Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: As it is on Mars is destined to be a classic in the sci-fi genre. Enjoy a tale of immense struggle and triumph as three super-hero like scientists transform the harsh Martian environment into a city unlike any found on Earth. A must read for any Mars enthusiast
Rating:
Summary: As It Is On Mars
Review: As it is on Mars is destined to be a classic in the sci-fi genre. Enjoy a tale of immense struggle and triumph as three super-hero like scientists transform the harsh Martian environment into a city unlike any found on Earth. A must read for any Mars enthusiast
Rating:
Summary: Mars a journey in time
Review: Cronin, (an obviuos newcomer) has compiled an amazing amount of information pertaining to Mars, into a relativelty small amount of text. Great job! Who is this masked man. I have searched everywhere for more of his work. He has also weaved a deviuos plot of destruction and sabatoge into the story line that has left me craving for a sequal. The story line deals with every possible disaster that could take place on Mars. As was mentioned in other reviews, Cronin could use an editor to eliminate numerous typos!!
Rating: 
Summary: A "how to" to live on Mars.
Review: Currently, I'm about 2/3 through this book, so I'm not saying anything about the ending! The characters spend the whole book speaking in pages of expository technical details on how to survive on Mars in a forced and stilted fashion. Their dialogs are about as far from "realistic" as you can get, so for me they fell flat.The opening for the book was an absolute killer for a novel; two large chapters of Congressional hearings, after a 2-page prologue explaining some of the lead-in events on Mars. If I wasn't such a Mars fanatic, I wouldn't have made it past these chapters. Technically, I'm enjoying the book. Most everything in it has been completely predictable, but that might be due in part to the fact I've read most of the other "Mars" books currently in print, so the way they set up their colony, such as it is, is old news to me. It's not a page-turner, but I'm not stopping either. It's a bit of a treatise on setting up a colony, in many respects, so some readers may get a lot of pleasure out of it for that. One of the most enjoyable parts of the book are Cronin's insights into Zen Buddhism, perhaps because I know nothing about it.
Rating: 
Summary: As It Is
Review: I have agonized over this review for a week; I really, really want you to read this book, but I also want you to know that I didn't hide my mostly rational brain when I read the book. I want you to know how much I enjoyed the book while at the same time I want you to know that I found a few flaws. Caution: If you are looking for pure adventure in your SF, don't read this review or this book because you'll be disappointed. This book is for thoughtful readers only. As It Is On Mars is a close cousin to books like Stan Robinson's Mars Trilogy and Greg Bear's Moving Mars. Thomas William Cronin combines suspenseful action and drama with thoughtful discussion of politics, economics, and philosophy. Like those authors, Cronin has done his research well and will make you think you are actually on Mars. Being a geologist, earth science teacher, and cartophile, I enjoy books more when they get their geography correct and Cronin nails the geography. He even lets us in on the geographic feature naming process and does it well. Being a hard core rationalist, I enjoyed the fact that Cronin fed my need to think about things until my brain hurts. He kept me up late several nights in a row. The characters in the book are very real- heroic by necessity and flawed by nature - good folks to spend a few evenings with. All of this makes me want to give the book an enthusiastic 5 stars. On the other hand, the few flaws I found make me want to rate the book accurately and hence the 4 star rating [I would make it 4 and a fraction if (they) would allow such a rating]. My biggest problem is with the expository dialogue in the opening section. There's too much of it and it sounds too rehearsed. I like the way the Senate hearing sets up the story - this is clever and fresh. But a Senate hearing doesn't usually sound like a stage play. The dialogue in the opening section sounded a little too rehearsed - like a TV commercial where the characters are using expository dialogue to explain the product being advertised. The dialogue continues in this vein on Mars, but is better incorporated into the story and has a much more natural feel. My other problem - extremely minor - is with the number of typos in the book. There are a few more typos than I usually find in the first hardback printing of a story. Neither of these things should stop you from reading this great book. Thomas William Cronin has given us an excellent addition to the ever increasing list of hard SF Mars fiction. I'm glad there is going to be a sequel, but I wish (they) would put it out sooner...
