Mars

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 18 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

This grand epic adventure from six-time Hugo Award - winning author Ben Bova tells the irresistible story of man's first mission to that great unconquered frontier, Mars. Technically plausible and compellingly human, Bova's story explores the political, scientific, and social repercussions of our greatest quest yet: the search for evidence of life beyond Earth's boundaries.

Half-Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman has been selected for the ground team of the first manned expedition to our mysterious neighbor planet. Joining an international team of astronauts and scientists, he endures the rigors of training, the dangers of traveling an incredible distance in space, the challenges of an alien landscape, and the personal and political conflicts that arise when the team must face the most shocking discovery of all.

Listen to Ben Bova's complete Mars trilogy, including the second book, Return to Mars, and the third book, Mars Life.

©1992 Ben Bova (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A bulging, impressive, all-you-ever-wanted-to-know, you-are-there Martian odyssey." ( Kirkus Reviews)

GREAT LISTEN

I am pleasantly surprised as to the entertainment that Mars has given me. It does seem to be a bit heavy on politics and not enough 'Tars Tarkas.' But what I really enjoyed was the quality of the reader. Stefan Rudnicki did an excellent job in his reading. He was the right voice for this Book. I am looking forward to listening to more about this venture and other audiobooks by Stefan.

Mark

great, strange Indian things - and a bit dated

there are some things that make this book seem dated and some are that they mention that they have to change the "film" in a camera and that it is better to use a new camera so as not to expose the film to the environment on mars - another is the "tape" in a video camera, which video cameras have tapes but like the "film" camera it would be digital on an internal storage and maybe some kinda flash or crystal storage thingie (NASA uses digital cameras all the time probably before 1992 when this was written)

also there is strange parts about Indians, American Indians that is and there culture which makes the book seem strange at times but it only lasts a couple of scenes

there isnt much detail describing the size of things like the habitat they are living in on Mars and how big the rovers are or even exactly what they look like (they do describe the shape of it but its not much and could be describing a rock or something)

I plan to read the other books that follow this and I hope for the same quality with them as I got with this one

A Trip To Mars

Mars by Ben Bova is about Earth's first manned mission to mars. The book was written in 1992 so it might be a little out of date. The main character, Jamie, Is half Native American and the story makes a big fuss about racism in America towards this culture. This book isn't my favorite of those that I have read so far from Ben Bova. The story went by very slow. Yet, Ben Bova is a good enough writer to keep me interested enough to listen to the whole thing. Just do not expect high amount of action. This has a more realistic feel and might be more similar to a real mars mission, not some Buck Rogers fantasy adventure. I found the characters likable. I think mainly this book could have used a nice editing job and a little more suspense. Overall, I am satisfied with this read and I will continue to buy Ben Bova's work. A bunch of other stand alone novels falls in the same time line as this one, so there is more to look forward to after this read if you like it. As to that, I can recommend Empire Builders.

Convincing story.

It makes me want to visit Mars. Now I feel like I've already been there.

Great story. Great narration

This was fiction pretty well based on science. Good plot. Rudnicki is a super narrator. He doesn’t rush through the narration and reads it in such a way that one can almost visualize the paragraphs. Other narrators don’t do that so it is easy to confuse the story. Now I am going to search for the rest of Bova’s Mars series.

Good enough

The book was good but not that great. I was trying to figure out why it is included in the grand tour series but I’m holding out hope that it’ll tie in Together somewhere else along the line because you’d think that they already solved the problems of the previous book in the series. Looking forward to the return to mars as I felt like they barely had a chance to even get started. The narrator is a bit dry by the way but he does his best to get you through.

enjoyable read

The book was a good listen. The narrator did a good job. As someone said in a previous review it was dated but not for the techology only but for the attitudes.

Great book and narration with voice changes.

Storyline is very believable even with today's technology and the narrator changed his voice and accents appropriately to each character. The only part that was a little hard to believe was the use of film and video tape (not digital) while they were on Mars but then, it was written back in 1992. I'm looking forward to listening to the next book in the series.

An intersting Take on What a Mars Mission Might Be

Would you listen to Mars again? Why?

It wouldn't be on the top of my list to listen to again, but it was enjoyable.

Have you listened to any of Stefan Rudnicki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but he did a great job on this one.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but it kept you interested in what was going to happen next.

Any additional comments?

Ended kind of abruptly. I thought there was more the author could have done with the end of the book. There were so many plot lines left hanging.

some vitamins are toxic @ high doses

One pill to kill them all. And one pill to save them all? Water soluble vitamins generally ok @ high doses. Fat soluble vitamins @ high doses generally not so good. Can cause death.