This review of Blue Mars is in fact a review of the entire trilogy, since it's one continuous story -- one that altogether weighs in at something around 2,300 pages. I've been living on Mars for the last 3 months and wish that, if it were possible, I could actually live there, at least the Mars portrayed in these books. It's certainly not a series for everybody -- all those lots of pages are filled with lots of science, lots of politics and political theory, and lots of philosophy. However, for such a long work, the story line is fairly straightforward. 100 super-scientists journey to Mars, establish a colony, and while they gradually terraform it, other "Terrans" settle it, fleeing an over-populated and rapidly declining Earth. The books describe the struggle of the "Martians" (Robinson's clever inversion -- those humans living on Mars become Martians) to transform Mars into a habitable world, a struggle that takes place in two dimensions: the scientific problem of turning barren, cold Mars into a new Earth, and the human problem of creating a workable society freed from the toxic ways of life still found on Earth. In this way, Robinson weaves together the old utopian impulses of science fiction with a kind of "hard science" style of sci fi that I've not seen in quite a while. Utopian fiction: Robinson knows his sci fi, and this trilogy in many places reminded me of a massively inflated version of LeGuin's classic The Dispossessed. The two worlds of Urras and Anarres are replaced by Mars and Earth, respectively. Just as Urras was cold and relatively desolate, compared to the superabundance of life on Anarres, Mars begins as a totally uninhabitable place, while Earth (to which the narrative moves twice) remains, even in its decadent state, almost inhospitably alive. LeGuin's novel famously created the genre of the "ambiguous" or "critical" utopia, and the Mars Trilogy follows out this idea. In passing from Earth to Mars, the first hundred decide that they are not beholden to their original mission, and that they have the opportunity finally to create a better form of human living, but like LeGuin's anarchist utopia, even a better form of human living is subject to the human frailties of fractured relationships, power, conformity, and xenophobia, so that the reader is treated to multiple revolutions as the colonists struggle to realize a new form of living. The first of these revolutions, in Red Mars (book 1) is a stunning page turner, the lengthy description of the fall of the elevator cable being one of the best moments in that book. Without spoiling too much, the second revolution in Green Mars (book 2) is almost as gripping, and more philosophically interesting, and sets the stage for the slower and more meditative Blue Mars (book 3), in which Robinson takes delight in exploring numerous post-revolutionary forms life: communal, neo-tribal, etc. The trilogy leans unapologetically to the left and toward environmentalism, although Robinson shares the old-school Marxist faith in technology as a solution to many problems. Science: Robinson is fairly obsessed with Mars, and any of my friends who decide to read this should use the specially constructed Google Maps for this trilogy (thanks, Dennis, Boccippio!) to follow the narrative -- there are many long travelogues in the narrative. Geology (technically, areology), biology, astronomy, psychology, physics, all get long discussions. If you're not a scientist, or don't find science interesting, you might zone out, but Robinson manages two remarkable feats: first, he folds the science into the narrative well, so that it becomes a part of the actual story, and he frequently uses the science as a metaphor for what's happening politically or personally with the characters. Second, he's about the best popular science writer around: he explains even the most technical scientific ideas with clarity and verve. Having just finished the book, I think know the geography (areology) of Mars better than that of Earth. Philosophy: Robinson wrote a doctoral thesis on Philip K. Dick. Although his style reflects little of that great writer, he certainly includes the philosophy in a way that echoes Dick. As a philosopher, I typically hate writers who explicitly discuss philosophical ideas in books. It takes something special to pull it off: Dick certainly had it, and Robinson has it. For one thing, he seems to actually understand the philosophical issues he raises, for another, just as with the science, the philosophy reflects events occurring in the novel and with the characters. Whole sections of the book are actually examinations of particular philosophical ideas folded into narrative. One is devoted to Kuhn's notion of the paradigm, a late chapter on the character Zo is lifted straight out of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, even Deleuze gets a chapter. I don't know that it would be possible to identify each section with a philosophical idea, but it would be worth trying.So, lots of ideas, obviously. But fundamentally, it's stories and characters that sell narratives, and Robinson manages to provide those as well. A convenient plot device, the "gerontology treatments," greatly extends the lives of the characters, so that we are able to follow the first hundred through the entire 150-year span of the trilogy. In fact, many of these characters are killed off, lending a genuine sense of danger to the narrative and also providing a kind of woven structure to the narrative that's quite lovely. As some characters die, their story is taken by other members of the first hundred, or by new, "native born" Martians. If nothing else, the long story of Saxifrage Russell (not a subtle symbol, that name, as he is the main advocate of terraforming) and the hardcore "Red" Ann provides a remarkable continuity and also a terrific character development arc. I must say I was completely in love with Sax by the time the story was over: crazy, brilliant, compassionate, a sort of "good" mad scientist, he has become one of the my favorite characters in all of sci fi.Panoramic, epic, and yet intimate, filled with science and ideas and politics, it's really a remarkable read. I'll agree with the criticisms that Blue Mars is a bit slow, and that the travelogues can be a bit overlong (although having a good map makes it much easier), but if you want to really go to Mars, this is how you get there.
