Rating: 
Summary: Great hard-SF adventure!
Review: Really loved it! A great adventure. This one really gave me the feeling of what landing on Mars would really be like. A really great story with interesting characters and lots of adventure.
Rating: 
Summary: An eminently believable space survival yarn
Review: So, what would you do as the commander of the third manned Mars mission who's discovered, after a back-slappingly successful landing, your ride home is busted and Earth can't send a rescue cab? Wow, talk about the potential for a nasty mood swing!In MARS CROSSING, this is the dodgy predicament facing John Radkowski and his crew of five (Ryan, Tana, Estrella, Chamlong, and Trevor) in 2028. Their return vehicle, previously landed on Mars to robotically manufacture fuel from the planet's atmosphere for the trip back, didn't function as its instruments indicated. As a matter of fact, it's now just so much scrap metal. The only solution is to travel 4,000 miles to the polar cap and the landing site of the first Mars mission - Brazilian no less! - in 2020 whose crew mysteriously died on the surface. Their return vehicle is presumably still intact and ready to go. Trouble is, it only has room for two pilgrims. I rarely read space sci-fi because the plots, ETs and technology are so exorbitantly far-fetched. I suspect life will be less fanciful, even in the far future. However, in MARS CROSSING, author Geoffrey Landis, a working NASA scientist, has crafted a solid tale around plausible new technology and the planetary knowledge gained from the Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor projects, both of which he was a part. Even the low key villains of the piece, for example the itchy life form that doomed the second Mars manned mission in 2022, are relatively mundane. (At least it wasn't Tinea cruris!) I especially liked some aspects of the mission's technology, such as the Spectra 10 super-fiber rope, almost as thin as a spider's web, which can hold thousands of pounds, and the super-light Butterfly airplane. Pretty neat stuff! I did find the composition of the crew slightly improbable. Estrella was the wife of the long-dead Brazilian mission commander. And Trevor's only reason for being there - talk about Dead Weight - was that he won the $1000 per ticket lottery that helped finance the cost of the expedition. Now, really! However, once I got over that credibility hiccup, I enjoyed this book very much and, since it is the author's first novel, much credit is due.
Rating:
Summary: Good hard science fiction
Review: The novel was written by a scientist and is seems more factual than fanciful. It is well written and has a good story line. I got a little feel of what it might me like to be on Mars. The novel is perhaps not quite a "page turner" exactly, it was a very good read and I enjoyed it.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay Science, Bad Fiction
Review: The science (as you might expect) is pretty good, but as fiction this book falls flat. It has no dramatic tension, two-dimensional (at best!) characters, and an ending so abrupt and so lame I almost threw the book at the wall. Spend your money on Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Books instead.
Rating:
Summary: Grand story of adventure combined with hard science
Review: There is a category of Science Fiction, that we like to call "hard" science fiction, frequented by the likes of Steven Baxter, Greg Egan, and David Brin. Then there is this stunning first novel by an author that I would have to call "ultra-hard" or "Real world" science fiction. That is because Geoffrey A. Landis really works on Mars technology! His "real" job is a Scientist at NASA Jogn Glenn Research Center, working on Mars technology. So if there ever was anyone qualified to write a novel on Mars, he is. We have waited for years for his first novel, since all his short story quality has been so consistently excellent. He has already won Hugo and Nebula awards for his short stories. In this first novel, the scientific explanation is full and authehtic. But the characters and their development is also splendid. The story has the epic quality of real-world adventures. It is high-quality hard science fiction with the authenticy of a NASA insider. This should be the Hugo award winner for the best Science Fiction book of 2000.
Rating:
Summary: Grand story of adventure combined with hard science
Review: There is a category of Science Fiction, that we like to call "hard" science fiction, frequented by the likes of Steven Baxter, Greg Egan, and David Brin. Then there is this stunning first novel by an author that I would have to call "ultra-hard" or "Real world" science fiction. That is because Geoffrey A. Landis really works on Mars technology! His "real" job is a Scientist at NASA Jogn Glenn Research Center, working on Mars technology. So if there ever was anyone qualified to write a novel on Mars, he is. We have waited for years for his first novel, since all his short story quality has been so consistently excellent. He has already won Hugo and Nebula awards for his short stories. In this first novel, the scientific explanation is full and authehtic. But the characters and their development is also splendid. The story has the epic quality of real-world adventures. It is high-quality hard science fiction with the authenticy of a NASA insider. This should be the Hugo award winner for the best Science Fiction book of 2000.
Rating:
Summary: Mars Crossing - A Giant Leap for Mankind
Review: This book is excellent! Landis has written the book in short chapters as in the style of Arthur C Clarke so that it is very readable - I found I could not put it down however. The characters are very carefully developed unlike so many Science fiction writers, so that one really does begin to care about what happens to them. Their very different motives are explored in detail. Why would anyone want to be on the third mission to Mars? When things start to go wrong the crew conceive a desperate plan involving crossing half the planet. Landis manages to capture the realism through very careful images and a sound technical basis for his story. Whilst the mission is set in the future one really has a feeling that the mission could be happening today thanks to his use of Dr Robert Zubrins (The Case for Mars, and Entering Space)mission concepts and descriptions of manned versions of hardware already being develped. The tension is as real and palpable (remember Apollo 13?). The easy style with which the author writes about Mars is reminiscent of some of Gareth Lynn Powells short stories. Whilst this book is not up to the heavyweight standards of Kim Stanley Robinsons Red Mars, It does not run out of steam as with K.S.Rs later works Green and Blue Mars. Do the crew survive? You will have to read the book to find out but I promise you, you will care what happens. I only hope someone at NASA reads the book in advance of planning the real mission! More people will be asking. If we can go to the red planet with todays technology why arn't we trying? On To Mars!!
Rating: 
Summary: Cross Mars With Another Book
Review: This book is mediocre at best. It's well over 300 pages, but I read it in one day, but only because most of the "chapters" are only a half a page long. The book could have been so much better. Ben Bova, who is not even a NASA insider did a much better job with "Mars". I'm still interested in picking up Landis's book of short stories. He has some good ideas in Mars Crossing, but nothing ever came to fruition.
Rating:
Summary: Cross Mars With Another Book
Review: This book is mediocre at best. It's well over 300 pages, but I read it in one day, but only because most of the "chapters" are only a half a page long. The book could have been so much better. Ben Bova, who is not even a NASA insider did a much better job with "Mars". I'm still interested in picking up Landis's book of short stories. He has some good ideas in Mars Crossing, but nothing ever came to fruition.
Rating:
Summary: Decent plot, no sympathetic characters
Review: This book is reminiscent of the old 50s hard science fiction, where the science is believable, but the characters are cardboard. Even with half of the book devoted to flashbacks to explain the motivations and personalities of the various crew members, not one character is sympathetic or memorable. It is difficult to root for anyone to get off the planet. An earlier review suggested that the book had a surprise ending. (Note: Semi-spoiler to follow!) It is telegraphed about a third of the way into the book which of the crew would make it to the polar area. Even the "surprise" person who sacrificed him/herself was easily predictable. Mr. Landis' short fiction is excellent, and he should stick to that format.
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