Mars

By: Ben Bova

Narrated by: Harlan Ellison

Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Mars. The very name of the mysterious Red Planet brings to mind images dramatic and dangerous - and both are accurate, as an international team of 25 astronauts discover when they land there for the first manned expedition. After battling deadly meteor showers, subzero temperatures, and a mysterious "Mars virus," the crew makes the most incredible and shocking discovery of all. Now it is up to geophysicist and expedition leader Jamie Waterman to save his crew - an act that forces him to become a rebel and a hero in a drama foretold eons ago. The six-time Hugo award-winner's novel is read by acclaimed short story writer Harlan Ellison.

©1992 by Ben Bova (P)1999 NewStar Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Imaginatively detail[ed]." (Publishers Weekly)

Mars

Excellent sci-fi. I wish there were a sequel.

great pre-history

This is a great pre-history of Earth's first voyage to Mars. While some amount of technical license was taken by the author - it seems very feasible that this type of mission could occur some time in the future. I just wish this one came unabridged...

Questionable Voice Acting

I loved the text. Ellison's narration though... when he is doing the prose portions, he is spot on. Perfect. I got chills on the opening prose section.

But when he does voices he goes off the deep-end. It isn't so much that he can't act. It's that he makes terrible choices for each voice.

For example, one of the characters is introduced as having a *light* texas accent, but Harlan gives him a parody of a texas accent.

And he makes the female astronauts sound like they are twelve-year olds dreaming of becoming ice princesses.

But I have to say that I agree with the previous reviewer: yuo do get used to it.

And the book is excellent. I just wish that someone had been directing Ellison.

What a Universe!

Bova's universe of nanotechnology is just awesome. I first read this book years ago, and still refer to particular sections as amazing examples of both science fiction and imaginative nanotech applications. I'd also highly recommend his other books set in this nanotech universe.

Good but...

This was one of my favorite books to read and got this hoping to be able to enjoy it. The problem is the narration is not the best. No offense to the narrator but it just seemed to be too soft at times and some characters like Jamie sounded weak. The book itself is really good, though.

One of the First of the Grand Tour

This book of the Grand Tour is set in more contemporary than the others of the series being more NASA than AIA. This is a "real life" adventure in the tradition of "Flight of the Phoenix" in its gritty realism. It also becomes a mystery as well as an adventure. This book held me right to the end. The voices were fun and easy to suspend my disbelief.

Well worth the money!

When I first started listning I thought I was going to be annoyed by the Narator's over animated voice - especially when he started putting on different accents for each charachter - but.. by the end of the book I was rivited! And welcomed being able to easily tell who was speaking when. Even though the pace is slow, and nothing actually happens, I REALLY liked this and am off to hunt for other books read/hear by Ben Bova and the same Narator.

Complete Disappointment

The author could have done so much more with this book. The mysteries are blamed on human error and finding life on mars in this book is as exciting as finding mold on a piece of cheese. I'd return this book for a refund if I could. Also, the author uses the main character to make a PC statement about how poorly Native Americans are treated, even in the future, by the evil white man. This was a waste of 5 hours of my time. 2-stars only because I can't give a one and a half star. I reserve a single star for the absolute worst of the worst.