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    Blue Mars
    Blue Mars
    Blue Mars
    Audiobook31 hours

    Blue Mars

    Written by Kim Stanley Robinson

    Narrated by Richard Ferrone

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Acclaimed visionary author Kim Stanley Robinson is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winner. Blue Mars is the final volume in Robinson's seminal science fiction trilogy which began with Red Mars and continues with Green Mars. The once red and barren terrain of Mars is now green and rich with life--plant, animal, and human. But idyllic Mars is in a state of political upheaval, plagued by violent conflict between those who would keep the planet green and those who want to return it to a desert world. Meanwhile, across the void of space, old, tired Earth spins on its decaying axis. A natural disaster threatens to drown the already far too polluted and overcrowded planet. The people of Earth are getting desperate. Maybe desperate enough to wage interplanetary war for the chance to begin again. Blue Mars is a complex and completely enthralling saga--as convincing and lushly imagined a future as anyone has ever dreamed. Richard Ferrone narrates this sweeping epic with engaging personality and finesse.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 18, 2008
    ISBN9781436121194
    Blue Mars
    Author

    Kim Stanley Robinson

    Kim Stanley Robinson was born in 1952. After travelling and working around the world, he settled in his beloved California. He is widely regarded as the finest science fiction writer working today, noted as much for the verisimilitude of his characters as the meticulously researched scientific basis of his work. He has won just about every major sf award there is to win and is the author of the massively successful and highly praised ‘Mars’ series.

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    Reviews for Blue Mars

    4/5

    1,105 ratings27 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The captivating and open-ended conclusion to one of the great Sci-Fi trilogies of all time. A literary meandering into the meaning of human life on its smallest and largest scales. An examination of individuals and civilizations that gives equal measure to matters of the heart as it does to the legacy of human expansion into the galaxy. Even in his densest deep-dives into science and philosophy, Robinson never fails in grounding this story in the characters we have grown to know and love Mars through. A satisfying end to an adventure spanning two hundred years, three revolutions, countless culture evolutions, and the lives and deaths of the First Hundred. As Art might say, a phase change completed indeed.
    • 4/5
      Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - very good

      I read Red Mars and Green Mars so long ago now (possibly when they came out) and kept saving this one for a time when I could pay it my full attention. That did put me at a slight disadvantage for a chapter or two whilst I got back into the rhythym of the plot and the characters, but was soon immersed back into the
      plot.

      I'm not going to try and condense the plot of all the books (they're around the 700 page mark), but Earth is overcrowded and headed for self destruction. They send a ship forth to Mars with a group of colonists to see if they can sustain a new life on a new world. They get termed 'The First Hundred' and all the books revolve around them. The first book is mostly about them settling on Mars and starting to build a new life and colony. Then we get onto the start of the Terraforming, the schisms in ideology, the addition of new settlers and the first of the children to be born there. Really, we're talking soap opera in space with the addition of some fairly weighty but interesting science. Underpinning it all is the
      authors Eco-credentials and his dream of a utopia - his vision of Mars as a new start where everyone is equal and all the petty squabbles of earth are left behind.

