ainsleym's review against another edition
5.0
What a series! Ann and Sax were my favorite characters and I’m going to be thinking about their arcs and worldviews for a while. Great surprise to find solid characters in such a hard sci fi series. I love how slow paced these books are, there’s so much time to delve into the world and the science and the culture. The descriptions of the Martian landscape are top notch. Still wish there had been sections from Desmond and Jackie’s POVs, and maybe Ursula or Vlad or some of the other first hundred, but I’m not that mad about it.
danburn's review against another edition
3.0
The last in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, Blue Mars kind of wraps up the story that unfolded in the two previous books. By "kind of", it does it in a slow, meandering kind of way. The book is trying to be a history of the settling and terraforming of Mars, as seen through the eyes of the first humans on Mars, and it really feels that way. There's a whole lot in all three books that is unnecessary. Like real history, deaths can be quite abrupt and not really have a good reason; a lot happens that isn't important, or related to any big thread of history, but is documented in any case. These books could have been a lot shorter, without losing a lot of their substance. But their bulk, and focus on the characters, meant that a huge big pile of ideas could be comfortably slipped in. Robinson has clearly thought a whole lot about how humans will colonize the Solar System; and in bringing together a lot of ideas that people have come up with over the last century, alongside quite a few of his own, he seems to have set the standard for describing how this will happen - a lot of what I read in this series reminded me very much of Charles Stross' Saturn's Children (written later, and has many ideas for how each planet will be settled directly taken from the Mars series, as far as I can see). Of course, the way Robinson writes the Mars trilogy has a certain "rightness" to it - coming out the end of these three long books, I really feel that if we're going to colonize the Solar System, this is exactly how we'll do it.
All in all, it's a very impressive series, and I'm glad I read it. If I had my time again, though, I would strongly consider reading the Cliff's Notes version, to get to the good stuff a lot quicker.
All in all, it's a very impressive series, and I'm glad I read it. If I had my time again, though, I would strongly consider reading the Cliff's Notes version, to get to the good stuff a lot quicker.
cstack's review against another edition
2.0
I had to quit about a third of the way in. So many boring descriptions of landscapes. So drawn out with little plot development. I like the whole sequence of developing the constitution, but that's about it. This series really petered out for me.
isd's review against another edition
3.0
Blue Mars picks up exactly where Green Mars ended. For a good long while things stabilize and science goes forward. Mankind spreads to the other planets and their moons, some even take off to other Systems. Years and decades fly past.
As the old main characters get noticeably old their memories start fading away, some start blanking out more and more frequently. At some point, around the age 220+ people start dying off suddendly and without any special reason. This is called the Quick Decline. Maybe the experimental memory treatment worked on that, maybe it didn't, we really don't get to know. All we know is that it helps clearing the old forgotten memories and stops the blankouts from happening. Perhaps only the remnants of the First Hundred plus one were the only ones who got to try it, as otherwise the population peak would "never" go away, solving the century-lasting crisis.
All in all I did like Blue Mars, but some bits just felt more boring than the average. That average has also dropped from Red Mars, in my opinion. Maybe it was because this last part was much further in the realm of what if, maybe there was just too much attention on characters I just didn't care about or whose worldview annoys me.
My "I liked it" review may be a bit harsh on the book on its own, but as it pales in comparison to the first part and does not improve on the second, that's how I felt about it. The world building is still fantastic and the science sounds good to me instead of the way too common magic-science.
As the old main characters get noticeably old their memories start fading away, some start blanking out more and more frequently. At some point, around the age 220+ people start dying off suddendly and without any special reason. This is called the Quick Decline. Maybe the experimental memory treatment worked on that, maybe it didn't, we really don't get to know. All we know is that it helps clearing the old forgotten memories and stops the blankouts from happening. Perhaps only the remnants of the First Hundred plus one were the only ones who got to try it, as otherwise the population peak would "never" go away, solving the century-lasting crisis.
All in all I did like Blue Mars, but some bits just felt more boring than the average. That average has also dropped from Red Mars, in my opinion. Maybe it was because this last part was much further in the realm of what if, maybe there was just too much attention on characters I just didn't care about or whose worldview annoys me.
My "I liked it" review may be a bit harsh on the book on its own, but as it pales in comparison to the first part and does not improve on the second, that's how I felt about it. The world building is still fantastic and the science sounds good to me instead of the way too common magic-science.
ksrh8r69's review against another edition
1.0
"So now she was the queen of physics - the first queen of physics "
Here is a brief history of all the women who made significant contributions in physics before Blue Mars was published in 1996 that KSR conveniently forgot when dubbing one of his SIDE characters the 'first queen of physics';
18th Century:
Laura Bassi - first female member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences, first woman appointed as chair of physics at a university.
Emilie de Chatelet - first woman to have a paper published in the Paris Academy, worked on metaphysical basis for Newtonian physics.
19th Century:
Sophie Germain - worked in elasticity theory, first woman to win a prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences.
