Green Mars (1993)

I did keep going, but had to skip more and more. I don't demand a story-line in every book - but this one just did description - and with the sheer number of pages you would have thought he would have had space for a bit of story. If he was trying to do a Stephen Donaldson - he failed. But I still liked it. He has put a lot of effort into the science of Mars and I appreciate that. Now I am really conflicted because there is 'Blue Mars' to come - shall I venture it - or not? I really enjoyed 'Red Mars' but I don't want to wade through another one like this. ( )

Still great. It's really annoying that we get the most fantastic hard science fiction I've read and the least believable characters (not the worst but they're pretty bad). But it does what good SF should and sheds light on current human problems through an imaginative (and in this case wholly realistic) setting.

Corporations return as the evil empire but the real villain here is the Russian babushka who first sleeps her way to the top, wrecks the lives of two men who love her, eventually gets them killed, lashes out at everyone, cold-bloodedly murders the "villain" and goes on to ruin poor unsuspecting kids. Can't help but think the author was doing some personal therapy here with that character.

Hiroko still wins in the crazy department. No one really comes close.
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One of the great SF series of all time! I agree with Arthur C. Clarke when he said, "It should be required reading for the colonists of the next century." Rarely has a colonization story been realized with such realism - of personalities, of politics, of culture, and of science. ( )

Decent continuation of the story, though it bogs down a bit in the middle with quite a few repetitive chapters on ongoing domestic routines and the like.

But by the end, oh boy, does plot come roaring back with a vengeance. What an ending! What a future! ( )

Green Mars is, unfortunately, a bit dated.

The science is still freaking awesome and the sheer amount of cutting edge technology, be it biology, the physical sciences, the sheer insanity of terraforming a whole planet... still blows me away. Some of my favorite parts, or, indeed, *most* of my favorite parts, are the scientific expositions, ruminations, digressions, and especially the plot developments and twists that come from the science!

Where I have a little issue is where I had a little issue in Red Mars. It's the people. I don't really mind all the drug use or sex addiction or all the little social explorations when it comes to these brothers from another mother (world), but there *is* an awful lot of seemingly pointless, (if otherwise presented in a non-SF novel, rather decent) characterization and character studies that seem to go nowhere. Too much Phyllis and Maya, to be honest.

It's not true for all of them, of course. I love Nirgal (but not Jackie), Sax, and Art. It's really a toss-up between Sax and Nirgal, though. Nadia was nice to see, however. :)

And that leads us to the main focus of the novel. At first, I thought it was going to be mostly about a pristine Mars versus a terraformed one, but it wasn't to be. It's about Mars versus Earth.

It always was going to be this. It's kinda obvious, isn't it? :) Revolution!!! No more dictating terms, unlimited immigration, police forces, policies that can't really be enforced over THIS much distance! And then, of course, there's the other big snag.

Prolonged life. Overpopulation. Near immortality aside from all the degraded mental acuity and memory loss. :) The Earth is in deep shit. And it looks at Mars as a bolt-hole.

Good drama.

Now, aside from my personal complaints about too much character-study time, I have no doubt in my mind that this trilogy is STILL one of the greatest Mars books ever written. I did knock off a star and boot it from my top 100 list of all time, however.

I just don't have that much patience for characterizations that don't directly result in a better overall story or that don't affect the outcome of the plot substantially. A little or even a middle amount of it is no problem, but when all the awesome is skewed toward the science and the action and especially to the breakout emotional scene near the end where all those people hike it across the sands of Mars? Well, that stuff is absolutely brilliant and heartwarming and beautiful and whoop-out-loud amazing!

Comparing the character stuff to that... doesn't cut it.

A lesser novel could have rested on the character stuff. This is one of the most well-thought-out and scientifically researched Mars colonization novels ever. It shouldn't have to suffer from any side weakness... even though it does.
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