Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy)

Its common to hear that science-fiction is a genre of ideas, and Blue Mars is no exception. Bear in mind, this means there is a lot of exposition, but Robinson makes it organic and engaging. I don't know the reason why this book is the least-well-received of the Mars Trilogy, since not only do I consider it a great work of science-fiction but also a great novel in its own right. Robinson's style is in some ways comparable to Hemingway, and because of that the story is both easily comprehensible and possesses a complexity that goes grossly under-examined. I was awed by Robinson's scope, moved by the struggles and triumphs of characters I've been with throughout the series, and consider it the best addition of the trilogy. Almost 20 years since first being published, I can say that in 2015 this book not only holds up, but continues to be the baseline against which future additions to the body of science-fiction should be measured. I'd say it should be read in schools, but at more than 700 pages, it is a beast of a book. If you want an example of how fiction ought to be written, Blue Mars is it. For the shear amount of content present in a single volume, the value of this book alone is beyond compare. Thanks to Amazon, I only paid a few dollars for the entire series, and even less for this particular volume, and it's worth far more than that. I'll probably buy it again in hardcover just to have. I mean think about it, how much are you going to spend on a mass-market paper back, a few bucks? It's totally worth it. I wouldn't even just recommend this book to fans of science-fiction, but to anyone interested in a well-crafted story, complex characters, and an exotic setting that becomes more real as the story progresses. In a genre clogged with thinly veiled, semi-autobiographical, exhausted hero-journeys, this novel - and the series as a whole - sets itself apart from anything encountered in science-fiction today. It truly is "a landmark". Buy it. You will not - will not! - regret it.

First, the faults: As other reviewers note, this book needed a better editor. As with the first two books of the series, there are commas in sentences that they don't belong in, and this can get frustrating. There are also some sections in which Robinson goes into vast detail about a specific technology that after 2 books and hundreds of pages into the 3rd - just kill the pacing. After so long a time, being so deep into a story, the characters and plot need to be focused on more than the scientific breakthroughs. Also, as others have noted, Robinson starts to really push our suspension of disbelief: the colonization of other planets and asteroids kind of pushes it. On to the good stuff: Robinson really knows his stuff, and part of the appeal of this series is how very dense it is, packed with the kind of details that make you believe in the world you're reading about. From science to politics to philosophy to human interactions, the world(s) Robinson creates really feel fully developed. The best part of this book, for me, is when the story's focus shifts to its final act. Instead of asking, "what would the science, culture, and politics of a colonized mars be like?", the story asks: "What happens when you've lived for 230 years?" The troubles of the first hundred, now considered "superelderly," is described in a fascinating way. Some reviewers feel the plot-line of Hiroko is dropped. Actually, this is a great part of Blue Mars, because it's not about Hiroko, but the perception of Hiroko. The question for the reader is not, "Is she alive or not?" The question is, "Why do some think she's alive and some not? What are their reasons? What does the 'myth' of Hiroko mean to them?" Not every loose end is tied up (after all, in life, this can never happen), yet the overall story is brought to a satisfying conclusion. The Mars Trilogy is the tale of the First Hundred, ultimately, and we get a very good picture of what becomes of them. After almost 2000 pages, I found following their journeys was a very, very worthwhile experience, and I recommend it with no reservations.

In the first book, I was overwhelmed by the scientific terms used, though I looked them up as I came to them. Of course, these words and others I didn't know were in the next two books. But, I'm not sure if it was less, or I got used to them. This was an adventure! I'm thinking this could be possible. I never thought that before, but why not? The colonization of Mars was fascinating and some people took off from there to other places. I really loved seeing a planet of people finding non-violent ways of dealing with problems. I also loved that science was strongly a part of this society. It was fascinating seeing people working on solving problems and being a very important part of society. It was good to see politics finally being put into the hands of the people. I'd love to be a part of all that. So I looked up the author and found many books written, but even one to cap off this trilogy called the Martians. So that is my next read!

It is possible to write a fictional work that tops 700 pages. But, it is not easy. Kim Stanley Robinson missed the mark in Blue Mars, the final book of his Mars trilogy. Like the predecessors (Red Mars and Green Mars), the final installment had fantastic moments of political intrigue along with well-researched concepts in geography, physics, economics, and psychology, and neuroscience, among other fields. Robinson was particularly insightful when he drew comparisons (without specific reference) to the Nature Conservancy, cap and trade, and ranked choice voting. And, like the other books, the majority of the work was excellent. However, also like the other books, Robinson missed badly at times. There were too many portions of the book that meandered with little advancement of the plot(s). This trend seemed to get worse with each book. The general liberal/socialist preaching also became more obvious with each book, culminating in Blue Mars. I can forgive the latter if the story is good enough. And, for the most part, it is good enough. The story dragged particularly in wilderness scenes. Clearly, Robinson is fascinated with geology, extreme climates, and climate change. These themes recur frequently in his other books including Antarctica, The Years of Rice and Salt, Fifty Degrees Below, and seemingly everything else Robinson has written. Robinson's imagery could add much to the foreign environment that is Mars. But, eventually I stopped trying to keep up with the vast descriptions. I could also do without endless descriptions of the characters breakfast selections (especially if they are the same items every day!). The vocabulary, while impressive, was dense and distracting at times. Finally, Blue Mars does not stand well on its own without its predecessors. Robinson does not explain character backgrounds well in this book. And, the advances in timelines were choppy and misplaced. Simply put, Robinson could use a good editor. Fortunately, Robinson brilliantly concluded Blue Mars and the trilogy by, in a limited sense, bringing the story back to its beginnings. After reading 2500+ pages of the Mars trilogy, there was simply not enough left to keep my interest. It was good, but enough already. Blue Mars clearly ran out of steam. One is virtually obligated to read the final installment if one has already read the first two. One should be generally satisfied, but not blown away, by the final chapter. My Kindle edition of this book was packaged with The Martians. That book is evidently an add-on to the trilogy that features various short stories, poems, and documents related to the trilogy. Other reviewers have described The Martians essentially as "outtakes" from the trilogy. As good as the trilogy was, the first three books contained plenty of items that could have been chopped. I do not think I have the stamina to pour through The Martians.