An independent Mars but not a peaceful one, Blue Mars, blue skies, a great , stormy, huge , Martian North Sea, of the same color, turning salty, fish swimming below, birds flying above, animals roaming around the land, majestic trees growing on beautiful hills, sparkling rivers gently flowing by, magnificent green vegetation everywhere on shore, dark clouds that cause showers to pour down, howling winds over 150 miles a hour, making powerful waves crash on pretty little fishing villages and resorts, gorgeous beaches full of Martians playing, boats tossed high in the breathable air, dazzling islands in the Sun, the mythical great canal built here, towering mountains twice the size of Everest, curious tourists from distant Earth arrive, yes a paradise, if no people lived on the 4th planet. The struggle always continues between crippled, crowded, desperate, over populated Earth and an almost empty Mars. Terra, needs to send millions, or billions to the former red planet. Nevertheless the Martian government resists this, treaty or no treaty, in the 23rd century, pressure from their population, both native and immigrant, who believe that already enough millions are there, and the Reds still actively blowing up things they feel are hurting their world, but you can not return to the pristine deserts, with a toxic, thin atmosphere, blinding, choking, dust storms, that last years, and circled the globe, brutal, sub zero temperatures, of past days, ( no more pink skies), only read or see ancient pictures, about them. After the second revolution succeeded, the reds tried to destroy the invaluable, ingenious, space elevator, controlled by Earth still, a threat but the green government, stopped it in a brief civil war, yet very destructive one ... The first hundred ( 101, in fact, there was a stowaway, Coyote), are fewer, even with the Treatment , less than twenty now, living to a ridicules age , over 220, some older but their minds are going, a new drug is needed or Sax, Maya, Ann, Michel , Coyote, etc., will be no more, sudden deaths will wipe them out . Nevertheless how can you relate to natives that are seven feet tall, and think you are a museum piece, from a history book (they still exist ! ) ? And what about Hiroko ? Is the great, enigmatic biologist, who could grow anything on the formerly desolate surface, here, alive. Sightings from Earth to every part of Blue Mars, are constantly reported, she has vanished, either killed in the rebellion against the UN, or hiding with her followers, the mystery has become a sort of joke...The Solar System is being inhabited everywhere, from steamy Mercury, cloudy Venus (in the future), to deep inside small asteroids, weirdly shaped, to the frigid moons of Uranus ... Neptune and Pluto are next, and they will not stop there, crossing to the nearest stars, with Goldilocks planets (not too hot, not too cold, just right), new technology is opening up the heavens , limits are falling, the human race feels that they can do anything, and solve every problem, overcome all, Manifest Destiny, in Outer Space. The Universe will be conquered, humanity needs elbow room ...
Do You like book Blue Mars (1997)?
