Blue Mars (Mars Trilogy) Mass Market Paperback – June 2, 1997

This trilogy is certainly a tour de force. Manna for the science and the history buff. But two slight criticisms: Blue Mars could have been condensed into Green Mars; and it became a little disjointed and preachy as it progressed. Nonetheless, the trilogy is a masterpiece.

Its common to hear that science-fiction is a genre of ideas, and Blue Mars is no exception. Bear in mind, this means there is a lot of exposition, but Robinson makes it organic and engaging.I don't know the reason why this book is the least-well-received of the Mars Trilogy, since not only do I consider it a great work of science-fiction but also a great novel in its own right.Robinson's style is in some ways comparable to Hemingway, and because of that the story is both easily comprehensible and possesses a complexity that goes grossly under-examined.I was awed by Robinson's scope, moved by the struggles and triumphs of characters I've been with throughout the series, and consider it the best addition of the trilogy.Almost 20 years since first being published, I can say that in 2015 this book not only holds up, but continues to be the baseline against which future additions to the body of science-fiction should be measured. I'd say it should be read in schools, but at more than 700 pages, it is a beast of a book.If you want an example of how fiction ought to be written, Blue Mars is it. For the shear amount of content present in a single volume, the value of this book alone is beyond compare. Thanks to Amazon, I only paid a few dollars for the entire series, and even less for this particular volume, and it's worth far more than that. I'll probably buy it again in hardcover just to have. I mean think about it, how much are you going to spend on a mass-market paper back, a few bucks? It's totally worth it.I wouldn't even just recommend this book to fans of science-fiction, but to anyone interested in a well-crafted story, complex characters, and an exotic setting that becomes more real as the story progresses.In a genre clogged with thinly veiled, semi-autobiographical, exhausted hero-journeys, this novel - and the series as a whole - sets itself apart from anything encountered in science-fiction today. It truly is "a landmark".Buy it. You will not - will not! - regret it.

A lot of thought and research was put into this, but the amount of world building was too much for me to keep a focus a simply enjoy the journey

Sustained presence on a newly settled planet makes a great escape from the pandemic isolation of the Covid quarantine. I feel I know Mars better now. and when i look at mars in the night sky, its not just a point of light, it's a place where we can go to evolve the human destiny. Occupy Mars!See my wonderfully-written Mars 2,084 adventure at https://amazon.com/author/allenmeece

One of the best trilogies of our time.Kim Stanley Robinson is a genius. The mars trilogy should be made into a movie.

That’s right: it is more like an elaborate technical manual for Mars exploration rather than science fiction novels in a true sense of this genre. The author obviously enjoys going into endless details and descriptions of everything that can be meaningfully or needlessly described, as if to stretch out the book to meet some quota. I gave up at the beginning of Blue Mars. I could have done it earlier but you are getting used to the characters and hope that something interesting is yet to come. The whole story could have easily fit into one novel.

Read Red Mars and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson both 5 stars. Blue Mars 3rd in Trilogy is also fantastic. 3rd Mars revolution. Mars gets a constitution and a government but must have a 10%population increase each year from Earth by treaty and Earth desperately wants to send more. Now settling on hollowed out asteroids, moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. Also a city called Terminator on Mercury and starting terraforming on Venus. Later hollowed out Fusion powered asteroid/spaceship to a planet around Aldebaran star. Get there in 30 years. OK as people have the longevity treatment. Now Fusion powered rockets. Earth to Mars in 3 days. Earth very overcrowded 20 billion and now 2 billion on Mars. Many of the original 100 have died and many still dieing from Fast Demise even though they have the long life treatment.Now there is memory enhancement treatments for the aged...some are 230 years old plus. But there is hope with a new treatment...maybe.Now in about 200 years Mars has vast terraforming. Many kinds of planets and trees...some huge. Many animals from Earth with enhanced genes to breath the higher CO2 Mars atmosphere....even polar bears, antelope, fish, birds etc. Many boats and flying craft on Mars. Cities now. Mars has a breathable atmosphere if you get the gene CO2 treatment. Enough oxygen now and a Mars sea, lakes, river etc.Its not as cold now...liquid water.Kim Stanley Robinson has written a Sci Fi trilogy epic. He is great with character development and character relationships. He goes into a lot of future technology some believable...some a bit too fantastic for just less than 200 years in the future. This is the BEST Mars colonizing sci fi terraforming trilogy EVER! Aurther C Clarke, Robert Zubrin and others rated it great. Me too. If you are into Mars colonizing and terraforming this trilogy is for you. Highest rating 5 stars.This is the second time I have read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. First and second readings many years apart.I liked the Mars trilogy so much I purchased Robinson's Antartica on Amazon. Have not got the book yet. Will post review.