I wsh that I had read these the thirty or so years ago when they first came out. They are brilliant. Robinson is a complicated author and his books are, for me anyway, difficult at times to read. Long, long passages of description, or explanations, which I (shamefully admit) often just skim. But the ideas, the concepts, the characters he creates are captivating. He is a brilliant, well educated man and writes with an expectation that his reader is just as brilliant and well educated. I am not, but I appreciate the sentiment and do my best to keep up. Robinson's future is an amazing place, one that we could reach. But he makes it clear; our problem is not just merely technological, it is cultural as well. I can SEE his future, and know that what limits us is our cowardice and our greed. I was often frustrated, I wanted to know more about what was going on outside of Mars. It seemed like nothing was being done to solve Earth's problems on Earth. It seemed as if the Martians had Iittle clue as to things going on elsewhere. There were loose ends, unanswered questions, but that's ok. That's how life is. Enough is as good as a feast. Be well, friends.

Read Red Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson both 5 stars. Blue Mars 3rd in Trilogy is also fantastic. 3rd Mars revolution. Mars gets a constitution and a government but must have a 10%population increase each year from Earth by treaty and Earth desperately wants to send more. Now settling on hollowed out asteroids, moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Also a city called Terminator on Mercury and starting terraforming on Venus. Later hollowed out Fusion powered asteroid/spaceship to a planet around Aldebaran star. Get there in 30 years. OK as people have the longevity treatment. Now Fusion powered rockets. Earth to Mars in 3 days. Earth very overcrowded 20 billion and now 2 billion on Mars. Many of the original 100 have died and many still dieing from Fast Demise even though they have the long life treatment.Now there is memory enhancement treatments for the aged...some are 230 years old plus. But there is hope with a new treatment...maybe. Now in about 200 years Mars has vast terraforming. Many kinds of planets and trees...some huge. Many animals from Earth with enhanced genes to breath the higher CO2 Mars atmosphere....even polar bears, antelope, fish, birds etc. Many boats and flying craft on Mars. Cities now. Mars has a breathable atmosphere if you get the gene CO2 treatment. Enough oxygen now and a Mars sea, lakes, river etc.Its not as cold now...liquid water. Kim Stanley Robinson has written a Sci Fi trilogy epic. He is great with character development and character relationships. He goes into a lot of future technology some believable...some a bit too fantastic for just less than 200 years in the future. This is the BEST Mars colonizing sci fi terraforming trilogy EVER! Aurther C Clarke, Robert Zubrin and others rated it great. Me too. If you are into Mars colonizing and terraforming this trilogy is for you. Highest rating 5 stars. This is the second time I have read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. First and second readings many years apart.I liked the Mars trilogy so much I purchased Robinson's Antartica on Amazon. Have not got the book yet. Will post review.

This is the final installment of the Red Mars series, easily the most engaging novel I've read in twenty years or more. After eading the first one, Red Mars, I wasn't going to stop until I'd read it all. The strength of the series, in its sweeping scope, is its insights into political science as it plays out on an exceptionally large cast of well-developed characters. By means of a device available only to SciFi writers, the characters have access to life-extending DNA modifications which enables them to bear witness to events over the span of a couple of centuries. Some may see this as a contrivance, but this life extension exercise is so plausibly interwoven into the warp and weft of the story strucutre that it didn't bother me at all. Robonson writes really beautifully, with extended (some might say over-extended) landscape descriptions, local and global geography, and what appears to be an encyclopedic knowledge of geology. The physics gets a bit fanciful in the later volumes, much less so early on. Whjat really drives the novel, though, is the conflicts between characters and institutions, both of which continue to change over time. You've got sex. You've got romance. You've got the love of nature, the quest for power, and the reactions of those who don't like it. What more could you want? I would given this five stars but for a few annoying flaws. As the saga goes on, and the author is obviously tiring, you find more errors creeping in: Character names misspelled, plot lines set up and then left unresolved, a character dying and then reappearing with no explanation, small words missing here and there. Evidently the editor(s) got as tired as the author. Still, on balance, a good read, if not quite as exciting and engaging as Red Mars.

Although some will complain this last in the series is slow paced compared to the first two books, I think it does a good job at pulling together a lot of huge story arcs, which happen when your characters live over two hundred years. That said, there is a lot of expository narrative to read, however, I found it very worth it. I’ve read Sci-Fi voraciously since 1964. To me, this series seems prophetic. Perhaps some of the science is a bit dated, being conceived and written in the 1990s. We know a lot more now about the dangers and challenges we may encounter in our efforts to expand our reach into our solar system. All that not withstanding, I believe we (humanity) will overcome those obstacles. Maybe we could even learn to live together more harmoniously and efficiently, as conceived here in this series. I believe in the power of human ingenuity and creativity. We have a chance to truly find our place in the universe before we destroy ourselves. This series outlines one way that could come to be.