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Green Mars

Green Mars

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Book!
Review: Another great book, continouation of another great series. Cant wait to get the next book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent book ranking among the better Sci-Fi Novels
Review: Robinson's second book in his acclaimed Mars Trilogy starts off with the introduction of some new characters that are native Martians. Basically, some time has past since the end of the last novel and the failed rebel revolt of 2066, and the remaining first hundred have found shelter with Hiroko and the others that abandoned the colony early in its development.

This novel is an incredible book and among the best I've read. The only reason I gave the book a mere four is because the other two books in the series are a little better.

Highly recommended if you're a sci-fi fan who loves character and setting development and a realistic future based on actual current knowledge and hypothesis. If you enjoyed the first, this is a must read (especially because the third book in the trilogy is just incredible).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring socialist proselytizing, not good storytelling
Review: "Green Mars'" tiresome socialist agenda succeeded in committing the worst sin in fiction. Halfway through the book, I was so bored by the foolish politics that I realized I didn't care about any of the characters or their plight (with the exception of Sax, the only sympathetic character in the entire trilogy.) Towards the end of "Green Mars," I realized that not only did I *not* care, I actually *wanted* most of the characters to be killed, have their revolution fail, and have the transnationals take over. When an author's political agenda succeeds in actually turning your readers against your protagonists and their struggles, then, IMO, your story has failed. A monumental failure -- skip it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: More of the same
Review: Green Mars is slightly improved over Red Mars. Robinson finally starts to describe characters better thorough their thoughts and actions. Characters are still wandering around a lot describing the landscape, but it's not nearly as tedious. I found the discussions on terraforming interesting as a scientist, but I think a lot of readers will find it boring. Nothing really happens till the very last chapter and even then, it isn't all that exciting. Robinson's books are really technology driven, characters and a plot take second place. I'm starting the third book now, but I don't think I would have bothered unless I had already bought it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: surreal and better than the first
Review: After the harsh realism of the first book, Grren Mars has a completely different mindset. As the characters begin to grow older and the world begins to change more and more quickly, the book becomes very surreal. It seams as if the characters are losing their minds and all their past issues begin to catch up with them.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: disappointing
Review: This could have been a better book if it had a tighter plot. There are few ideas and the science is not as good as in Red Mars. The characters are good and the idea of writing of the future like it was history is interesting. The method of Robinson is flawed with too little action and meandering descriptions. There is no urgency and no sense of what is a priority. I don't recommend this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Martian saga gets bogged down in descriptive overkill
Review: The first book in this trilogy, *Red Mars*, is a brilliant tale of interplanetary exploration and colonization, rife with human drama and supported by a plot that rings true as a very likely "future history." The sequel, however, is less satisfying. After an enticing first hundred pages in which new characters, developments, and plot possibilities are introduced, the story bogs down and much of the middle portion of the book is devoted to ENDLESS "description" of what Mr. Robinson believes Mars might look like at particular stages of its future "terraformed" mutilation by human beings. I applaud Robinson's desire to make the Martian landscapes real to the reader, but he should know that past a certain point, people become saturated with endless descriptions of physical terrain. After reading page after page of these descriptions, my eyes finally began to glaze over. The final portion of the book is much more satisfying, as the second part of the story, involving political intrigue and various clashes of personalities, comes to an exciting climax. Robinson once again impresses in terms of his knowledge of the sciences and his ability to bring this knowledge to bear in his writing. In fact, one of the key developments in the plot (those who have not read the book, avert your eyes here!)involves the catastropic melting of part of the Antarctic ice sheet, an eventuality that leads to rising sea levels of political upheaval worldwide. This very possibility has recently received significant press coverage. Kudos to Robinson for weaving future disaster scenarios that seem maximally plausible. Overall, however, I think that the book could easily have been a hundred pages shorter without any loss of impact.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Description of mars and very little real character and plot
Review: A lot of description of mars, a little description of some new techincal ideas, some character and plot development. It was not clear what the real hero of the novel was: mars?, first 100? new society? earth?... real jumble of a tale. Disappointing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great story but often gets bogged down in desciption of Mars
Review: Having read and throughly enjoyed Red Mars I looked forward to going to my local bookstore or internet site and getting the next installment. I was not disappointed. The story of the first hundred and their struggles for whatever goal they have is both captivating and thought-provoking. Where I think the novel becomes 'bogged down' for lack of a better phrase is in the lengthy descriptions that Robinson goes into concerning Mars itself. I really enjoyed them at the beginning of the book to help set the stage but when length continued to be there after page 400, I found myself skipping over sections that I knew were good writing but not what I was interested in at the moment which was the direct plot. Towards the end I wasn't sure whether it was a brilliant sci-fi novel or a really good future travel guide to Mars. This shouldn't discourage those of you who really enjoy sci-fi on a grand and obviously well-thoughtout scale.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a classic, too many mistakes
Review: Mr.Robinson have spent a lot of time processing all information on Mars currently available. And this is what takes the book up to mark 5. However the rest is crap. Grandmothers making love to grandfathers? Give me a break. Government authorities can't find First Hundred on the planet, even with satellites. They "hunt" them, you see, approximately once a century. Further more, I happened to be born in Russia. In 22nd century russians are still the "indians". Page 536, first line "Maya Katarina Toitovna": this is where Mr. Robinson lost me. People, technically russians do not have middle name. It is father's name they sometimes put in the middle, and of course father's name cannot be female like "Katarina". "Toitovna" grammaticaly cannot be the surname even in 22nd century. Sure other readers (Japanese, arab, etc)will find similar mistakes.Mr.Robinson, give me a break. Are you count only on American readers? Why don't you open a dictionary or watch CNN for that matter. After book like that I better re-read something from Asimov, Silverberg or Heinlein.


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