Red Mars

This is quite possibly the best book I've read in 10 years. It's been on my list for a long time but I had put it off mostly because I thought it was going to be a technically dense book. It really wasn't at all or at least not more than many other books I've read.



If you are at all on the fence about this book, please stop putting it off. Its just fantastic. I took my time with the book, reading only 10 or 20 pages a day, mostly on my short lunch breaks. Its not action packed, definitely not a page turner. It's more measured. Slowly allowing the world to seep in.



Spoilers ahead*

I knew I was going to like the book from the opening few chapters. But I really fell in love with it starting with Nadia and Arkady's trip on the dirigible. Just this vast, open, unexplored land rolling away beneath them.

Michel's floating through each day in a deep depression. Ann's anguish at the taking of Mar's purity. John's rover trips with the Muslim workers. John's speech as the asteroid is brought down into the atmosphere. Frank, Nadia, Michel and Ann's harrowing ride next to the massive flooding canyon. And Frank! Taken by the raging flood as he saves the rest of them.

It's like this vast epic set piece. The planet itself is a character in this book in a way I've never felt in any other book. I've never read anything like it. The blurb on the back of the book by Arthur C. Clarke says, “A staggering book.” I couldn't have said it better myself.