Red Mars is the first novel of the Mars trilogy, published to great acclaim in 1992.

It tells of the beginnings of the colonization of Mars, the beginnings of the efforts to terraform it and the tensions resulting from corporate forces from Earth exerting their influence on the developing Martian culture.

Structure

(to develop)

Summary

Festival Night

Point of view: Frank

The Voyage Out

Point of view: Maya

The Crucible

Point of view: Nadia

Homesick

Point of view: Michel

Falling Into History

Point of view: John

Guns Under The Table

Point of view: Frank

Senzeni Na

Point of view: Nadia

Shikata Ga Nai

Point of view: Ann

Characters

(to develop)

Themes

(to develop)

Quotes

• [Frank's thoughts] But lies were what people wanted; that was politics. (p.7, Festival Night)
• [Arkady:] "History is not evolution! It is a false analogy! Evolution is a matter of environment and chance, acting over millions of years. But history is a matter of environment and choice, acting within lifetimes, and sometimes within years, or months, or days! History is Lamarckian!" (p.88, The Voyage Out)
• [Arkady:] "Beauty is power and elegance, right action, form fitting function, intelligence, and reasonability. And very often," he grinned and pushed at her belly, "expressed in curves." (p.187, The Crucible)
• [John's thoughts] History was like some vast thing that was always over the tight horizon, invisible except in its effects. It was what happened when you weren't looking -- an unknowable infinity of events, which although out of control, controlled everything. (p.283, Falling Into History)
• [Arkady:] "When we first arrived, and for twenty years after that, Mars was like Antarctica but even purer. We were outside the world, we didn't even own things -- some clothes, a lectern, and that was it! Now you know what I think, John. This arrangement resembles the prehistoric way to live, and it therefore feels right to us, because our brains recognize it from 3 millions of years practicing it. In essence our brains grew to their current configuration in response to the realities of that life. So as a result people grow powerfully attached to that kind of life, when they get the chance to live it. It allows you to concentrate your attention on the real work, which means everything that is done to stay alive, to make things, or satisfy one's curiosity, or play. That is utopia." (p.342, Falling Into History)

Reviews

• Gerald Jonas - New York Times
• Val's Random Comments
• Anna Clark
• Ted Gioia - Conceptual Fiction
• Cheeze Blog
• adamosf - Visions of Paradise
• Adam Whitehead - The Wertzone
• Tethyan Books
• Steam Trains and Ghosts
• Medieval Bookworm
• Godards Letterboxes
• Morgan Crooks - Ancient Logic (article 1, article 2, article 3)
• Lynette M. Burrows
• Jay Dee Archer
• Beyond Dust Jackets
• Thoughtful Optimism and Science Fiction - Centre for Science and the Imagination - Arizona State University (article 1, article 2, article 3)
• Carla - Anakina.net (Italian)

(for trilogy reviews, see Blue Mars)

Resources

• Red Mars at The Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Red Mars at Google Books
• The Science of Red Mars at Science in my Fiction