Teaser

The future of humanity lies on Mars. First goes one man, then a hundred, then entire cities. Yet not all agree on what form that future should take, and troubles will emerge on Mars and Earth alike . . .

Review

Red Mars did not win the Hugo (it was pipped to the post by Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep and Connie Willis’ The Doomsday Book in a rare tie) but both of its sequels did. Robinson has been nominated for or won just about every SF award he’s eligible for, so he’s clearly doing something right. Red Mars is sometimes held up as the best book about colonising Mars, and certainly one of the most detailed. Interestingly enough, it was published in the same year as another Hard SF take on Martian settlement, Ben Bova’s seminal Mars. As I’ve noted before, in the 1990s people were going Mars-crazy.

the first thing to know about red Mars is that it is long. The audiobook lasts nearly a full day at regular speed. It is, alas, also a book that feels long. It took me nearly two weeks to get to the end, not just because of frequent interruptions, but because I never really wanted to dive back in. Instead of chapters, it’s divided into a handful of parts, most of which are multiple hours in length. Without easy stopping points, it makes for a laborious listening experience.

The book does earn its size, however. This is a book as ambitious as it is sprawling. It’s not so much the story of a few characters as it is the story of civilisation. From the initial one hundred colonists to a Mars dotted with independent cities, it covers a period of time from the near future to a few decades on. Precisely what that timespan is is hard to tell, as Robinson eschews helpful markers like dates at the start of chapters. Actual chronological references are few and far between, which does lead to some confusion, especially when the plot gets going.

That plot is one I will charitably describe as meandering. there is no central conflict, save perhaps the need for humanity to survive in the face of great odds. It’s not even the case that each act has its own arc, because while some are more independent than others, they all bleed together, especially when you’re listening to them in bits and pieces. The overall thrust of the novel, however, is good. Once it settles down, it’s a fascinating look at what a colonisation of the red planet might look like. The only leap in logic comes when Martian settlers discover immortality through new research, and even this is not as far-fetched as it may seem. Extended human lifespans are a very real possibility for the future, and it also allows Robinson to maintain a cast of characters as the decades go whirling past.

Where the book really shines is in the details. Robinson has done his research. The endless political debates do grow tired, especially when they tread the same ground time and again, but other tangents are more interesting. The slow work of terraforming is a high point, with intimate detail given to every last cell of algae. The earlier scenes depicting the journey to Mars are a brilliant show of scientific knowledge, coupled with a love of technology to do a real astronaut proud. everything from social order to rock types is given its moment in the sun here, and some of those moments are wonderful.

This is a very fat book, and could do with a lot of trimming, but those moments are worth it. I would still recommend Bova over Robinson if you want to read about Mars, but Red Mars is a worthy runner-up. In that, for once, I agree with the Hugos.

Audio Stats

• The Mars Trilogy (#1)
• First Published 2003
• Runtime 23 hrs 51mins