Subject: Prograde Reviews--Kim Stanley Robinson:Red Mars

From: [email-masked] (Humphrey Aaron V)
Date: 22 Feb 94 23:12:36 GMT

This is a very...rich book.  Well, it's definitely thick.

This might be first of KSR's novels that I've read.  I've read his short
stories and novella in Asimov's, though.  Somehow I wouldn't have picked
him to write a novel like this.  But having proved his talents for "soft"
SF, that just makes his hard SF that much better.

The technical material is flawless, or at least had few flaws I could
spot.  The main characters(once you figure out who they are)all live and
breathe.  And so does Mars.  (So to speak.)

One hundred colonists leave earth for Mars.  The prime movers among them
are John, who has wangled this spot despite having already been on the
first manned mission, Frank, who has worked with John since that time,
Maya, leader of the Russian contingent and the wedge that drives Frank and
John apart, Arkady, the Russian rebel who says the things others dare to
think, and Nadia, the pragmatic engineer who is the best at getting things
done.  (Apologies for the lack of surnames, but I don't have the book with
me at the moment...)

The colony soon divides into factions--those who want to terraform, and
those who want to leave Mars untouched, for study or just out of respect
for it; those who want to bring more and more people from Earth to exploit
Mars' wealth of natural resources, or those who want Mars to be more than
just something to be mined, more than just a property of Earth.  Eventually
it all comes to a head.

No happy ending, though.  The revolution, doomed from the start by the
greater forces(and superior position)of Earth, is abortive...but the
overall attitude is hopeful.  KSR's projection is highly realistic, not the
wish-fulfillment others might have resorted to(_The Moon Is A Harsh
Mistress_, anyone?); this isn't a replay of the American revolution, by any
means.  Characters die, character we have grown to like.  But not all of
them, and some are bloody but unbowed.

Extremely slow in places, but very moving.  Did I hear mention that this
was the start of a trilogy?

%A Robinson, Kim Stanley
%T Red Mars
%I Bantam Spectra
%C New York
%D Feb. 1993
%G ISBN 0-553-37134-7
%P 519 pp.
%O Trade paperback

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