Green Mars

Green Mars

From BooklistThe second volume of Robinson's projected Mars trilogy is well up to the standards Red Mars set. Some generations after the end of that book, the terraforming of Mars into a world habitable for humanity is well under way. Factions on Earth and on Mars advocate every possible position, from gutting the planet's resources to leaving it virginal. The colonists are also divided along a number of other lines, including religious ones. A good many of the First Hundred from Red Mars are still around in the capacity of mythic mentors. Add double handfuls of exotic but well-rationalized technologies, customs, and institutions, and the resulting book can hardly be other than impressive, as impressive as Robinson's rare gift for dealing in archetypes without failing at characterization. This may well be Robinson's best book and possibly the best of the many and various our-future-on-Mars novels to date. Roland GreenNearly a generation has passed since the first pioneers landed, but the transformation of Mars to an Earth-like planet has just begun. In Green Mars the colonists will attempt to turn the red planet into a lush garden for humanity. They will bombard the atmosphere with ice meteorites to add moisture. They will seed the red deserts with genetically engineered plants. Then they will tap the boiling planetary core to warm the planet's frozen surface.But their heroic efforts don't go unchallenged. For their plan to transform Mars is opposed by those determined to preserve the hostile and barren beauty of Mars. Led by rebels like Peter Clayborne, these young people are the first generation of children born on Mars, and they will be joined in their violent struggle by original settlers Maya Toitovna, Simon Frasier, and Sax Russell. Against this cosmic backdrop, passions, rivalries, and friendships will explode in a story as big as the planet itself.A novel of breathtaking scope and imagination, of lyric intensity and social resonance, Kim Stanley Robinson employs years of research and state-of-the-art science to create a prophetic vision of where humanity is headed - and of what life will be like on another world.From Publishers WeeklyThe sequel to Red Mars details an early 22nd-century Mars controlled by Earth's metanationals, gigantic corporations intent on exploiting Mars. Debate among the settlers--some native-born, some the surviving members of the First Hundred--is divided between the minimalist areoformists, who have come to love Mars in all its harshness, and the terraformists, who want to replicate Earth. As the surface of Mars warms and is seeded with genetically altered plants, the settlers await Earth's self-destruction, which they hope will give them a chance to claim their independence. They travel endlessly over every inch of Mars--no mean feat, since most of the First Hundred are criminals wanted for their roles in the failed revolt of 2061--with each kilometer and each group of settlers they meet described in laborious detail. When they're not traveling, these colonists contemplate the history of which they have been a part and which they can only partially recall as a result of their longevity treatments. With the collapse of Earth society and internecine battles among the metanationals, the Martian settlers liberate their cities and declare their planet free. This wide-ranging novel is loaded with all manner of scientific and historical detail, but the story bogs down under its very breadth and seems almost like a Martian year--twice as long as it needs to be. The next and final volume in the trilogy will be Blue Mars .Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalYA?The second offering in the "Mars Trilogy," an epic SF account of the colonization of Mars. Although it can be read independently, it continues and expands upon the themes introduced in the first volume, and is notable for its examination of issues related to ecology and the hu