Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowperson
I've read the series twice and will probably pull it out again sometime. Sometimes considered the greatest Sci-fi fiction of all time, although there's great competition for that title.
In some ways, its like War & Peace . . . . . you have to set it aside for a second while you digest the ideas.
There is scarcely a topic not covered, including alternative currencies, goverments, etc, etc. . . . . . and its a readable adventure with a murder mystery woven through it.
Kim Stanley Robinson, however, is an idealist and a dreamer. That's okay in sci fi but, from a practical view, a real Martian society probably wouldn't work out his way.
Great read though. About 2,000 pages in paperback I think.
Cowperson
|
The mars trilogy is definitely worth a read.
Also, there's an anthology of short stories--some of which are set in the same universe--called
The Martians.
I found it mostly disappointing and self-indulgent. Some of its stories are in the same universe as the trilogy, but others are in various alternate-timeline versions of the continuity, with the same characters but incompatible events. And there's no advance indication of which is which, and sometimes it's hard to tell.
Some of it is interesting, but overall it lacks focus, and I don't think it's something a less successful and famous author would've been allowed to get away with.
But the main reason I still own this book is because it has a section containing the entire Constitution of Mars, followed by some notes and commentaries from the constitutional convention depicted in the novels. I think there are some interesting ideas there about how to organize a government.