I read the Mars trilogy like a box set, something I never do but it was "unputdownable", literally. In Blue Mars the familiar characters from the first hundred are growing very old and confronting mental health challenges. The old arguments over terraforming continue but effectively the argument is won. Mars has an ocean, seas and canals. Can Anne be reconciled to the new wildlife of the planet?Like the first two books, Blue Mars is not your usual sc-fi. It's the story of the people who came and made it home; of their children, and their children's children.The language is rich with detailed descriptions of the science and technology and biology. My vocabulary was sorely lacking, thank goodness for Kindle word look-up, keep a good dictionary handy if reading the physical book. Here are a few examples:anamnesisvicinaltubulin dimersmentationplenumeskatonxeriscapethassalocracyHowever lots of typos, is this the Kindle digitisation process?Highly recommended.

"Blue Mars" continues direstly from where "Green Mars" left off. The Martians have gained their independence from Earth and now set about establishing new forms of government and developing their own way of life, rather than have it decided for them by the Terran meta-nationals. The book focuses heavily on the actions of the remnants of the First Hundred, such as Sax,Ann,Maya and Nadia plus new characters like Zo and Nirgal."Blue Mars" as the title suggests is set on a fully terraformed Mars. The atmosphere has thickened and heated up and the ice seas have melted and created a hydrosphere similar to Earth. The masks and walkers have now been disposed of. The scientific substance of the book now concentrates on developing the longevity treatment, ecopoesis and the psychological difficulties of coping with living for 200 years plus.I didn't find "Blue Mars" to be as fascinating and exciting as the first two books of the trilogy and was a bit overlong. Perhaps that was due to over familiarity with the setting and characters and it was only when Nirgal and Zo featured heavily that "Blue Mars" had a character of its own and came to life , but unfortunately most of the book concentrated on the First Hundred whose lifes work was more or less complete by the end of "Green Mars". I would have liked to have read more about "The Accelerando" instead. I also didn't like the prolonged ending to "Blue Mars"; I thought it was lacking in impact somewhat and didn't bring the Trilogy to the spectacular end it deserved.However "Blue Mars" is still a wonderful book, full of impressive and credible scientific detail, and if Mars is to be colonised then this trilogy is a perfect guidebook for its terraformation. However the timeframe for the colonisation set out by Robinson is slightly over-optimistic I think ; maybe by a hundred years or so. I cant see antelope roaming the forests of Mars until the 23rd Century at least ! Although technology is advancing all the time.As I read through the Mars Trilogy, I couldnt help but think that science, in its entirety, the geology,biology,physics,chemistry and all its subdivisions , is nothing more than Man progressively trying to get into the mind of God, to be God. They are a very humanist and rationalist series of novels, however they promote a form of intellectual elitism. Science is worshipped,science can provide the answers to everything and highly intelligent elitists know best. There is no room for religion or the supernatural in this vision."Blue Mars" is a must read for those who have read the first two books, it would be incomprehensible if you haven't. It is a fitting conclusion to a remarkable series of novels. It is also easy to read ; I raced through its 800 pages in 9 days, so theres no excuse for not reading the whole series now !

Having now read all three in the trilogy I would say that they are a worthy effort, firmly in the tradition of Azimov and Clarke (in their more epic modes) - but for me slightly let down by a lack of editing. Rather too much geology and geography, both repeated in lengthy chunks throughout the storyline. The plot and characters are excellent, truly well thought out and developed; witness the fact that I did read all three books, but I did have to skim read a bit too much for my liking. I don't mind at all to read beautiful and imaginative descriptive passages, but in all three books I really felt there was just too much of it... and it did disrupt the flow of the story in a way you would never find in the likes of classic Azimov (Foundation trilogy for example). Nevertheless, this quality of 'serious' science fiction is rare these days and this Mars trilogy still well deserving of the four stars.

Do NOT buy kindle edition! Riddled with appalling typographical errors, which verge on making some passages almost unreadably irritating. I have just had to read a whole chapter in which there is constant reference a French town near the mouth of the Rhone called "Aries". I assume the author meant "Arles". That is only the most conspicuous error because it is repeated and glaring. Just looking back over the last three pages I have also encountered "Muttering" for "muttering" and "je tie sais quoi" for "je ne sais quoi". There are typos like that throughout. I really am usually not a pedant and am usually forgiving of small errors, but there are so many here it is really noticeable.I read the first two books in the trilogy in hard copy and did not find these kind of errors.

I only read this because there was something about reaching out to the solar system and the stars, but... [SPOILER]that stuff was just a footnote to the main bit about forming a new govt, and the new ecology.I stopped caring about Phyllis and her one dimensional "Mars is a national park" stick in the muddedness.I had to skip Michael Duval's bloody sentimental holiday in his home region. It felt like a pointless dead end. I didn't see him as enough of a key character to devote so much page space to his attachment to his home town.More long winded descriptions. These books really needed a handful of sketches in the back, maybe.These books deserve a set of mini series though, say 10 episodes for each book.OK, I'm going back to my short and sharp Kindle self publishing sets.