Kim Stanley Robinson virtually redefined science fiction with the Nebula Award-wining "Red Mars" and the Hugo Award-winning "Green Mars". This spellbinding third book in his "Mars" trilogy, garnered stellar reviews upon its hardcover publication and further established Robinson as a singular voice in the genre. In this tale, the Martian civilization faces the ultimate test, as a plan to turn Mars into an Earth-like planet causes passions, rivalries, and friendships to explode. National ads, including "USA Today".
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Kim Stanley Robinson virtually redefined science fiction with the Nebula Award-wining "Red Mars" and the Hugo Award-winning "Green Mars". This spellbinding third book in his "Mars" trilogy, garnered stellar reviews upon its hardcover publication and further established Robinson as a singular voice in the genre. In this tale, the Martian civilization faces the ultimate test, as a plan to turn Mars into an Earth-like planet causes passions, rivalries, and friendships to explode. National ads, including "USA Today".
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Seller's Description:
Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 784 p. Contains: Illustrations. Mars Trilogy, 3. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers.
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Good. Minimal signs of wear. Corners and cover may show wear. May contain highlighting and or writing. May be missing dust jacket. May not include supplemental materials. May be a former library book.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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New in new dust jacket. New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory.
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Good. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! May not include working access code. Will not include dust jacket. Has used sticker(s) and some writing or highlighting. UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes).
Blue Mars is a big book in many ways. It is on the long side for a novel. It covers a huge span of years. It has a very large cast of characters. It deals with some pretty big issues: politics, human over-population, space colonization and life extension among them. Perhaps because of this vastness on so many levels it took me a long time to get through this novel. The conclusion was satisfying not only because it neatly wrapped up the trilogy, but also because I was somewhat relieved to be done.
I don't mean this as a criticism of Robinson who I think is a terrific writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Mars books, but I just couldn't get into Blue Mars for some reason. Despite the huge cast of characters, the interaction between them was somewhat minimal. Characters spent a lot of time wandering around on the partially terraformed planet by themselves observing the geology, the flora and the fauna. Very lengthy descriptions worthy of a travelogue perhaps, did not make for a real page-turning read.
The huge span of time that the novel covers seems to take away from the drama of big events. The long view of history is always so much less interesting than the real-time nitty gritty stuff.
RPG54
Sep 11, 2008
Excellent conclusion to the series
Blue Mars needs to be read in the context of the first two books of the series, Red Mars and Green Mars. The three books are woven together so well that they are difficult to separate. You'll miss the rich character development without the first two books. If you read the first two, there is someone there for everyone to identify with and cheer on. Robinson's ability to bring Mars alive from a geological and geographical standpoint are again present and strong. The conclusion satisfyingly integrates the characters varying perspectives and challenges, yet leaves enough unsaid for your imagination to project forward.
