I have a dream, one that I would like to see fulfilled within my life time. My dream is to see a man (or woman) actually set foot on the planet Mars. Is that too much to hope for? Certainly, by the year 2046 or so (and I hope to be around that long) a manned mission to Mars isn't out of the question. If the Chinese continue on with their aggressive space program, perhaps the US will be spurred into action. Better yet, perhaps a cooperative international effort will be realized.
In the meantime, I’ll have to content myself with movies and books depicting what a Mars mission will be like. And of course, if there is one definitive fictional account of not only the first mission to Mars but also the colonization and terraforming process, it must be Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars.
In reality, Red Mars is only the first book in a series on the human arrival and eventual settlement of Earth’s mysterious red neighbor, with Green Mars and Blue Mars as sequels.
As our story begins, Mars is already colonized, and we see an introduction to a few of the major characters in the book, This serves only as a foreward, however, and the plot shortly jumps back to the actual first colonization itself.
And this is where the book shines. From the outset, we see the “First 100” on their long space journey to Mars, and the author uses this confined setting to give us a bit of character exposition and a little background on the world of 2029.
Once we arrive on Mars, we’re treated to a well-researched, realistic account of how the first human colonies on Mars might be established. The descriptions of the terrain, the atmosphere, the landing, and the construction of the dwellings and farms our protagonists will need to survive are all detailed and accurate.
The science of Red Mars is equally well laid out, and another big reason why the novel works so well. Seemingly outlandish concepts like the space elevator and terraforming seem daunting tasks indeed, but they are firmly grounded in today’s science. Considering that a space elevator for our own planet Earth is seriously being considered and that we are likely in effect already altering our own climate, these concepts should not seem so far-fetched.
Robinson has a talent for making the reader feel as if he or she were right in the midst of the action. Whether he’s talking about plunging an asteroid into Mars atmosphere to add water to it or a simple stroll (in spacesuit) across the Martian landscape, we really get the feel of what it might be like to be on Mars.
Where the book does not work quite so well is with the characters themselves. We never really like them, mostly because Robinson doesn’t focus on any one for long of us to do so. The one who gets the most attention, John, and the one for whom we start to actually identify with, is doomed from the outset. His death is outlined in the very first chapter of the book. As to the rest, we really don't care about them one way or another.
Robinson also brings politics into his story, with the usual strife, greed and warfare on Earth eventually bleeding into Mars. Things become worse, however, when a new DNA treatment is discovered that lengthens the human lifespan. Naturally, the rich get it, the poor don’t, fighting ensues and a population explosion is inevitable.
And that’s when things start to fall apart on Mars, too. It was literally painful to me to watch many of the achievements the author goes to such painstaking detail to create be torn down. And as this happens, Red Mars begins to drag a bit, especially through the last hundred pages or so.
Still, Red Mars is well worth your time, and one of the better Sci-Fi epics out there. It sets the stage for the next two novels nicely, and is entertaining and interesting in its own right.
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