Red Mars

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 23 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Red Mars is the first book in Kim Stanley Robinson's best-selling trilogy. Red Mars is praised by scientists for its detailed visions of future technology. It is also hailed by authors and critics for its vivid characters and dramatic conflicts.

For centuries, the red planet has enticed the people of Earth. Now an international group of scientists has colonized Mars. Leaving Earth forever, these 100 people have traveled nine months to reach their new home. This is the remarkable story of the world they create - and the hidden power struggles of those who want to control it.

Although it is fiction, Red Mars is based on years of research. As living spaces and greenhouses multiply, an astonishing panorama of our galactic future rises from the red dust. Through Richard Ferrone's narration, each scene is energized with the designs and dreams of the extraordinary pioneers.

©1993 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2000 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1993

"Generously blending hard science with canny insight into human strengths and weaknesses, this suspenseful sf saga should appeal to a wide range of readers." (Library Journal)
"The ultimate in future history." (Daily Mail)

Incredible

Really great way of talking about social dynamics, philosophy and landscape of mars. I was blown away by the telling. Only thing off was the unlimited resources hand waving.

A true masterpiece

Red Mars (and The Mars Trilogy in general) asks big questions: How can we start over and recreate society, taking out the bad stuff and saving the good stuff? Can we escape history and remake ourselves into something that overcomes oppression of women, slavery, racism, greed, militarism, environmental destructiveness? Can we turn our society into a means for giving every member of that society a chance to achieve his or her own potential? These are big questions; they can't be answered with bumper sticker slogans. It takes a lot of detail and careful, thoughtful discussion to address them. So while a lot happens in this series, it isn't Star Trek. Problems aren't easily resolved. Situations are never black and white. The characters change, grow, and even forget how they got to the present.

For readers who like a lot of meat to chew over, these books are probably among the greatest written in the 20th century - obsessively researched, thickly layered with meaning and analysis; the whole series is something that you can listen to time and again, and hear something different every time. The characters are archetypes; even their names express who they are - but they are also real people, with real emotions, amazingly and skillfully brought to life. The issues discussed are both a comment on the present (and history) and, in the best tradition of science fiction, an analysis of future possibilities. I can't recommend the entire series more highly for the reader who enjoys this sort of thing. But be forewarned - there are bad reviews here, and I'm guessing they are from people who were looking for something different - lots of plot and action, perhaps a little less analysis. I enjoy those books too, so I'm not saying that as a criticism of those who didn't find this to their liking. I'm just saying that there are plenty of other books that fill this role. The Mars Trilogy is something else entirely.

good book

as a first time audible listener this book series is wonderful. yes it goes on and on sometimes but you get a very good idea of the science behind the colonization of mars. Kim Stanley Robinson has made a perfect book for explaining all of this without having it be ALL science. kudos to him. i hope he writes more!

OK book but the narrator's a dud.

The narrator does almost zero characterization s. It's really hard to tell the charcters apart from his reading. Not a bad voice but fiction is not his forte.

Mars!!!

Fantastic. As good as being there. Probably better. More detail than I would have thought was possible, and it doesn't feel at all dated.

Great story spoilt by narrator

The sound of this guy constantly swallowing spit is so obnoxious and off putting I have to put the volume as low as possible. The story is top notch though.

Great Story (I think)

What made the experience of listening to Red Mars the most enjoyable?

Really enjoyed the story line and the creative approaches taken towards colonization etc...

Any additional comments?

Having said that... the narrator really killed it for me. The story was good enough to slog through the narrator. It really felt like he was reading it, instead of "telling" it, he also had some very odd pronunciation choices that persisted through the book and took me out of the story each time. Maybe i'm overly particular on that point, but I suggested this book to more that one person with the caveat that they should read it and avoid the audio production.

Reads like a '60s scifi story

After seven of thirty four chapters there are no characters I particularly care about, there's no reasonable basis for the whole idea of terraforming Mars and instead of of increasing the veracity of the setting for me the descriptions of the technology are off-putting.

Primarily this is supposed to be a story about relationships, I think. About people, ambition, hubris, greed and personal ideologies. But none of them particularly seemed compelling. Some of the opening scenes reminded me of the movie Casablanca or perhaps reminded me of an outline of Casablanca with the pre-requisite characters in the expected places. Yet Casablanca invites suspension of disbelief while Red Mars heightens it.

Next we're embedded with a completely dysfunctional crew of 100 highly trained, best-of-the-best crew heading out to terraform Mars. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to buy the basic thesis that by the time we get around to financing, building, selecting and training a crew of 100 people to go to Mars as a colony they will instantly shrug off the surly bonds of all that training, responsibility and obligation and revert to acting like a PTA trapped by a winter storm. I get the idea of humanizing the crew and exploring the dynamics that will be involved in such an endeavor. Stanley took it too far too fast. To me it sounded like some of the old scifi movies where the actors were walking around in shirt sleeves and wing-tips talking and acting like every-day Joes who just happened to be on a space ship.

Finally the technology just doesn't hold up. Granted it's only been about twenty five years since the book was published and he clearly did his research but there are so many places where delving into the technology just pulled me out of the story. Listening to the account of the ship entering Mars orbit was entertaining but the idea the heat shields would be moved around to cover viewing windows just isn't reasonable. No one is going to move heat shields. And the account of the landing party just wandering around opening pre-positioned landers to see what's inside is ridiculous. The position, state and contents of each of those would be known and their opening and use planned out. Attempting to cast this story against such a detailed backdrop runs the risk of the backdrop attracting more attention than the story and that's what I feel. Against such detail things that are really wrong stand out and not in a good way.

Red Mars--the saga begins

If you like real science in your science fiction instead of hand-waving and "magic," Robinson delivers incredible homework behind everything from the beanstalk space elevator to the climate on Mars. The characters are diverse, believable and interesting, and the plot twists around in ways that will rivet you in your seat as you listen. The narration is first-rate. My only gripe is that somebody (the publishers? Robinson himself?) "lifted" one particular episode out of the middle of the story and stuck it on as the prologue at the very beginning--I did NOT appreciate that artificial piece of awkward editing, and wish that episode had come in its proper chronological place. Once you get past that and get into the narrative from the beginning, the story settles down and really takes hold of you. The way the tension and surprises build towards the climactic end of this first volume are particularly memorable. So don't be deterred by the first little section. Not sure why they put that at the front end.

5 STARS Best Tech Savy Sci Fi Book I ever read.

I was introduced to Kim Stanley Robinsons writing by a friend.
Now, I can't read or hear enough of the World's that he writes about. He is an olOutstanding Author. I truely enjoy the Outer Space Futuristic Worlds, which he immerses his readers into. His writings include very personable, easily relatable characters for the most part. However, some of the characters are too futuristic to include as relatable, but they are extremely exciting and highly memorable.
Just as each and every book of his that I have read is. (7 Books so far)

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS AUTHOR IF YOU ENJOY SCI FI BOOKS.