# The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson



## Werthead (Jun 21, 2010)

*Red Mars*



> 2027. A hundred of Earth's most skilled engineers and scientists are dispatched to Mars, braving radiation exposure to land on the Red Planet and establish a permanent scientific outpost. Their goal is to establish whether Mars can ever be a viable target for settlement and colonisation, and if terraforming the planet is possible or desirable.
> 
> Earth is overcrowded and choking, with national governments and transnational supercorporations (whose annual balance sheets outstrip the GDPs of most of the world's countries) feuding for control. Soon, vast reservoirs of water are discovered in hidden aquifers deep below the Martian surface, making colonies self-sustainable. To the transnats, this means that Mars can become a dumping ground for Earth's excess population. When valuable mineral deposits that Earth is crying out for are also discovered on Mars, then its exploitation for the benefit of the people of Earth becomes inevitable. The resulting clash of wills and desires of the transnational Earth corporations and the beleaguered settlers on Mars forced to accept hundreds of thousands of immigrants they cannot cope with can only have one possible outcome: revolution, and the cry for independence.
> 
> ...


----------



## The Procrastinator (Jun 22, 2010)

Good review. I loved Red Mars and agree that its a masterpiece. Of course its not without its flaws, but the strengths outweighed them by far in my opinion. The sequels couldn't keep it up, but Red Mars itself belongs in a class of its own - future history??


----------



## The_African (Jun 25, 2010)

I started this a long time ago and stopped when something more interesting came along. I remember thinking that Robinson portrayed Arabs in a prejudiced light and being disappointed with his new, human society on Mars not being as ethnically and racially diverse as it could be. I also don't remember the characters being very likeable but I read very little.

I'm more into soft science fiction that involves things that are probably impossible (ie. backwards time travel) or very unlikely (ie. contact with intelligent aliens).


----------



## Anthony G Williams (Jun 28, 2010)

I did read *Red Mars* soon after it first came out, but I found it very hard going and didn't bother with the other two books of the trilogy. I thought it read more like a manual on how to colonise a planet, with the plot and characters being tacked-on. It became bogged down in detailed world-building, which made it rather slow and tedious. Furthermore, I didn't find the characters at all engaging and couldn't really care what happened to them. I was surprised that this won a major award.


----------



## Werthead (Jun 30, 2010)

The_African said:


> I started this a long time ago and stopped when something more interesting came along. I remember thinking that Robinson portrayed Arabs in a prejudiced light and being disappointed with his new, human society on Mars not being as ethnically and racially diverse as it could be. I also don't remember the characters being very likeable but I read very little.



I must admit that conclusion does not ring true for me at all. Robinson depicts several different Arab groups with different customs, following different derivations of Islam (and some secular as well), some supportive and up for integrating into the new Martian society, some keeping their traditional ways, and is pretty fair-handed about it. The only negative is that one Arab kills one of the major characters, but he also shows that that individual was manipulated into doing it by another, American, character. *The Mars Trilogy* is fair ethnically and nationalistically diverse for such a book, with only a couple of major American characters (and quite a few Japanese, Russians and others).

The only grossly unrealistic thing, to me, was the lack of Chinese and Indians, not just on the initial missions but on the follow-up colonisation effort. If Saudi Arabia and Egypt can afford to ship people to Mars, it seems unrealistic that India and China can't.


----------



## The Judge (Jul 1, 2010)

Anthony G Williams said:


> I found it very hard going and didn't bother with the other two books of the trilogy. I thought it read more like a manual on how to colonise a planet, with the plot and characters being tacked-on. It became bogged down in detailed world-building, which made it rather slow and tedious. Furthermore, I didn't find the characters at all engaging and couldn't really care what happened to them.


Oh, the relief!  This was exactly my reaction and I thought I must be the only person to think it in view of the praise it's received!  I couldn't in fact read it in its entirety.  I read the first third, then I started skipping a dozen pages or so to see if it got any better, reading a page, then skipping again.  Having skipped my way through to the end, I tried dipping into it at odd places to see if I could find anything to encourage me to read it properly, but I never did.


----------



## Sephiroth (Jul 1, 2010)

I read the trilogy as it came out, in my teens (between the ages of 13 and 17).  I found its scope breathtaking, and it was the work that opened my eyes to hard SF.  I understand that some people find it slow and tedious -- and, as others have said, it certainly isn't flawless -- but although I'm unlikely to reread it, I will always remember it fondly.  

The depiction of Mars itself, and the process of colonisation and terraforming, is superb.  KSR really brings the planet to life in a way that makes you feel you are _there_.  Even now, when I look at a map of Mars, I see places and scenes from those books.


----------



## clovis-man (Jul 3, 2010)

Sephiroth said:


> I read the trilogy as it came out, in my teens (between the ages of 13 and 17). I found its scope breathtaking, and it was the work that opened my eyes to hard SF. I understand that some people find it slow and tedious -- and, as others have said, it certainly isn't flawless -- but although I'm unlikely to reread it, I will always remember it fondly.
> 
> The depiction of Mars itself, and the process of colonisation and terraforming, is superb. KSR really brings the planet to life in a way that makes you feel you are _there_. Even now, when I look at a map of Mars, I see places and scenes from those books.


 
I agree that the trilogy, taken as a single work, is monumental. I found the stories and characters to be quite compelling. The "Martian" short story collection - not so much. But the red, green blue sequence is a major hard SF accomplishment.


----------



## Werthead (Jun 24, 2011)

*Green Mars*



> 2090. Sixty years ago, humanity landed on Mars, and stayed. The First  Hundred led the colonisation effort, soon joined by other colonists and  settlers. Thirty years after arriving, the people of Mars demanded  political independence from the trans-national megacorps that were  gradually subsuming national governments on Earth into their influence.  The result was the First Martian Revolution, a revolution that was  crushed. During the fighting Phobos was destroyed, the space elevator  linking Mars to space fell and two-thirds of the First Hundred were  killed.
> 
> Mars  is becoming greener, with algae, lichen and primitive plants  growing  on the surface. The atmosphere is thickening, the icecaps are  melting  and the terraforming is proceeding at a pace outstripping the  most  optimistic projections. Now several new generations of native Martians  have been born, all chafing against the rule of a planet millions of  miles away that they care little about. Thirty-nine of the First Hundred  still live, their lives extended by an experimental - and expensive -  treatment that is only available to the rich and powerful on Earth,  fuelling civil unrest there, whilst being freely available on Mars. Over  the course of almost forty years, the Martians prepare for a new bid  for independence, one that will be led by reasoned argument rather than  mindless violence.
> 
> ...


----------



## Werthead (Aug 4, 2012)

*Blue Mars*



> 2127. The Ross ice shelf has shattered due to volcanic activity and much of Antarctica's ice has fallen into the sea, raising global sea levels by seven metres. Three billion people - a fifth of the human race - have been displaced, triggering the greatest economic and humanitarian crisis in history. With Earth's governments and metanational corporations distracted, the colonists on Mars have launched their second revolution.
> 
> The surviving remnants of the First Hundred - whose lives have been extended vastly by genetic treatments - are spearheading the revolution. Their hope is to forge a new relationship with Earth based on mutual respect and understanding, but to the teeming billions of Earth Mars is an escape route, a place to begin again. In the aftermath of revolution, a new way of existence has to be found if the human race is to prosper.
> 
> ...


----------



## Patrick Mahon (Aug 4, 2012)

Thanks for reviewing all three books, Werthead - I've had them sitting on my shelves for ages. You've just encouraged me to dust them off and get reading. Cheers!


----------

