Moving Mars

Loses one star because there's a narrative slowdown in the middle - but right when it picks back up, it's a page-turner. I really appreciate Greg Bear's strong women characters and good dialog, while keeping the SF very thinky. It's a great ride, told in retrospect, and extremely entertaining.

I read it when it first came out in the '90's, and read it again this year, feeling quite validated that I'd hung onto my now-battered copy. Is there anything better than reading a battered old paperback that contains a rip-roaring tale? Why, no. No, there is not. ( )

Wonderful account of a woman’s life looking back on the events that led to a cataclysmic conflict between civilization on Twenty-Second Century Mars and mother Earth. Local author Greg Bear does an excellent job of mixing hard SF and sociological SF with a dash of cyber punk all while keeping the female narrator believable and sympathetic. I never knew what was going to happen next (despite the leading title). ( )

Abandoned at 7% into it. Maybe another time, but I lost interest.

A book of two halves. The first is a slow-burn following of the political developments between home planet earth and colony Mars as as Martian society and its politicians mature. It is interesting because of the background, if rather naive about politics. The scond half is more of a pot boiler as Mars makes a technical breakthrough which puts a powerful new weapon in their hands at a point where dark forces on earth are just about to impose their power. Fine in itself but again it is the hard sci-fi background, and the human response to it, which makes it interesting. Overall an enjoyable read but lacking the depth of insight to make it a great book. 15 March 2018. ( )

It has all the great elements of hard sf (physics, areology, etc), but in the context of today's world the politics seemed shallow, and the characters juvenile and retro-earnest. Plus Bear has no witty badinage. ( )