Rating: 
Summary: Good, but a bit too much tech
Review: I read this book at the recommendation of a friend. I truly enjoyed the story, but I felt there may have been a bit too much technical detail. I guess it was probably important to the story, but every time I started to get into the storyline, the author infused it with a dose of science. You can read this book and skip over that data and still understand everything, if you like. I found myself skipping a few of the pages.
Rating:
Summary: Over-rated, over-sold and not good for SF
Review: I find it hard to countenance that such a best-seller as RM should be so sadly lacking in anything so mundane as a good story. It does the whole genre of SF a diservice if books such as this grab such a large portion of market share. RM does nothing to alleviate the charge commonly levelled at SF that it's a genre for geeks and technophiles with no interest in human realities or human emotions. Granted, KSR has done an incredible job at excavating the reality of Martian settlement; a pity only that he couldn't have done the same with an engaging story.
Rating: 
Summary: great book
Review: Im only a teen, but I loved this book. I like how it probes the human mind making everyone a good guy but a bad guy. The science added kinda kept you to what this is about. The characters were all in a way someone you would like to meet. Great book, i was so excited by it it was hard to put down everywhere school, bed, bus, anywhere i went there it was! Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Technically-detailed treatise on Martian Colonization
Review: Red Mars is clearly intended for the purest of science fiction readers; Its technical detail is impressive. However, less fervent aficionados of the genre will find the book slow and uninteresting. The technical richness seems to take too much attention away from the characters; the reader is unable to establish a firm-enough bond to really care what happens to these characters, with the exception of the John Boone character. There are two sequels, that I also purchased, but was only able to stomach the second book, Green Mars. Even so, I found myself skimming past vast sections of the text to try to keep myself interested in the action.
Rating:
Summary: I like it but Green Mars is better
Review: I think Red Mars is a great book. Though it wasn't as good as Green Mars you still have to read to understand Green Mars, plus I think it will still be worth reading. In Red Mars humanity has finaly decided to reach for the stars and is getting ready a mission to colanize Mars. Simple enough but somebody onboard who shouldn't be and there are some rumors circulating that they will be fried by the solar radiation. Will they succeed?
Rating: 
Summary: Red Mars: Robinson does good with the red planet.
Review: Having ready many a good and bad review of RED MARS, I would like to remind every person of one thing: all science fiction is an excercise in thought experimentation. And as a thought experiment, RED MARS (and indeed the entire RED, GREEN and BLUE MARS trilogy) is a grand success. So what if it does not have laser battles and funny-forehead aliens?? So what if Robinson's beautifully illustrated characters don't give action-hero one-liners or fly around in scientifically absurd spaceships? The very fact that RED MARS is so down to earth (forgive the pun!) and so thoroughly researched is what makes it a great book! This is an avdenture for the truly intellectual science fiction reader. In RED MARS you will find no impossible wars with idiotically anthropomorphized aliens, no politically improbable empires, no pointy ears or grimey galactic saloons or sword-fighting space samurai. Nope. What you WILL find is a novel so superbly and masterfully crafted, that it seems like you're reading an engrossing history book on Mars instead of a fiction novel. Robinson's Mars is so tangible, after you're done reading for the day you feel like you've actually been there! The characters of RED MARS are so subtle and yet so gross in so many painfully human ways, that I had no trouble believing in them. Every character must be learned and felt out, just as we must learn and feel out people in real life. Robinson does not wack us over the head with obvious stereotypes. The heroes and the villains are not always clear, nor are they static in their respective roles. This character realism wins a big kudo from me. These people Robinson put in RED MARS are as realistic as any in the fiction universe. And Robinsons gets inside the heads of the characters so well that you really start to think hard about how people interact and deal with eachother in real life. The ability RED MARS has to lead the reader into reflecting on his or her own reality is lovely and evocative. What more can I say? Read it. Read it. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Red Mars - Good, if you like that sort of thing
Review: A heavy going novel which shows the amount of research that has gone into the story and the characterisations. It was a book I had to take breaks from reading as the pace is slow and the concentration on psychology and politics a little too deep for my liking. I am going to read the next two books (Green Mars and Blue Mars) but feel that as a good ol' fashioned story this one misses out. Perhaps it could have been done in a few less pages, missing some of the n'th degree description that so often seems to take over. If you want to read about what might happen to the first people on Mars in a non-action packed way then this might be for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Red Mars = Huge disappointment!
Review: After all the wonderful reviews and a Nebula Award given to Red Mars I expected a lot. I fail to see the appeal of this novel. Robinson has little talent for character development leading to unbelieveable and boring characters. Out of 572 pages I would be surprised if the you could amass 25 pages of dialogue. How can you develop characters without having them interact with one another. The book is one long boring narative with spurts of minute scientific detail that add nothing to the story. I felt that Robinson was only trying to impress me with his research and depth of the scientific knowledge rather than tell me a story. Red Mars has the dubious honor of being the first science fiction novel that bore me to death. Want a good read about Mars? Read Ben Bova's "Mars".
Rating:
Summary: Politics in a science fiction story
Review: A well-written and interesting book, Red Mars is not just a science fiction story, but a look at the future based on what was known at the time. The real story is not the colonization of Mars, but of the politics that surround it. The most interesting part of writing is the telling of the tale from the perspectives of the different characters. A good read, part sci-fi, part mystery.
Rating:
Summary: I can rest easily for the rest of my life..., cos I know ...
Review: Well, what to say. I am so happy to find this site! A chance to say something that I've got on my soul for last year or so... Kim Stanley Robinson brought the peace back to me. I know the future thanks to him. Visionary, not just the SF writer,.. he is. Doesn't mater the names, but this will happen. I am sure. This book marked my life, and represents one of the corner stones of y life. It details out lots of my personal philosophical and political view's, let alone the beauty of writing itself.
Arcady is my hero...
Thank you Mr. Robinson!
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