In the Courts of the Crimson Kings

This would make a spectacular film, if done well. Unfortunately, it would be expensive to do well, and the book lacks the fan base of [b:The Lord of the Rings 33 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566425108l/33.SX50.jpg 3462456] or the Harry Potter series.Stirling excels at scenarios, and here he's found an ingenious way to rationalize a romantic vision of Mars similar to that found in old sf: a habitable planet with deserts and canals, home to an almost-human civilization much older than ours. His alternative Mars is filled out in depth, and it's a fascinating spectacle.The story and the characters don't quite live up to the setting, but both are quite competent and entertaining by normal sf standards.This is a novel of normal size, but for me it's too short, which is both a compliment (I'd like more of it) and a criticism (we seem to hurry through the plot a bit too fast).Although Mars is habitable, it's such a hostile environment in various ways that it's rather difficult to believe individual humans being willing to move there permanently (as some do). It's cold, it's dry, the wildlife is very dangerous, and the Martians are dangerous too.This is the sequel to [b:The Sky People 77879 The Sky People (Lords of Creation, #1) S.M. Stirling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312023937l/77879.SY75.jpg 2042208], but the two books are set on different planets, with mostly different characters, and rarely reference each other; so you can read this one as a standalone novel if you like. [b:The Sky People 77879 The Sky People (Lords of Creation, #1) S.M. Stirling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312023937l/77879.SY75.jpg 2042208] is not a bad book, but this one is better.