Rating: 
Summary: Complex, realistic - an excellent read!
Review: I was frankly surprised by a lot of the reviews of this book. Shallow characterizations? This book follows the leads throughout a goodly chunk of their lives ... so that we learn first-hand what makes them do what they do! I've read one opinion that the prime character Casseia is too juvenile and directionless at the beginning. That's because she IS juvenile at the beginning - a teenager in college just beginning to look for a direction in her life. The book is a chronicle of a life growing up, and of Mars growing up around her. The parallel is there if you just look for it. A warning: this is NOT a book for someone wanting to be lead by the hand. If you're into simple, straightforward, comic-book plots, Bear is going to leave you cold and confused. This is complex, intricate SF at its best. You have to think about it. Dive into it. Be swallowed by this new and different world and learn its rules. That's what Bear is best at, as he's shown in Eon, Eternity, Queen of Angels and /Slant. The science and engineering is plausible, the politics all-too-realistic and the humans are very full of human nature, even in this advanced society. The cohesiveness and depth of this depiction of future human culture in the "Triple" is amazing; again as were Bear's world of Eon/Eternity. I found Red Mars by Robinsion simple, predictable and technically unbelievable by comparison. Moving Mars is now in my permanant, never-give-it-to-the-used-book-store collection. Eventually I'll end up buying it again because I'm sure to wear this copy out. BTW, many don't know it (I just discovered this myself), but "Heads," a very short book Bear wrote back in '91 is actually the genesis of both Moving Mars and the Queen of Angels, /Slant pair. Not exactly a prequel, but a lot of ideas for the later books started there. Interesting to see how those lines developed out of that little, obscure book.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, intelligent book with parallels to real history
Review: Enjoying "Moving Mars" will depend on a number of things, particularly your attitude about how a science fiction novel "ought" to be. For instance, one of the below reviewers refers to the beginning of the book as being "fantasy," apparently for no other reason than Bear's emphasis on character development - fantasy novels, more often written for and about women, tend to spend a lot more time building their character's "back story" and emotional life. The payoff here is that Bear's careful development of his lead characters, and the strange yet familiar pioneer world of the Martian settlers, helps explain later choices. More than with most books, the appeal of this work will depend on your own personality and interests. If you're the type of person who refers to him or herself as being "right-brained" or by contrast, essentially "scientific and logical," and tend to stick to one social sphere of people with similar bents, you may find half the book fascinating, and the other half cryptic or boring. Strictly hard SF readers who want nothing but science fact and science ideas may not like the strong social and emotional undertones; readers of historical, military and general fiction may find the heady physics of the latter half hard to digest. If you like SF a lot but don't follow the news or read history, the many parallels here with real-life history may be lost on you. Frankly, I found another review quite amusing. The reviewer didn't like the lead character, stating that she was just another young woman with a lack of life experience, like herself, and how unrealistic it would be for such a person to ascend to the vice presidency. Actually, I think this is one of Bear's strongest points in the book! Reviewer, have you ever read about Harry S. Truman - you know, the ordinary guy thrust into the presidency (after FDR died suddenly) who unleashed the atomic bomb in 1945? By the way, he was left *much* more in the dark, as vice president, than most people realize, less prepared than the character in the book to use an "ultimate weapon". Not to mention that all of us generally start off as naive children and teenagers, whether we become great leaders or decent citizens with a smaller realm of impact. So yes, Casseia is believable. Bear is pointing out that leaders often come about because of chance - being in the right place at the right time - not because they have been groomed from birth or have some special mutant power. It's also what makes him fresh as a SF writer, when so many writers in fantasy and SF still use the "Slan" mold. Here, even a genius like Charles Franklin is also an ordinary, decent man with issues and inadequacies, and smart but essentially normal ("high natural") Casseia transforms her world. The day after re-reading "Moving Mars," I stumbled upon a terrific documentary about the 1989 protests in Tiannamen Square. One of the leaders who convinced students to stay at Tiannamen Square, knowing full-well that blood would be shed, was a mild-mannered young woman crying into a microphone, talking about freedom. She was a twenty-three year old psychology student, not some Superwoman. It's the belief that leaders must be superhuman that has retarded the political process and prevented real growth in our society. If you love science and science fiction, but also love history and the humanities, you'll enjoy this. If you only like two out of four, some but probably not all of the book will appeal to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Martian Revolution
Review: This is quite a long book for a first-person narrative. Bear's other novels of comparable length feature half a dozen characters, but here we have only one - Casseia Majumdar, Martian citizen, college student, ambassador to Earth, and Martian political hero. The central conflict, though it takes a while to get burning, is the Martian colonies' fight for independence from Earth.
But this isn't a violent book. For the most part it's a political struggle, and Bear does an excellent job of breathing life into a potentially slow-moving and drab story. His science, as always, is impeccable, from the terraforming process of Mars, to the genetically modified humans who Casseia meets on Earth.
