Rating: 
Summary: loved it
Review: i have read the road to mars and i loved it i had him autograph my book i hope all of you read it brooke
Rating: 
Summary: Alas poor Eric, I thought I knew him....
Review: Initially, I was thrilled to find Mr. Idle had penned a novel. But then I began to read it. Through the entire novel, I prayed it would get better. While it was readable, the plot was disappointingly average and the jokes were few and far from his best Monty Python efforts. Perhaps, my expectations were too high as the novel came from such a comedic genius. As a result, it pains me to be unable to recommend the book to friends, many of whom know the words to every Python bit verbatim.
Rating: 
Summary: What's with all the obtuseness, here, reviewers?,
Review: Eric Idle has written a very entertaining book. Plot twists at the end? Come-on. As far as I can tell, there was no plot twist, maybe I'm just stupid. But look, the narrator get's more and more opportunistic/careerist throughout, did you expect that he wouldn't get his comeuppance? The whole Carlton/Comus/Wallace plot was straining to a denoument. And it was a very perfect denoument at that. What do you want? BTW 'Comus' was the Latin god of comedy, was he not? I really see a movie in this: I see Max von Sydow as Keppler, Tammy Faye Baker as Wooley, Peter O'toole as Charles Jay Brown, Catherine Zeta Jones as Katy Wallace, and two relative unknowns as the two comics. David Bowie has to be Carlton, of course. The comic theory spottily presented has many unattributed references to Desmond Morris, maybe others. All of which Eric Idle would deny, of course.
Rating: 
Summary: The Road To Mars is hilarious
Review: This "post-modem" novel is about an android who works for a couple of comedians from the 22nd century traveling the outer vaudeville circuit of the solar system. This book made me laugh: not the generalized laugh of "Ha-ha, that's funny!" but the laugh of implausibility. Of "hee-hee" like I used to do watching Monty Python's Flying Circus. It wasn't until I'd finished that I looked at the author's picture on the flyleaf & recognized who Eric Idle was, realized why I'd chuckled at the improbability of the plot as it thickened.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad reading...
Review: The novel takes an almost circular approach to the story line. You keep hopping from past to future. The narrator starts to get a little annoying, but his role is important. I say this because it looks like Idle's point to the character is to show that people will never change. People will do anything to make themselves look better, even if they have to do it in an illegal way. Carlton is the antithesis to the narrator. Carlton is totaly objective and is just trying to learn. I would recommend this book. It's good for a laugh.
Rating: 
Summary: Sick and stupid
Review: This book isn't funny. Although I do like the story, Idle tries using words like "vibrator" and "testicle" to spark laughter. Instead, he just makes me sick. Idle just thinks that if he uses enough vulgarity, he will make us laugh. I don't know about anyone else, but it didn't make me laugh. Of course, if he left the unnecessary sex out, it would only be about twenty pages long.
Rating:
Summary: He may want to stick to sketch comedy...
Review: Probably a good read for any Idle or Python fans who want to complete the canon, but for most other sci-fi lovers, "The Road to Mars" is a merely passable novel. The characters are not really vivid, things are not terribly well-explained, and Idle's glib and self-deprecating references to Python and himself lack the spark that fans have come to associate with this group of guys."The Road to Mars" is not a bad book, but neither is it a good one. If you must, wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Bloody brilliant! And good sci-fi to boot.
Review: Eric Idle's Road to Mars is bloody brilliant! Holy cow. Ithought it would be farce and nothing but (which I was looking forwardto). Instead, it's a sensitive, multilayered, real science-fiction story with a framing device and lots of points of interest. A planet gets blown up. Robots are frozen to the outside of spaceships. Truly realistic visions of the future (including very slow space travel) make it seem like, well, like what tomorrow will be more or less like, instead of what Star Trek paints it as. Good sex scenes, even, or at least hilarious ones. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: What a hoot! Wonderful! Eric Idle tells a zinger of a tale.
Review: What especially entertained me about this novel were the insights Idle gives into the world of comedy and comedians. As one of the founding members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, he knows this subject well. I highly recommend this book to all those interested in something unusual in science fiction these days, an unpretentious novel that's not above giving the reader a really good time. I hope he writes more of these. This one was fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Are you embarrassed easily?
Review: Eric Idle is the only writer that can make me laugh and blush at the same time. I found The Road to Mars to be very witty and very entertaining (and unlike another critic on this page, I did not think the ending "sucked" at all). The story follows two comics Lewis and Alex who are on the vaudeville circut known as "The Road to Mars". Along for the ride is their android Carlton who is a (David) Bowie model(this would be Bowie from the 1980's with the sunny blonde hair and not the Ziggy Stardust model). Carlton, as an robot, does not understand what exactly makes humans "bark" (laugh) and has begun to write a thesis on the subject. Although,this is the main basis of the story this does not make up the entire story. Their's a bit of a detour on their trip to Mars as the two comedians and their robot buddy find themselves in the midst of danger, scandal and plenty of romance. Well, when I say "romance", I mean plenty of "sex". Eric Idle has written a very good Science-Fiction comedy with plenty of witty dialogue that he is very well known for. I'm not going to ruin the book for any potential readers out there by giving away too much of the plot. But I will say, that this isn't the usual witless celebrity book, this is a book from a celebrity who knows how to write. It's an actual novel and not just a useless collection of wit, puns and bland insight from comedians who, for the most part, are not that funny (if I don't intend to Stand Next to the Naked Guy, why should I want to read about him). I whole heartedly recommend this book. And for all those disappointed fan who think this "sucks". Lighten up! It's not suppose to Be Issac Asimov, it's just suppose to be fun. And I hope that Eric Idle comes out with another book very soon.
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