Rating: 
Summary: Excellent hard-sf
Review: Like usual Bear works, this book is full of far out scientific ideas, from nanotechnology to artificial intelligence and spacetime engineering. Likewise, the social and political interactions in the story are fairly beleivable- unlike many hard sf stories. The book is a little long at times, perhaps, but it was a good read. Science: 10 Social aspects:9 Characters: 6
Rating: 
Summary: Moving Mars is Half-Way There
Review: Moving Mars raises several interesting issues concerning colonial politics and groundbreaking technology upon the lives of everyday humans, yet I couldn't help but wonder if it could have been done in a shorter amount of time than it takes to read this book. Granted, the ideas are bodly presented, but the characters fail to ignite and the middle of the book, the long journey to Earth, could have been condensed without the story losing any integrity. Instead, the integrity is threatened by such wobbling. The last two sections is when the story really takes off, as the characters finally do something about their situation instead of visiting each other for two hundred pages. Not a bad read, but I'm not convinced it deserved the Nebula Award. Bear is better than this
Rating: 
Summary: A dissapointing read
Review: I can't believe this is the same guy who wrote the brilliant "Queen of Angels". Most of the novel is about politics, but doesn't adequately explain why we should be rooting for Mars, other than the narrator is Martian. It gets pretty good in the last 150 pages or so, when it becomes a story about science and gains some suspense. It feels like Bear took his wonderful scientific speculations and hid them away in a couple of pages, probably for broader appeal. I guess it made for more sales, but it did not make for a great read
Rating: 
Summary: Sucked.
Review: Maybe I didn't get it. I thought the book was juvenile, the characters one-dimensional, and the plot didn't grab me. Well below Greg Bear at his best
Rating:
Summary: A must read for sci-fi lovers
Review: I don't care what people say, this book is fabulous. I have read nothing better. Greg Bear is a genius hard sci-fi writer. It is true, parts of the book are a little long and drawn out, but they are still good. I read this book a second time, and it was twice as good. It's a complicated book, and isn't for lazy readers. You have to want to read it, and have to want to live the life of Casseia Majumdar. You won't regret reading this masterpiece
Rating:
Summary: POLTICAL HARD SF NOVEL
Review: BEAR IS PROBABLY THE BEST HARD SF WRITER IN THE MARKET TODAY. MOVING MARS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE. HE TELLS US A STORY
OF A UNFORGETTABLE WOMAN IN A UNFORGETTABLE TIME. WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO MEMORABLE IS THAT YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE READING TRUE HISTORY RATHER THAN A STORY SET IN THE YEAR 2176.BEAR ALSO PACKS HIS NOVEL WITH POLTICAL INTRIGUE, HARD SCIENCE
AND ROMANCE.MOVING MARS IS A NOVEL THAT LIVES UP TO THE
DESCRIPTION ON THE WORD "EPIC".
Rating:
Summary: Search for Identity...
Review: Throw it all out to the Noach. Its a Hard Sci-Fi classic for Greg Bear. Mars Colony is trying to be indy-pen., But earth won't let go. The trade is too important. Strong forces on Mars make their way and try to be indie. Its a book about Power struggle and strange ways
Rating:
Summary: A good book in search of an editor
Review: I read this book before I found out it had won a Nebula, and if I had known it beforehand, my disappointment might have been greater. "Moving Mars" has an epic scope, and all the elements of a good yarn, but they are undermined by an interminable passage (pun intended), a six-month journey the narrator takes to Earth. This section of the book is long, plodding, almost takes 6 months real-time to read, and could have been eliminated without sacrificing much.
More damaging to the book is a narrator who is frequently in a position to affect momentous events, but remains almost utterly passive, with the exception of making a single, fateful decision late in the book. The character's lack of initiative is inexplicable, considering that she is a politician who ends up holding several important posts.
The book is presented as her explanation of events after the fact, but given the extraordinary events that she is witness to and a participant in, there is an alarming lack of depth in her discussion of her motives, thoughts, feelings. The set-up allows her to struggle with the decision she ultimately made, but the quality (and amount) of reflection on this action is minimal, undermining some of the narrative force the book could have had. I'd recommend it, but not to an awards committee.
Brian Santo
Rating:
Summary: Hard SF at it's best.
Review: A brilliant book. Bear mixes modern scientific thought, political tension and the strangest romance in a truly believable book. Could we soon be moving Mars
Rating:
Summary: best read in years
Review: Moving Mars Probably the best Science Fiction books I have read in years. Bear's fully imagined universe (not so, so, distant future) is simply amazing. He explains without getting lost in detail or glossing over key stuff. His New York of the future is a book in itself, never mind the complete and functional Mars he imagines. No puffy "terra forming" cop out for him, but realistic, hard scrabble living. Key is his imagining of the future of nano technology, already being worked on in labs today, Bear puts his own spin on it. Fascinating stuff even if we are probably centuries away from the reality. Less clear are his "educational bacteria and virus" but that's ok. The plot it not bad. It involves politics, but it is no Dune in those terms. I would guess that the political plot points are there to move the story along. The characters are all believable (even the bad guys have some dimension to them). The love life of the main folks seems a little thin, but hey, no room for everything! One major problem I had was with the crucial plot point. Without giving too much away, to do what was done, even the first time, would in my mind create tremendous reactions on earth and mars. Neat idea but it strains credibility. Still, a great read, lots of fun and well imagined.
|