It is a little slow in places (the scientific info dumps are a bit more ponderous than in others by Greg Bear), and for a while the story seems to lose its way, but this is compensated for by the general smoothness of Bear's writing, and the depth of his narrator's voice. Greg Bear is one of only a few science-fiction writers who knows how to create real, believable characters to match the science of his books.
He also manages to drag you into the story, once the tension really starts mounting. By the end, I was screaming at the injustices perpetrated by the imperialistic Earth government.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best book Bear's written
Review: Moving Mars is an amazing book that I've read 6-7 times. Yes the opening is a bit slow for hard sf readers, but it sets the political foundation for which the rest of the book needs to make any sense. Cassiea's wedding cermony / announcement is something that has gotten my heart pounding everytime I've read it. The moment Cassiea sees the martian moon disappear (only to reappear above earth) is one of the most stunning scenes I've ever read. There is a depth to this novel that most hard sf writers would probably die to achieve. Bear deserves great credit for creating a fascinating and 'real' experience for the reader.
Rating:
Summary: excellent insight
Review: In a book that starts quickly then settles in for a long buildup before finishing with a rush, Greg Bear tells the story of the political tensions that develop between an Earth that seeks unity and its recalcitrant young colony on Mars. The narrator, Casseia Majumdar had dreamed of an independent Mars since participating in a student rebellion in 2171. Her quest led her into politics and eventually to a momentous decision when the final confrontation with Earth came. Meanwhile, her one time lover, Charles Franklin, had an intuition that the universe is basically a matrix of information and that by tweaking the flow of data we might be able to alter reality. It is his work that scares Earth enough to force it to act. Together the two, quite literally, change the course of Mars. Though the novel could use an aggressive trimming and the setting seems not to have much depth to it, what makes the book so compelling is that Mr. Bear in some ways really just replays the core dilemmas of Western Civilization in outer space, particularly the competing desires for freedom or security. Earth has become a place where people utilize mind and body enhancements, where they eagerly embrace psychological therapies, and where the aversion to conflict and the impulse towards homogeneity is so great that people link their minds together and/or link up with computers (thinkers). Mars is far more individualistic and natural and resistant to this dull sameness. At one point, on a trip to Earth to negotiate a treaty, Casseia has the following "discussion" with a thinker named alice (after Alice in Wonderland) : "Eventually, human groups and thinkers could be so integrated as to be indistinguishable. At that point, such a society exceeds my modeling ability," Alice concluded. "Group mind," I said sardonically. "I don't want to be there when that happens." "It would be intriguing," Alice said. "There would always remain the choice to simulate isolation as an individual." "But then you'd be lonely," I said, with a sudden hitch in my voice. Perversely, I yearned for some sort of connection with agreement and
certainty--to truly belong to a larger truth, a greater, unified effort. My Martian upbringing, my youth and personality, kept me isolated
and in constant longing. I deeply wished to belong to a just and higher cause, to have people--friends--who understood me. To not be lonely.
In a few clumsy, halting sentences, I expressed this to Alice as if she were a confidant and not an examiner. "You understand the urge," Alice told me. [...] "The wish to belong to something greater is an historical force, recognized, sometimes fought against, but regarded by many as inevitable." "Scary." It may be that the degree to which you enjoy the book is determined by just how scary you find the specter of such "belonging". But the insight here is excellent. It's the divide we see in our literature, from E. M. Forster's "Only connect..." on the one side to Huck Finn's dream of "lighting out for the Territory" on the other. If you're pro-Territory, you'll like the book. GRADE : B+
Rating:
Summary: But where are you going to put it?
