and flying around Mars, the descriptions are vivid and rich, allowing the reader to easily imagine the colors of a Martian sunrise, the dark swirl of a global dust storm, the cracking ice floes choked with rusty dust and fines. Honestly, in my opinion, the book is worth the read just for the imagery alone.
As is customary with books about Mars or colonizing a new planet, there is definitely a social and political aspect to the book, enjoyable and thought-provoking, but, in my opinion, secondary to the characterization and rich description.
Now I really want to go to Mars. How about it, folks? Can we start working on that one?
That's not to say that _Red Mars_ isn't original. _Red Mars_ is what SF can do best: it illuminates the here-and-now by creating what-ifs about the future. Robinson has created fascinating characters who operate in a world where today's flaws have become entrenched, and he shows how this is a dangerous situation. His exploration of the ethics and dilemmas of Mars exploration (and, ultimately, settlement) is thought-provoking, with no expense to the sheer pleasure of reading the book.
And one more observation: I found myself deeply interested in the structure of the book. This was a book that I wanted to pull apart to see why and how it was put together the way it was. Robinson opens each section with a kind of prelude, and each section focuses on a different character. This construction worked, and it found it as interesting, in its own way, as the way a space elevator just might be able to build itself.
Robinson’s epic about the colonization of Mars (the first book in a trilogy on the subject) covers a lot of ground. Sure, it tackles the myriad technical problems involved in colonizing such a hostile planet, including how to build a space elevator for easier transport of settlers and exploitation of Mars’s resources. But from there, Robinson takes on even more weighty themes: the clash between those coming to Mars to try to create an entirely new way of life and those back on Earth who want to retain control; cultural conflicts among the various ethnic and religious groups spreading out to Mars; the discovery of an innovative medical procedure that greatly extends the human lifespan and the implications for an over-populated Earth; all climaxing in a planetary revolution propelled by all of these issues.
This is a ponderous book with a lot of big ideas. It may be a bit overlong — sometimes it seems as if all the characters do is drive around by themselves for great distances over the barren Martian landscape — but those sections may be excused by the action of the rest of the novel. Robinson actually helps us believe that living on Mars is something we can achieve, while showing us that these advances will probably only exacerbate our very human problems.
> at perihelion Mars is about forty-three million kilometers closer to the sun than it is at aphelion, and thus receiving about 45 percent more
A major theme is how Mars should be populated and run. It is treated like Antarctica is currently treated on earth. As property of no one, as a free resource to be accessed by all who want to and can afford to send expeditions to it. Unfortunately, this uncovers a greater problem. The northern hemisphere is the side with all the money. The southern hemisphere, has much less money and technology. The southern hemisphere has the population problems though. So the group with the money and technology to send people to Mars thinks they by rights, should control it and decide how it gets run and who gets to go. The southern hemisphere says that the population of Mars should follow the lines of greatest need, therefore they should get to send people by the millions. The problem there is that the people they would send would be among the least qualified to contribute in any real way, to the terraformation and settling of Mars.
But the transnationals control so much money that they can override much of what the individual countries want. The end up sending their own people up there and declaring themselves in charge of certain things. The big thing is transportation of minerals off of mars and its moon from there to earth. The problem is that shipping costs more than the value of the cargo. As soon as they find a way to make this cheaper, the transnationals take it over and then ask for huge tolls to use the mechanism.
They make huge demands on workers that basically amount to slavery.
The workers become angry and revolt. They strike, but it doesn’t do much good. So they begin to destroy equipment and whole stations. Eventually they destroy the transport system that makes mars profitable.
Another issue is over a new medical treatment that can slow aging. It addresses the cellular replication problem that advances as we age. Like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, our cells are less and less precise in their replication as we age. It is actually this problem that causes aging and many other associated symptoms. The treatment allows your 60 year old body to reproduce cells as perfect as they were when you were 10. They don’t know how long the effect will last, but many of the first 100 take the treatment and expect to live many more decades than everyone else. The treatment begins on Mars but soon, earth knows about it and everyone is clamoring for the treatment. Governments are clamoring for new laws (such as when you get to be over 100, you are automatically shipped to Mars). Individuals are clamoring for the treatment. It’s chaos.
