Green Mars

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson imagined a near future in which humankind established the first colonies on Mars and began to make the planet inhabitable for humans. In this stunning sequel to that Nebula Award-winning novel, Robinson takes the colonization of Mars to a new generation, with a new set of problems and concerns.

The initial Martian pioneers had fierce disagreements about how the planet should be used by humans. This led to a war that threatened the lives of billions of people on both Mars and Earth. Now, the second generation of settlers continues the struggle to survive the hostile yet strangely beautiful environment of the red planet. Their decisions and actions will ultimately determine whether Mars will simply be a sanctuary for scientists, a source of raw materials for Earth, or something much more.

Richard Ferrone's robust narration of this thrilling, timeless tale captures the fascinating diversity of Robinson's compelling characters, taking listeners to the farthest frontier of humanity's struggle to survive.

©1994 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2001 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1994

"This may well be Robinson's best book and possibly the best of the many and various our-future-on-Mars novels to date." (Booklist)
"Yet another masterpiece....I can't imagine anybody else staking out any portion of this immemorial dreamscape with the same elegant detail and thoroughness; it's Kim Stanley Robinson's now and for a long time to come." (Science Fiction Age)

Scientifically intelligent

I was blown away by the level of scientific knowledge this author plays with effortlessly in his novel. I found the characters to be complex to the point of confusion, difficult to follow their motives. Major point where this writer can improve is emotionally drawing the reader into his characters. He would describe their emotions in detail, but it didn't draw me in to any of the characters. Beyond that, the story of terraforming Mars was expansive and vivid. Definitely a brilliant writer!

Green Mars:Red Mars::1917:1905

This is a masterpiece of using scifi to tell new versions of human history. Robinson is unique in being able to work detailed characterizations, long technical descriptions (we are scifi nerds, yes?), AND a wealth of historical references, world building and a theory of history into exciting stories. This book examines the idea of revolution, both social and political, on Mars, deftly paying homage to Bookchin, Bakunin, Bogdanov, even Mao, (as well as many others that I missed; Robinson really is well-read. Sax and Hiroko could be influenced by Lysenko.) while depicting the invention of new ways of living together in the 21st and 22nd centuries. At the same time, the cast of characters continues to grow, each with new ways to see life on Mars, the areophany, science, and of course, human freedom.

Exactly what you'd expect from the sequel

A continuation of the same story, with more terraforming, more revolution, but less dramatic irony.

Great

This is an excellent second book in the series. If you are a sucker for realistic details, this is the Moby Dick of Mars colonization books.

Great sequel and looking forward to the next

Richard is a fabulous narrator in this the second part of the Mars trilogy. I feel very connected and empathetic to many of the characters.

Great!

I liked this a lot, I just think it loses a little of the personal focus I loved from Red Mars so much.

The Mars Trilogy (slowly) Continues

First of all, this is the sequel to Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. Most of the characters from Red Mars return and Green Mars is not written to catch up anyone behind in the lore.

Second, while I enjoyed Green Mars enough to continue to Blue Mars it's definitely not as good as Red Mars. Richard Ferrone's performance is actually a bit better than previously, but the second half of this novel feels a bit like Robinson got bored with his new characters and decided to relive the glory days of the previous novel. Also, a significant part of the prose is pure tech talk, which gets VERY dry. Overall, I'd only recommended this to a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson or a completionist.

Better than Red Mars, but still annoyingly naive

Good piece of technology, no grasp of social science reality.

It's 2101, some 70+ years since first humans landed on Mars. There are already thriving cities of hundreds of thousands people, Mars temperature increased by 35 degrees, CO2 level fell to 30%, and already trees are growing on the surface. Sort of utopian neo-marxist/New Age economy is a dominant paradigm, and the main topic of argument between humankind is how to terraform the planet further. Oh, and even the first settlers are alive and kicking, because due to the progress in medicine people are no longer dying of natural causes. Earth society is falling into pieces, but somehow humankind finds enough resources to build space elevators and shuttle NITROGEN from Titan.

Just read a plot summary

The book drags on and while some of the points are interesting, I was not too upset that I fell asleep for large portions of the narrative.

Stunning achievement

Really sets the bar for excellence in sci fi. Kim truly created a whole new world in his mind and made it real for us readers. Now that we’re looking realistically at Martian colonization approximately in the timeframe that Kim projected it’s even better and more relevant than when I first read these books twenty years ago.