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spikeanderson1's review against another edition
3.0
decent- i understand why it won awards It was worth reading but i glazed over with the hard science explanations...too in depth but the story and the details were creative, original, and well thought out
sandin954's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable hard science fiction novel about the coming of age of the Mars colony both politically and scientifically and how Mother Earth reacts to the changes. Thought the main plot was very interesting and loved all the political machinations but did get a bit bogged down during the scientific explanations. Listened to the audio version read by Sharon Williams.
macjustice's review against another edition
5.0
So, I finished this all of 5 minutes ago, and I'm just blown away. I liked Blood Music and Forge of God, but this one was incredible. Bear has an appreciation for the mystery and wonder of the human and the cosmic, and weaves them in a way that would make [author: Arthur C. Clarke] proud. Since reading [book: Red Mars], Mars has become a sort of minor fascination for me, and I had been eyeing this book on my shelf for far too long. I should probably work more on this review later, but I had to get some thoughts out right away. It's just that good.
spindleshanks22's review against another edition
4.0
3.75
Lots of slow buildup, the final 150 pages are absolutely fantastic and worthwhile.
Lots of slow buildup, the final 150 pages are absolutely fantastic and worthwhile.
ninj's review against another edition
5.0
Okay, so this was a slow burn for the first half, and a lot of political maneuvering but it paid off for the second half as the stakes were escalating. A few tantalising suggestions of things in the background - structures, organisations etc, just out of the POV, which was well done. All in a nice local setup of the inner solar system about 150 years hence.
krollins's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
danilanglie's review against another edition
4.0
This is definitely my favorite of all Greg Bear books I've read. I really liked the world-building, and I found the protagonist compelling and driven. Hard science fiction is never really going to be my thing, but I can appreciate when it's done well, and it's done well here.
The novel started a bit slow for me. I wasn't a big fan of the first few chapters. Honestly, I find Charles pretty insufferable as a character, so it wasn't until Casseia was on her way to Earth that things really started to pick up for me. I loved the political intrigue, the prejudices that were still present in society, and the ones that had been erased by time.
I've also very rarely seen stories that deal with both artificial intelligence (the Thinkers) and alien life, with the pods that Casseia and her husband discover, while not making either of those plot threads the "point" of the novel. The Thinkers played an important role, but they never rebelled or anything like that. And the discovery of Martian life didn't totally disrupt anything either. Instead, it was a totally human scientific discovery that turned everything up-side-down. I liked that.
I also like how everything escalated at the end, until it really did seem like Casseia had no other option than to make the choice she did. It didn't feel contrived. It was well-developed and built to a point of desperation, and over time, as we see in the epilogue, most Martians determine that she made the right move.
Over-all, I'm glad I read this book! It was a well-plotted world with great world-building, and a complex, fleshed-out protagonist!
The novel started a bit slow for me. I wasn't a big fan of the first few chapters. Honestly, I find Charles pretty insufferable as a character, so it wasn't until Casseia was on her way to Earth that things really started to pick up for me. I loved the political intrigue, the prejudices that were still present in society, and the ones that had been erased by time.
I've also very rarely seen stories that deal with both artificial intelligence (the Thinkers) and alien life, with the pods that Casseia and her husband discover, while not making either of those plot threads the "point" of the novel. The Thinkers played an important role, but they never rebelled or anything like that. And the discovery of Martian life didn't totally disrupt anything either. Instead, it was a totally human scientific discovery that turned everything up-side-down. I liked that.
I also like how everything escalated at the end, until it really did seem like Casseia had no other option than to make the choice she did. It didn't feel contrived. It was well-developed and built to a point of desperation, and over time, as we see in the epilogue, most Martians determine that she made the right move.
Over-all, I'm glad I read this book! It was a well-plotted world with great world-building, and a complex, fleshed-out protagonist!
mccleark's review against another edition
4.0
In 2171, humanity has not only colonized the Moon, but also Mars and even a few asteroids. We’ve lived on Mars long enough to be past the frontier-roughing-it-stage and thoroughly entrenched in the political-upheaval stage. Casseia Majumdar is a student at the University of Mars when she and over eighty per cent of the student body have their contracts terminated. Just as she’s about to go home, she stumbles into a political resistance aiming to fight this atrocity. This is but the first in a long line of events throughout this novel, and at each stage Casseia becomes more and more involved in the ‘govmanagement’ machinations of this politically-young Mars. Eventually, she finds herself in way over her head, some would argue – with unimaginable power and the reason to wield it. But are those reasons good enough?
I found this book for $1 at a local book festival and picked it up on a whim. I later discovered that it’s actually third in the Queen of Angels series, but I read it as a stand-alone book and found it perfectly comprehensible. However, this book sometimes felt like a series of disconnected events, one after another. As much as I’m used to being dropped in the middle of the action when a book starts, I found Moving Mars’ beginning particularly jarring. And while I quickly understood the political and social structure of Mars, it was initially difficult to get any feeling for the characters. After the initial 50 pages of action, though, things settle down and you get to know Casseia and those important to her a bit better. As events of the book progress, you slowly but surely see their interconnections – until you’re 100 pages from the end and wonder how you couldn’t have seen it all before. To anyone hung up at the beginning of the book, I urge you to push past it and give yourself (and the characters) a chance to settle into the story.
I thought Moving Mars was an excellent, if at times slow-moving, story about political maneuvering, scientific advancements, and the lengths people will go to for both. The book is peppered with excellent world-building details that make you want a larger glimpse at this universe. I particularly loved an aside about someone having a religious pardon to legally eat meat. It’s no more than a sentence, but it’s details like that incorporated with these long-arcing stories that make Bear’s worlds seem real. And even if the characters can get enhancements to suddenly understand physics, or change their bodies to have fur or feathers, they and their struggles are highly relatable. This is a story of striving to do what’s best for your people – even if you’re not always sure what that is.
If you liked this review, check out my others on my blog!
I found this book for $1 at a local book festival and picked it up on a whim. I later discovered that it’s actually third in the Queen of Angels series, but I read it as a stand-alone book and found it perfectly comprehensible. However, this book sometimes felt like a series of disconnected events, one after another. As much as I’m used to being dropped in the middle of the action when a book starts, I found Moving Mars’ beginning particularly jarring. And while I quickly understood the political and social structure of Mars, it was initially difficult to get any feeling for the characters. After the initial 50 pages of action, though, things settle down and you get to know Casseia and those important to her a bit better. As events of the book progress, you slowly but surely see their interconnections – until you’re 100 pages from the end and wonder how you couldn’t have seen it all before. To anyone hung up at the beginning of the book, I urge you to push past it and give yourself (and the characters) a chance to settle into the story.
I thought Moving Mars was an excellent, if at times slow-moving, story about political maneuvering, scientific advancements, and the lengths people will go to for both. The book is peppered with excellent world-building details that make you want a larger glimpse at this universe. I particularly loved an aside about someone having a religious pardon to legally eat meat. It’s no more than a sentence, but it’s details like that incorporated with these long-arcing stories that make Bear’s worlds seem real. And even if the characters can get enhancements to suddenly understand physics, or change their bodies to have fur or feathers, they and their struggles are highly relatable. This is a story of striving to do what’s best for your people – even if you’re not always sure what that is.
If you liked this review, check out my others on my blog!
matosapa's review against another edition
emotional
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
thecolouryes's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0