In the end, the problems of the earth are repeating themselves on mars. It seems that no matter how far we progress, we still can’t stop being destructive, deceitful, cruel and violent.
The major interests are represented by the following characters:
Arkady – workers of the world unite, he believes each group of workers should stake their own claim and make their own money
Ann – leave the planet alone, we need to study it and not mess it up
Phyllis – big money, let’s get as much industry going as soon as possible and make as much profit as we can
John – law and order, wants to please everyone and peacefully coexist.
Hiroko – earth mother, wants to found a new eden on mars and populate it with her own children
Frank – major politico. Plays one faction off another in an effort to pursue his own agenda.
They all fight for their causes.
Although it feels
Essentially a US/Russian operation additional funding from other countries enables a few members from elsewhere to join the team, but even on the 9month journey out other factions start forming within the team itself. Once on Mars itself the very act of forming a BaseCamp to work from splits the opinions - divisions which become ever more polarised. The basic issue is over impact - the balance between the 'Reds' who see mars as an unspoilt heritage to be carefully studied without contamination, and the others, who see it as a dead world of copious resources for the benefit of all mankind, the only question being over what timescale to extract them. The Martian years roll past, and the Treaty guiding the exploration is up for renewal, multi-nationals have become Transnationals with vast fortunes at stake. But even the 100 can't agree on the right course of action to take, some disappearing to avoid the compromises the rest may take, not in their name. And then the immigration begins, bringing tensions rocketing even higher.
Written in '93 we now know a lot more about Mars than we did, and some of the postulates - thick ice caps and under surface aquifers - seem a lot less likely. But as a metaphor for the Antarctic whose own Treaty is due for renewal in only a few more years - it has a lot to say. There are also wide ranging discussions over how society can and maybe should be shaped. Who makes the decisions that effect the lives of countless billions?
The couple of other points that grate; the Prologue that is set along way away from the start fo the story, so that it is hard to remember the details when it does appear. And KSR's dislike of characters called Frank. He's somewhat inexplicably weird in both this and KSRs other trilogy the Science in the Capitol series, hence even though they are worlds apart it is somewhat difficult to keep the two identically named characters seperate.
It is a very wide ranging book covering a huge array of themes very well. Gripping and insightful, full of meaning and thought. I received this as a free ebook from Tor. Their cunning plan has already succeeded; I've bought the other two, and will buy the rest of KSRs works. Go out and read it now.
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I love the way Robinson shows the process of a culture forming from a loose collection of people that have their different agendas, needs and personalities. Each of the relationships and history that this first book introduces is the foundation for the shape of a world society in the final book.
The claustrophobia of space travel, leads to the claustrophobia of contained spaces on a harsh planet in this first book. All of the stink and dust comes through in Robinson's writing. At the same time it sets us up to really feel the difference for the final book's contrasting expansiveness and freedom.
We see the pioneering risk takers evolve into shrewd politicians, wacked out crazies, conservative homebodies and more. The characters aren't just three dimensional, but four dimensional as you see fully fleshed out characters in the current moment change their beliefs and personalities due to events, relationships and circumstances over time. Most authors would have just stopped at creating a good three dimensional character, but Robinson goes that huge step further by making them truly realistic in how life changes them, each in their own way.
Marina talking with John & Vlad: "...it should be the law that people are rewarded in proportion to their contribution to the system...There's all kinds of phantom work! Unreal values assigned to most of the jobs on Earth! The entire transnational executive class...Advertising, stock brokerage..." (p 298-9) This sounds exactly like John's role, yet we're supposed to believe this druggie (oh, but it's a legal drug) is a valued person in this tale.
So on the whole this seems less like a convincing vision of what colonization of Mars would be like if it ever happened (to us, now, surely, it seems less likely that it will ever even happen in any future we can glimpse?) than a swashbuckling sciencey space tale, with chills and spills and mysteries and endless incredible Martian landscapes. The terraforming stuff is just damn cool, and even if the colonists' various factional efforts to create a "Mars for the Martians" and/or sell it to Subarashii and Praxis dovetail with the present horrible global-capitalist/worldwide-lumpenprecariat moment and are resonant, if the details are shaky. It would have made a great smart blockbuster film if we hadn't stopped caring about space and gotten into superheroes instead.