Rating: 
Summary: Taming a planet
Review: Kim Stanley Robinson has done one incredible, and very cohesive, job in setting down the words describing what an actual effort to settle a planet in our solar system might really be like.This is not your run of the mill "kill all the little green men..." shoot 'em up space operas that various authors have bombarded us with in the past. Instead it is a serious attempt to portray all of the little details, from politics to human frailties; from engineering "can-dos" to engineering "maybes". He has gone to meticulous effort to lay out a Mars before us readers based upon what we now think we know to be fact about that planet, and gently suffused it with logical extrapolation on what we may find should we actually ever set foot there. Mr. Robinson has also gone to great pains to paint us an extremely graphic image of what vistas we would see while strolling around the surface of Mars. He has named and described all of the mountains, craters, valleys, buttes, and mesas with such accuracy and attention to detail, you start wondering if he speaks from experience. But, don't believe it is all just an exercise in idealism, as I mentioned before this is very much a human endevour, and where there are humans there will always be struggle. For instance, such a massive an undertaking as the colonization of Mars would obviously require a massive commitment of money. Such a massive committment of one's life, safety and future, would require a group of colonists with very individualistic ideas, people that tend to think outside the "box" so to speak. The money people and the "free thinkers" are bound to part ways on just what the future of Mars should or should not be, so we must inevitably come to War; and Mr. Robinson does not disappoint in this regard, the "troops" are sent in --- and the missiles, and the rocks, fly...
Rating: 
Summary: Just read Red
Review: This first book of Robinson's massive three-book epic is the interesting one. The first book is about the journey, travelling on Mars, exploring, technology, and the like. The political struggles and interpersonal intrigue have started but this book doesn't rest on them. I wouldn't say that Red Mars is a "page turner" but at least it isn't a "page flipper" like (to me at least) the next two. Red Mars starts out being a hard SF tech novel but by the time it's done it has mutated into a mostly political work that could just as easily be written about (somewhat incestuous) neighbors wrangling for control of your own subdivision's community association. That trend continues in the later books, where the technology becomes a sort of background murmur and most of the text is devoted to longwinded and somewhat distant arguments. Enjoy Red Mars for the not terribly intimate and moderately bloated saga of planetary exploration and development that it is. But don't expect as much from the later books. They're suitable for stuck-on-an-airplane-with-six-hours-to-kill reading but not all that exciting otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: A little slow, but interesting
Review: This book is obviously the first of a series, and if it is read as such, with the intent of reading the rest, it is worth the effort. The science aspect of the science fiction was fascinating to me, but as mentioned by some previous reviewers, the plot moved along slowly, and there were too many characters I didn't care about. It was worth the effort to get to Green Mars, however, so I'll recommend it for that purpose.
Rating: 
Summary: Details, details
Review: If you are looking for an action packed thriller, look somewhere else. In the first 25 pages a main character is killed -- BUT then the next 250 pages trace -- in laborious, almost mind-numbing detail -- the preparations for the Mars trek, the flight itself, the setting-up of the base, opening containers of supplies and descriptions of what was in them, the step-by-step construction of buildings, the Martian landscapes, etc. This is interspersed with lectures on psychology, politics, philosophy, and various other topics. Then in the last 200 pages the population builds up on Mars, a war occurs destroying everything, and the scenes are all described in long, extreme detail. If you are a geologist, or are trying to paint scenes of Mars and need detailed descriptions, then this book's for you. If you want a fast-paced (or even medium-paced) story, you'll be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificient and Accurate science fiction
Review: Red Mars is a crowning achievment for Kim-Stanley Robinson. It appears that he has studied hard for this trilogy, the books are packed with detailed descriptions of mars's topography, scientific ideas and the hardships of colonization. The only downside in my eyes are the lengthy descriptions of the surface, i couldn't concentrate for so long and i skipped a few lines here and there. Summary: excellent A+ book
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: Robinson achieves a pitch perfect balance of real science and fiction in Red Mars. The story of the 100 colonists is gripping. From John Boone, the legend, Coyote, the mysterious stowaway and the computer-like Sax Russell, there are characters in this read that you will not forget. The Drama is first class and keeps you coming back for more in the following two books. The revolution that occurs is really well written. After reading this book you will not look into the nighttime sky the same ever again. Red Mars may very well be a novel that is prophetic in its depiction of the future. I also highly recomend some music to accompany the reading- for some good sugestions read the next review! Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Wild Trip
Review: Hang on to your hats and take a wild trip to the future. Red Mars is the first book in a trilogy, Green Mars and Blue Mars being the 2nd and 3rd books. It begins in the future, 30 years from now, and spans approximately 250 years by the end of Blue Mars. The science is astonishingly fresh, accurate and much of it is real. The rest of it is on the scientific drawing board. Mr. Robinson's ability to intelligently write about topics ranging from geology to history to social structure to string theory is impressive. If you love science and projected possibilities where that science can take us, this book is for you. Red Mars, and it's sequels, are powerful and descriptive overviews of the debate over whether to terraform or not to terraform Mars. These questions are a must for us to debate in our own time as we venture away from Mother Earth to the other planets in our solar system. We must have a grasp of the impact we will make before we do so. They address these issues and show at least one possible outcome of human diaspora througout the solar sytem and eventually to the stars beyond. It isn't the full answer to the real life problems and realities we will face as we send manned missions to Mars and other places, but it is a vital starting place to make us consider things we may not otherwise consider. I highly recommend Red Mars and both its sequels. To enhance my experience while reading these books, I listen to music. I would like to suggest a playlist. 1. Claude Debussy, Khamma (orchestral work) 2. Beethoven's 6th Symphony (the Pastoral Symphony) 3. Vince Bell, Texas Plates 4. Pat Metheny, A Map of the World 5. Pat Metheny, Quartet 6. Pat Metheny, As Falls Witchita, So Falls Witchita Falls 7. Igor Stravinsky, Firebird Suite 8. Serge Prokofiev, Scythian Suite 9. Sting, Brand New Day Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Red Mars
Review: This is that type of science fiction which adheres to strict scientific plausibilty without irritating forrays into fantacy or spiritualism. The story leaps from the point of view of one charactor to another, a rotating first person which I found more interesting than an omniscient narration. Unfortunatly the day I finished the book,NASA effectively shelved the current Mars program so the future timeframe in which the story takes place should probably be pushed forward into the future a bit more.Consider all the sci-fi that was to take place in such futuristic years as 1999 or 2000 A.D. All we wound up with was more T.V. and more ways to bye stuph (I'm not complaining).
Rating:
Summary: For a true love of Mars...
Review: you must get this book immediately. I would recommend that you get Green Mars and Blue Mars at the same time you buy this, because you won't want to wait to read the rest of the story. it's so real- by the end you'll love Mars so much, you'll want to sign up to be one of the first 100 colonists.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 stars is kind of generous. Might should give it 1 1/2
Review: Don't believe the high praise many give this book. The characters are all unappealing and impossible to connect too, the events are frequently unrealistic, and the book drags terribly at times. It certainly isn't all bad. Sometimes it seems as if it's about to get positively interesting but it always manages to get back off track. The idea: the first colonist on Mars deal with idealogical conflicts about how to treat this new frontier could have made a compelling book. But in this case, it didn't.
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