I started appreciating science fiction only recently, when my literary tastes slightly changed. And, I must say, this book and these series in general, are some of the most impressive examples of SF mastery I’ve read until now.
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, details Humanity’s successful colonization of the Red Planet and then its subsequent terraforming into a life-sustaining state over a period that spans more than a century. Red Mars is the only book in the trilogy I’ve read until now, so I’ll center on that.
Red Mars begins in 2026, with the First Hundred colonists arriving on Mars and beginning the construction of human settlements and scientific centers, as they start exploring and studying the planet. There are various characters, with the mission being a joint US – Russian venture, so I won’t get into many details about specific ones here. Over a period of almost sixty or so years, we follow the humans of Mars as they slowly create communities and form a new society, up until an eventual revolution that starts against the Earth governments and the transnational corporations that control Mars.
Throughout the book, the main question posed is If Humanity should terraform Mars in order to fit its needs, or If they should leave the planet as is. These positions are represented by the “Green” and “Red” factions of the colonists respectively, who form proto-political groups around this question. Alongside them are other movements like the anarchist-like ideas of Russian cosmonaut Arkady Bogdanov and the followers of Areophany, a new religious movement that worships Mars itself in a kind of naturalist religion.
I won’t lie by saying that this is a difficult book to read. KSR has the habit of heavily info-dumping in every other page, talking in great detail about the technical, biological and ecological ideas, plans and consequences that unfold in the course of the Martian colonization. I won’t lie that a lot of it passed over my head, as I don’t have the knowledge necessary to understand it all. So, this can impede your reading experience a little, although I must admit it is extremely interesting and impressing, and a very realistic look into the details of space colonization and terraforming. It has everything from drilling moholes on the planet’s surface to release heat, to constructing a space elevator connecting Mars to Earth by the later stages of the book.
I will certainly finish the Mars trilogy, since it is, some of the most realistic depictions of space colonization out there. And since this idea of Martian habitation has come to the forefront once more, I believe the books can be surprisingly up to date. I definitely recommend them to anyone that wants a more realistic, “hard” science fiction storyline.
by A_Guy195