I think that I have read this series in its entirety six times. In my opinion, any astronaut or colonist who leaves earth for Mars should be required to read this series. Between my fascination with sci-fi and Mars, combined with some top-notch character development/interaction along with some really great socioeconomic theory (no where near as boring as it sounds) this is my most favourite series, hands down.One thing that I have always enjoyed about KSR's writing is the attention he puts into his characters and their development. It is absolutely them that drive his stories forward. He then puts his characters in a very scientifically based and well described environment that makes everything come together flawlessly.Robinson's writing has probably had the most impact on my own work out of any of the authors that I have read and if I one day even get close to his level of skill I will consider myself successful.
—Wesley Edmunds
These three books form a single narrative spanning nearly two hundred years of human colonization and terraformation on Mars. It is a sprawling epic, ponderous and magnificent, charting the development of a uniquely Martian civilization from the earliest landings through wars, revolutions and waves of immigration on the face of a rapidly changing planet. But make no mistake: for all of the drama, the triumphs and disasters, there is in fact very little “action,” and that usually reported with journalistic detachment. The story is told through the eyes of a massive cast of characters, but while Robinson’s characterization is excellent, this is hardly a character-driven story, unless you count the Red planet itself. If it’s space opera or melodrama you want, you’ll need to look elsewhere. At heart, this story is a love song to Mars and the dream of human expansion into space, wrapped in a sociological thought experiment of immense scale. As such, it’s more Tolstoy than Dostoyevsky, but like the works of both of those masters, it remains shockingly relevant. Indeed, against the backdrop of today’s political climate, characterized by corporate influence, reactionary cultural polarization and the nascent Occupy movement, it is downright topical.
—Ryan
There’s something of ‘after the lord mayor’s parade’ about this volume. After the revolution of the last volume, I was hoping for something of civil war in this. For the bulk of the narrative though it’s just a lot of characters figuring out what Mars means to them; which although well written, lacks a certain drama. For instance, there’s a long section about blight attacking the potato crop of one of the major characters. Now, if you were actually farming on Mars, that's no doubt a problem which would be a great worry, but it doesn't really shake the reader by the lapels demanding attention.After all the immersion in Mars and all things Martian in the previous books, there's more of a solar-system wide travelogue to this volume, with visits to Mercury, Earth (allowing the author to try and fail to capture a cockney accent. Okay he doesn’t quite channel Dick Van Dyke, but it would never pass muster down Catford.) and the moons of Jupiter and Uranus. Since these books have hitherto concentrated, with vast detail, on life on Mars, these soujorns feel like a loss of focus. As if Stanley Robinson suddenly realised he didn't actually have enough Mars material for three volumes.(That feeling is only intensified by the sudden appearance of inter-generational sex on the Martian surface. It's not that that particular hot and heavy scene demands a nomination for 'The Bad Sex Prize', but the sudden appearance of a lusty young maiden and her unlimited desires a thousand or so pages in (or whatever it is, I read it on a Kindle) does feel like an author scrabbling around for something to write about.)Towards the end, the background rumblings of a war do finally start to crack the surface, but annoyingly Stanley Robinson chooses not to focus his attention there. Instead he tries to deal with what I thought was a big flaw in this otherwise, detailed, seemingly realistic, hard science-fiction trilogy – the fact that its characters have had aging treatments and are living for hundreds of years. There’s an attempt to examine what this would mean both physically and mentally – how much memory could such an old brain hold, after all? – but clearly, and frustratingly, he doesn’t take this examination anywhere near as far as he could. The problems that are raised are sorted out neatly with scientific mumbo jumbo, a wave of a magic wand and a deus ex machine. All of which leads to a happy ending which is heavily signalled in this volume, but surprised me having read the two previous books.So having ploughed through all three long volumes, I find myself disappointed. The first two I enjoyed, but the third feels flat, unfocused and inconsequential. It’s like I’ve travelled a great distance for nothing much in particular, but then maybe ‘travelling a great distance for nothing much in particular’ is exactly what the real Mars would be like.
—F.R.