Isabelle Stone - first woman to receive a PhD in physics in the United States
Edith Anne Stoney - first woman to become a medical physicist, lecturer at the London School of Medicine for Women, pioneer in the used of x-ray machines in WWI.
20th Century:
Marie Curie - first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work in radioactivity, also the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium.
Hertha Ayrton - first woman to win the Hughes Medal for her work in electric arcs.
Emmy Noether - creator of Noether's Theorem which explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin - established that Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe.
Lucy Mensing - first to apply quantum mechanics to molecular systems.
Inge Lehmann - discovered that Earth has a solid inner core distinct from the molten outer core.
Marguerite Perey - discovered francium, first female member of Academie des Sciences
Ruby Payne-Scott - first female radio astronomer
Grace Brewster Hopper - one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I, came up with the term 'debugging'.
Frances Spence, Ruth Teitelbaum, Marlyn Meltzer, Betty Holberton, Jean Bartik and Kathleen Antonelli - programmed the electronic general-purpose computer.
Rosemary Brown-Fowler - discovered the k-meson
Rosalind Franklin - played a crucial role in using x-ray diffraction to discover the structure of DNA.
Chien-Shiung Wu - creator of the Wu experiment, won the Wolf Prize in Physics.
Maria Goeppert Mayer - first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work in nuclear shell structure (second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics)
Jocelyn Bell Burnell - discovered the first radio pulsars
Mina Rees - first woman president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Willie Hobbs Moore - first African-American woman to receive a PhD in physics.
Sandra Faber - first woman to join the Lick Observatory.
Anna Coble - first Aferican-American woman to receive a PhD in biophysics.
Deborah Ajakaiye- first woman in any West African country to be appointed a full professor of physics.
Mildred Dresselhaus - first woman Institute Professor at MIT
Reva Williams - works out the Penrose Process for rotating black holes
Here is a brief history of all the women who made significant contributions in physics before Blue Mars was published in 1996 that KSR conveniently forgot when dubbing one of his SIDE characters the 'first queen of physics';
18th Century:
Laura Bassi - first female member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences, first woman appointed as chair of physics at a university.
Emilie de Chatelet - first woman to have a paper published in the Paris Academy, worked on metaphysical basis for Newtonian physics.
19th Century:
Sophie Germain - worked in elasticity theory, first woman to win a prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences.
Isabelle Stone - first woman to receive a PhD in physics in the United States
Edith Anne Stoney - first woman to become a medical physicist, lecturer at the London School of Medicine for Women, pioneer in the used of x-ray machines in WWI.
20th Century:
Marie Curie - first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work in radioactivity, also the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium.
Hertha Ayrton - first woman to win the Hughes Medal for her work in electric arcs.
Emmy Noether - creator of Noether's Theorem which explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin - established that Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe.
Lucy Mensing - first to apply quantum mechanics to molecular systems.
Inge Lehmann - discovered that Earth has a solid inner core distinct from the molten outer core.
Marguerite Perey - discovered francium, first female member of Academie des Sciences
Ruby Payne-Scott - first female radio astronomer
Grace Brewster Hopper - one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I, came up with the term 'debugging'.
Frances Spence, Ruth Teitelbaum, Marlyn Meltzer, Betty Holberton, Jean Bartik and Kathleen Antonelli - programmed the electronic general-purpose computer.
Rosemary Brown-Fowler - discovered the k-meson
Rosalind Franklin - played a crucial role in using x-ray diffraction to discover the structure of DNA.
Chien-Shiung Wu - creator of the Wu experiment, won the Wolf Prize in Physics.
Maria Goeppert Mayer - first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work in nuclear shell structure (second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics)
Jocelyn Bell Burnell - discovered the first radio pulsars
Mina Rees - first woman president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Willie Hobbs Moore - first African-American woman to receive a PhD in physics.
Sandra Faber - first woman to join the Lick Observatory.
Anna Coble - first Aferican-American woman to receive a PhD in biophysics.
Deborah Ajakaiye- first woman in any West African country to be appointed a full professor of physics.
Mildred Dresselhaus - first woman Institute Professor at MIT
Reva Williams - works out the Penrose Process for rotating black holes
edwarda132's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ovidusnaso's review against another edition
3.0
"Blue Mars" er forståelig nok ikke like nyskapende som "Red Mars", selv om den tar for seg flere spørsmål de andre bøkene ikke rører. Hva er formålet med å leve evig om du blir dement? Hvordan skal et post-knapphetssamfunn som også er demilitarisert forsvare retten sin til selvstyre? Hvilken form skal selvstyret ta? Hva om du gikk tur på Mars og plutselig møtte et rovdyr, hadde ikke det vært messed up? Hva om vi kan få Eskil til å føle savn, sympati, forakt og vemmelse over bare tredve sider? Det var definitivt verdt det.
neblig's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
An incredible book, and incredible series overall. Really dense to get into, but once it gets rolling a whole world opens up. Not just about setting mars, but great speculative fiction about the direction of humanity - with envisioned alternatives to capitalism, patriarchy, and war.