Mars Trilogy

Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Memory of Whiteness"

2008-02-22 · in Books, Mars Trilogy · 58 words

Music; physics; colonisation of the solar system. What's not to like? Well, possibly the writing style if you haven't enjoyed KSR's other work, but if you do then you'll probably like this too.

(This predates the Mars series by several years, but it's going in the Mars category because, well, it seemed like a good idea.)

ISBN 0006482562.

Kim Stanley Robinson, "Blue Mars"

2006-11-15 · in Books, Mars Trilogy · 179 words

The third and final volume in Robinson's series about the colonisation of Mars. I see that I didn't write reviews for the first two, so to summarise: this is an incredibly detailed hard SF series covering everything that you could possibly want to know about how to turn another planet into somewhere humans could live -- and why you might or might not want to.

A couple of plot devices are used: significant natural and political disasters on Earth provide impetus for the colonisation efforts, and lifespan-lengthening technology allows our cast of characters to be around for a couple of hundred years of future history. The storytelling is generally believable and the plot sufficiently well-thought-out to keep the reader (or, at least, me) interested. I've heard criticism of Robinson's characters for being excessively shallow, but I don't think that's the case here; the technology and politics are the story, not the people, and they're fleshed out in sufficient detail that we get to see all sides of the arguments involved.

I'd thoroughly recommend the entire series -- very well-written.

ISBN 0586213910.

Kim Stanley Robinson, "Green Mars"

2005-07-18 · in Books, Mars Trilogy · 2 words

ISBN 0586213902.

Kim Stanley Robinson, "Red Mars"

2004-12-13 · in Books, Mars Trilogy · 2 words

ISBN 0586213899.