Subject: Prograde Reviews--Greg Bear:Moving Mars

From: [email-masked] (Aaron V. Humphrey)
Date: 7 Jun 1994 08:09:20 GMT

Greg Bear: Moving Mars

A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey

When I first heard the title of this book, I figured that it must be about
a gigantic engineering project to move the planet Mars.  But after reading
the dust-jacket blurb and the first hundred pages, I decided it must be
called that for a different reason.  Perhaps it was the population of Mars
that was "moving".  While not trying to spoil anything...my first
impression was fairly close.

The book takes a long time to really get moving.  The first half is devoted
to how the main character, Casseia Majumdar, first gets involved with a
student protest against the first unified Martian government (which doesn't
last too long), then falls in love with a young physicist named Charles
Franklin but decides she doesn't want to marry him, and finally goes to
Mars as part of a diplomatic mission.  This is all buildup for the second
half of the book, and IMHO goes on too long.

Upon Casseia's return from Earth, she's beginning to realize that Earth is
somehow scared of Mars, or something Mars might be able to do...and that
something is linked with the research project Charles is involved with. 
She gets involved with another attempt at a unified Martian government,
this one more successful, and ends up as Vice President.

Then she finds out what Charles has been working on, and all hell breaks
loose.

A bit less at the beginning and a bit more at the end would have been nice,
but the second half of the book leaves little to be desired.  It compares
favourably to _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_, with which there are
nontrivial similarities, and my pulse was pounding right to the very end.

In all, a great book, but a bit off in the pacing.  It will rank high on my
Hugo ballot, but not at the top.

%A Bear, Greg
%T Moving Mars
%I Tor
%C New York
%D November 1993
%G ISBN 0-312-85515-X
%P 448 pp.
%O Hardcover

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