In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of research and cutting-edge science in the first of three novels that will chronicle the colonization of Mars.For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny.John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists, " Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life...and death.The colonists …
In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of research and cutting-edge science in the first of three novels that will chronicle the colonization of Mars.For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to fulfill that destiny.John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov lead a mission whose ultimate goal is the terraforming of Mars. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness; for others it offers and opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. And for the genetic "alchemists, " Mars presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life...and death.The colonists place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light to the planets surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels, kilometers in depth, will be drilled into the Martian mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves, and friendships will form and fall to pieces--for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed.Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity, Red Mars is an epic scientific saga, chronicling the next step in human evolution and creating a world in its entirety. Red Mars shows us a future, with both glory and tarnish, that awes with complexity and inspires with vision.From the Paperback edition.
The first half-century of Mars colonization told from the perspective of a half dozen members of the first 100 colonists, each representing a faction or a school of thought. One there because they get off on hard work, one there for a personal political legacy, another there to make money for the capitalists, one for preservation & research, one for terraforming as fast as possible, one to create a new society, one who spearheads a Mars for Mars colonists movement…
I really liked the first half of the book or so. The environment was cool. The science felt really well researched - which is not a surprise given Robinson's scientific chops. The characters really felt different from one another, and their backstories helped flesh them out, as well as avoid the necessary exposition sound like an info dump. Especially the first chapters of Frank, Maya, and Nadia brought very different perspectives and made me connect with the main characters.
Unfortunately, from the Michel chapter - which to me, with no qualification in the field whatsoever, sounded like plain drivel - the book takes a nosedive. John's chapter is just mindless wandering, and any sense of urgency evaporates right there and then thanks to huge McGuffin. In Frank's chapter, the big question mark from his first chapter gets basically completely ignored, and while the pacing picks up, the storyline takes a …
I really liked the first half of the book or so. The environment was cool. The science felt really well researched - which is not a surprise given Robinson's scientific chops. The characters really felt different from one another, and their backstories helped flesh them out, as well as avoid the necessary exposition sound like an info dump. Especially the first chapters of Frank, Maya, and Nadia brought very different perspectives and made me connect with the main characters.
Unfortunately, from the Michel chapter - which to me, with no qualification in the field whatsoever, sounded like plain drivel - the book takes a nosedive. John's chapter is just mindless wandering, and any sense of urgency evaporates right there and then thanks to huge McGuffin. In Frank's chapter, the big question mark from his first chapter gets basically completely ignored, and while the pacing picks up, the storyline takes a hard turn towards open political critique instead of the hard sci-fi from the first half of the book. Nadia's chapter is more mindless wandering, with what feels like 100s of pages of exposition, spent confirming something the reader already knows. Finally, the end is here, but it's unsatisfying, partially thanks to the PoV character being so at odds with such a happy ending, and the whole storyline being extremely contrived. Since it's the first book in a three part series, I understand why an ending fitting the depressing mood wouldn't work, but it also means I don't think I'll read the other two.
Red Mars is a very in depth, and detailed book on the colonisation of Mars, as well as all the personal, and political conflicts that go with it.
I found it hard going and dry in the middle, but once you get through that, it's a lot more engaging.
Un suplicio de leer. Si tuviese que resumirlo en una frase, sería: una historia que no da para un relato corto, narrado en ciento cincuenta millones de páginas.
El 85% del libro es como intentar narrar una postal. Pasadas miles de páginas de esa narración plana, de detalles que no aportan nada a la historia, parecería llegar la parte en la que el editor le dice al autor, "oye, que también tienes que contar una historia". Y ahí empieza la carrera sin sentido por contar algo. Queda hasta abarrotada.
Queda la pena de que la historia prometía bastante, pero no como para pasar por el mismo suplicio otros dos tomos.
Primero de la trilogía sobre la futura terraformación de marte. Ciencia ficción 'dura', enfocando la gigantesca empresa de modificar la ecología de un planeta desde diversas disciplinas: ecología, sociología, política, economía... A la altura de los grandes.
Tengo que reconocer que a mi no me ha decepcionado en absoluto. Cuando leí por ahi que era mejor que Cronicas Marcianas, enseguida supe que iba a ser un truño. Y sinceramente, en ese aspecto no me ha decepcionado.
La historia es lo de menos, ya que se pierde entre tanta descripcion. Aunque a veces dejaba ver parte de esa historia.
Mencion aparte, los personajes. La novela habla de los Cien Primeros: cien cientificos, mentes brillantes y una presentadora de television, que viajan a Marte como parte de la mision de hacer del planeta rojo un lugar habitable y confortable para la futura colonizacion. La verdad es que. de esos “cien” solo conocemos a un pequeño grupo (que son los que se podria considerar como mas relevantes:: Frank, Maya, John. Ann, Hiroko, Arkadi, Nadia (puede que haya alguien mas). Pero ni siquiera a este grupito es interesante por que no …
Tengo que reconocer que a mi no me ha decepcionado en absoluto. Cuando leí por ahi que era mejor que Cronicas Marcianas, enseguida supe que iba a ser un truño. Y sinceramente, en ese aspecto no me ha decepcionado.
La historia es lo de menos, ya que se pierde entre tanta descripcion. Aunque a veces dejaba ver parte de esa historia.
Mencion aparte, los personajes. La novela habla de los Cien Primeros: cien cientificos, mentes brillantes y una presentadora de television, que viajan a Marte como parte de la mision de hacer del planeta rojo un lugar habitable y confortable para la futura colonizacion. La verdad es que. de esos “cien” solo conocemos a un pequeño grupo (que son los que se podria considerar como mas relevantes:: Frank, Maya, John. Ann, Hiroko, Arkadi, Nadia (puede que haya alguien mas). Pero ni siquiera a este grupito es interesante por que no los acaba de desarrollar del todo (aun asi llegué a tener cierto "apego" a personajes como Nadia o Ann) y se quedan planos y estereotipados... Reseña completa en mi blog