Rating:
Summary: As It Is
Review: I have agonized over this review for a week; I really, really want you to read this book, but I also want you to know that I didn't hide my mostly rational brain when I read the book. I want you to know how much I enjoyed the book while at the same time I want you to know that I found a few flaws. Caution: If you are looking for pure adventure in your SF, don't read this review or this book because you'll be disappointed. This book is for thoughtful readers only. As It Is On Mars is a close cousin to books like Stan Robinson's Mars Trilogy and Greg Bear's Moving Mars. Thomas William Cronin combines suspenseful action and drama with thoughtful discussion of politics, economics, and philosophy. Like those authors, Cronin has done his research well and will make you think you are actually on Mars. Being a geologist, earth science teacher, and cartophile, I enjoy books more when they get their geography correct and Cronin nails the geography. He even lets us in on the geographic feature naming process and does it well. Being a hard core rationalist, I enjoyed the fact that Cronin fed my need to think about things until my brain hurts. He kept me up late several nights in a row. The characters in the book are very real- heroic by necessity and flawed by nature - good folks to spend a few evenings with. All of this makes me want to give the book an enthusiastic 5 stars. On the other hand, the few flaws I found make me want to rate the book accurately and hence the 4 star rating [I would make it 4 and a fraction if (they) would allow such a rating]. My biggest problem is with the expository dialogue in the opening section. There's too much of it and it sounds too rehearsed. I like the way the Senate hearing sets up the story - this is clever and fresh. But a Senate hearing doesn't usually sound like a stage play. The dialogue in the opening section sounded a little too rehearsed - like a TV commercial where the characters are using expository dialogue to explain the product being advertised. The dialogue continues in this vein on Mars, but is better incorporated into the story and has a much more natural feel. My other problem - extremely minor - is with the number of typos in the book. There are a few more typos than I usually find in the first hardback printing of a story. Neither of these things should stop you from reading this great book. Thomas William Cronin has given us an excellent addition to the ever increasing list of hard SF Mars fiction. I'm glad there is going to be a sequel, but I wish (they) would put it out sooner...
Rating:
Summary: really fun!
Review: If you've been reading the various "Mars" science fiction novels that have come out in the past 10 yrs or so, this is a really fun book to read. I enjoyed it much more than the recent entries by Zubrin, Landis, or even Kim Stanley Robinson. However, in addition to the criticisms others have raised here about typos and editing, one other thing Cronin would have benefited from is to have a real Mars geologist give the book a read, before it was published. There are some real errors in the geology. For one thing, no dunes on Mars move as fast as those in Cronin's story, and quartz is practically nonexistant. (dunes hardly move at all under the present climate conditions). Regardless, a really fun book that I only wish was taken to that next level (some editing for typos, and a *Mars* geologist's input).
Rating:
Summary: really fun!
Review: If you've been reading the various "Mars" science fiction novels that have come out in the past 10 yrs or so, this is a really fun book to read. I enjoyed it much more than the recent entries by Zubrin, Landis, or even Kim Stanley Robinson. However, in addition to the criticisms others have raised here about typos and editing, one other thing Cronin would have benefited from is to have a real Mars geologist give the book a read, before it was published. There are some real errors in the geology. For one thing, no dunes on Mars move as fast as those in Cronin's story, and quartz is practically nonexistant. (dunes hardly move at all under the present climate conditions). Regardless, a really fun book that I only wish was taken to that next level (some editing for typos, and a *Mars* geologist's input).
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down
Review: Just when you thought you'd read everything anyone could say about Mars - along comes this one. The first part - set in a Senate fact-finding hearing - is worth reading on its own, for its view of how public space programs work (or don't work), warty politics and all. But then the story really starts, on Mars - and it seemed so believable that I really felt I had experienced what these astronauts did - seeing and feeling what Mars is really like, and what it would take to survive there as a being originally adapted to a totally different environment. Strangely, space seems so friendly in much science fiction that it was actually an eye-opener to get this experience of how dangerous it really is. And that makes for great suspense. These are wonderful characters, too, very believable yet very special human beings. The science is understandable and fascinating and integral to the story as it unfolds. Especially, I appreciated the way science and philosophy are melded in the story and the characters - both being necessary to survival, as the three characters combine their talents and knowledge, and help each other to hone their mental outlook as a matter of survival. I haven't read anything in a long time that hooked me so completely; I didn't want it to end and was very happy to see that there will be a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Zen And The Art Of Martian Survival
Review: This novel begins with a Senate hearing, saving perhaps two hundred pages of text and effectively getting this novel off to a rolling start at an early stage. After this hearing and some miscellaneous items the novel begins in earnest with the Martian explorers having to deal with a disaster on Mars. I won't reveal more here so I won't be a spoiler, but at times it was to me a page turner, an emotional roller coaster. Like many science fiction novels, this one tends to be philosophical. Thomas Cronin skillfully weaves the philosophy of Zen into the storyline. Zen is mysterious to most people, including myself before I read this book, but in reality it is a fascinating subject. I also loved the rational world view of Denise, the physician and geneticist. Cronin captures much of the beauty and mystery that the planet Mars is to us. He also includes a lot of the science that we know about Mars, without having a preaching quality to it, so you can learn a lot by reading this book. Much of the writing style Cronin uses here is a narative, interspersed with conversations between characters, to great effect. I found the plot well developed and plausible, and the characters rich and believable. I have read several Mars Novels over the past few years, I have to state that I enjoyed this one as much as any of the others, and that is saying a lot for this relatively unknown author. It was a rather lengthy read but worth it.
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