Review: Heh, small joke. Sorry. I've seen this book for years, but always held off on buying it, seeing it as just another of those Mars books that seem to crop up every few years. Yeah, I like the idea of colonizing or visiting our red neighbor but that doesn't mean I have to read every book that someone decides to write about it. But I finally got around to it, since it seemed different enough from such works as Kim Stanley Robinson's great trilogy and just finished reading it and, well, I was wrong. This is a great book, full of ideas and interesting characters that you can sympathize with, if not relate to (in a sense) and while it doesn't rank with the famed Mars trilogy (Bear's writing just isn't as poetic or piercing as Robinson's), Bear gets major credit for crafting such an epic, wide ranging piece and managing to contain it all in one book. What's it all about though? Indeed, it's about Mars, and how Earth is trying to keep the poor colonists under the heel of their boots, and since Mars is mostly divided up into factions of different families, Earth doesn't need to do all that much to keep the status quo going. Then comes the student revolts, which really don't amount to all that much in the end, except that they introduce the two most important characters in the book, Cassie and Charles, who will go on to change Mars. People sometimes complain that the first hundred or so pages of the book devoted to the revolts aren't really that important to the main story, and they aren't. But that isn't the point, it's there to lay down the foundations of the characters and without that foundation it becomes that much harder to fathom where they are at the end. Suspense and political intrigue run rampant throughout the book, with everyone making plans against everyone else and when Charles and company discover an entirely new technology, well, then, things start getting rough. There's no turning back for the Martians at that point and if you thought that the title of the book was just mere hyperbole, well you ain't see nothing yet. The last hundred pages or so are classic SF thriller stuff, racing along so fast that you have to almost stop and catch your breath. Typical of Bear, the science is well thought out but grasping it might require some high level physics (but then not all of the characters seem to understand it that well so don't feel ashamed), don't worry, just let go and race along for the ride. Good memorable stuff, the kind of the quality the genre could sometimes use more often.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, intelligent book with parallels to real history
Review: Enjoying "Moving Mars" will depend on a number of things, particularly your attitude about how a science fiction novel "ought" to be. For instance, one of the below reviewers refers to the beginning of the book as being "fantasy," apparently for no other reason than Bear's emphasis on character development - fantasy novels, more often written for and about women, tend to spend a lot more time building their character's "back story" and emotional life. The payoff here is that Bear's careful development of his lead characters, and the strange yet familiar pioneer world of the Martian settlers, helps explain later choices. More than with most books, the appeal of this work will depend on your own personality and interests. If you're the type of person who refers to him or herself as being "right-brained" or by contrast, essentially "scientific and logical," and tend to stick to one social sphere of people with similar bents, you may find half the book fascinating, and the other half cryptic or boring. Strictly hard SF readers who want nothing but science fact and science ideas may not like the strong social and emotional undertones; readers of historical, military and general fiction may find the heady physics of the latter half hard to digest. If you like SF a lot but don't follow the news or read history, the many parallels here with real-life history may be lost on you. Frankly, I found another review quite amusing. The reviewer didn't like the lead character, stating that she was just another young woman with a lack of life experience, like herself, and how unrealistic it would be for such a person to ascend to the vice presidency. Actually, I think this is one of Bear's strongest points in the book! Reviewer, have you ever read about Harry S. Truman - you know, the ordinary guy thrust into the presidency (after FDR died suddenly) who unleashed the atomic bomb in 1945? By the way, he was left *much* more in the dark, as vice president, than most people realize, less prepared than the character in the book to use an "ultimate weapon". Not to mention that all of us generally start off as naive children and teenagers, whether we become great leaders or decent citizens with a smaller realm of impact. So yes, Casseia is believable. Bear is pointing out that leaders often come about because of chance - being in the right place at the right time - not because they have been groomed from birth or have some special mutant power. It's also what makes him fresh as a SF writer, when so many writers in fantasy and SF still use the "Slan" mold. Here, even a genius like Charles Franklin is also an ordinary, decent man with issues and inadequacies, and smart but essentially normal ("high natural") Casseia transforms her world. The day after re-reading "Moving Mars," I stumbled upon a terrific documentary about the 1989 protests in Tiannamen Square. One of the leaders who convinced students to stay at Tiannamen Square, knowing full-well that blood would be shed, was a mild-mannered young woman crying into a microphone, talking about freedom. She was a twenty-three year old psychology student, not some Superwoman. It's the belief that leaders must be superhuman that has retarded the political process and prevented real growth in our society. If you love science and science fiction, but also love history and the humanities, you'll enjoy this. If you only like two out of four, some but probably not all of the book will appeal to you.
Rating:
Summary: Not my kind of story but very well written!
Review: STORY: As one editorial review nicely put: "a revolution is transforming the formerly passive Earth-colony of Mars. While opposing political factions on Mars battle for the support of colonists, scientists make a staggering scientific breakthrough that at once fuels the conflict and creates a united Mars front, as the technically superior Earth tries to take credit for it. Backed against a wall, colonial leaders are forced to make a monumental decision that changes the future of Mars forever" MY FEEDBACK:
**I have to make note here of some things commented on by other reviewers. Yes, the "action" doesn't get going till much later in the book (around pg300). But if you hold on till then, then you'll find a very awe inspiring concept that develops. If I hadn't read the other reviews before reading the book, I would have abandoned the story very early on.
Here is a quick rundown of what you'll find:
pages 1-50 = introduction of major characters (typical)
pages 50-115 = the romance between the two major characters
pages 115-260 = Casseia Majumadar's rise to political power (a lot of politics covered here...great if you like that kind of thing)
pages 260-290 = lessons in theories of physics for you brainiacks that like that kind of stuff
pages 290 to the end = a marvelous turn of events for Mars and those that call it home Yes, several times during the earlier stages of the book I was wondering, "Where is this story going?!?". Many scenes seemed unnecessary and just fillers that the author needed to add in order to meet some sort of page quota.
This is not my cup of tea. But it is so well written (even the political science portions, and I hate political science) that I had to give it a very good rating.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Read. Excellent Sci Fi
Review: The only thing I did not throughly enjoy while reading this was (at the time) I thought Mr Bear had a pretty dim view of human ethics. But after I put the book down and turned on the TV news; I think Mr Bear might be optimistic here. Great story, great characters, provocative conculsion.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read
Review: The book exemplifies the passion of human spirit for individualism and independence. Great read for the revolutionaries.
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