      The scariest thing about these books is how close we seem to be on the path to destruction that he's outlining - the trilogy was written in the 1990's - with the changes in our weather and the population movement that is already underway. I loved these three books and I'm told they're his best works. I went to #EdBookTweetUp2 on Monday and was discussing this with another fan - he'd read some other of KSR's books and not been quite so taken with them, but also loved the Mars Trilogy. Will see for myself soon as I have another of his books on Mount TBR!
    • 4/5
      I found this to be my favorite of the three books. I felt most engaged and the plot was moved the most in this book. I mellowed toward Maya and the development of Anne as a characteristics was enjoyable. The issue of the swift decline and memory issues were interesting as well as the political maneuvers. My disappointment lies with the theme of the femme fatale who enmeshes men for life. It started with Maya but thankfully in this one she has more dimensions. However I feel the recovering of the same ground with Jackie and Nirgal was a waste of two potentially better characters. Just like Maya, Jackie was a one dimensional manipulative narcissist. As a counterpoint Nirgal was unable to rise beyond her justified as Frank was hobbled by his obsession with Maya. I don't understand why it had to be covered again with two more characters. It started to make me wonder if the author suffers from some kind of similar obsession and was trying to work it out through his novels. My other disappointment was the focus on the Issei that precluded deep dives into the Nisei and beyond. The science was not given short shrift in any sense, but the humanity was IMO. It's sad too because the author has strong ability to create characters we can care about, find interesting or even despise. Too much white and not enough green, to use KSR's paradigm.
    • 5/5
      As much about earth and humanity as about the Red Planet. The whole trilogy is a masterpiece of Fiction--period! -- not just Science Fiction. Even more relevant now (2020) than when it came out in the 1990's.
    • 4/5
      I found this to be the best of the three books in the series. Like the other two, it's very long and requires some patience to get through, as the pace varies a lot from some short bursts of action and some much longer philosophical reflections on life, society, politics and environmental issues. What was particularly interesting (and unique to this volume) was a visit back to Earth by some of the characters, including NIrgal, who was Martian-born and so had never experienced Earth before. The description of a post-flood Earth with all its changed landscapes and adaptations was fascinating, as was the description of what the unfamiliar gravity, atmosphere and environment would do to someone not used to those conditions, There were a larger number of shorter chapters in the book, which seemed to make the reading easier!Overall, a great work of imagination, and scarily predictive of where we are now in terms of increasing concern about environmental impacts and Earth's resources (not to mention SpaceX!)
    • 4/5
      I guess this is intended to wrap things up somehow. I think it got a bit more evanescent than I can properly process. I think it was in Green Mars that we heard a lot about Nirgal's vision of green and white, some kind of alchemical fusion thing. Here it's more green and red, Sax and Ann. I can get with that a bit. I am preoccupied with philosophy of science. Science is surely some kind of disciplined engagement with the world. The most basic polarity would be perception and action. Ann would be the passive perceptive appreciative pole; Sax is the active controlling creative pole. But these two poles can't work in isolation, they have to marry. Well, get in bed together anyway!So maybe that does wrap the whole trilogy up, tie together the major themes and tensions.
    • 1/5
      I finished it, but only because I was sort of interested in some of the characters, and I like to finish things - probably should have written this series off a few chapters into book two. I repeatedly skipped tens of pages of random descriptions of people looking at the world, and thinking about their lives, with a little political or economic nihilism / utopianism thrown in. Very few things actually happen, and characters don't even communicate that much.

      The description of the development of futuristic technologies is also ... well, I would call it technobabble. I understand it is science fiction, and some of hand waving is always there - it's the future, we don't know about it yet. But no reason to spend dozens of pages describing the process of developing the next memory treatment, when we all know that it is imaginary.

    • 3/5
      Very little happens in this final part, mostly existential angst, flying and recreational gangbanging. A bit too kumbayah for me and doesn't go into any detail to justify it.
    • 4/5
      An impressive conclusion to the series. This book focuses much more on the politics and relationships between the characters, as well as between the planets and societies. Its definitely the most political of the three and, from my perspective, the most interesting.
    • 4/5
      The third book in the Mars Trilogy.I found this book more satisfying than the second, but still didn't make the impact on me as the first book did. In Blue Mars we get a good swag of "hard science" on how the colonisation of Mars and associated terraforming served as a launch-pad (no pun intended) for the colonisation of the rest fo the solar system and beyond.We also get a great view into how different gravity & environment of Mars might effect the biology of the settlers and their children as well as the culture and politics of the society, especially in regards those not from Earth, who over time become the majority and influence any new settlers. In addition, some great insight is offered on the effects on the body, mind and social relations that might come about with prolongation of life.The science aspects make the book a fascinating read , but also the author winds up the trilogy in a satisfactory manner. Although there is many tragedies and dark parts to the story it ends in a hopeful conclusion which I found not only satisfying but also underlined the bigger story of the endeavour of the whole colonising saga (which throughout the telling was often not sure of happening as the realism of this story-telling often made one think that the outcome may be not so positive).
    • 2/5
      Too much politics and not enough science for my tastes.
    • 5/5
      This should be Elon Musk's strategy guide to colonizing Mars. It's that detailed, science-based and fascinating. 
    • 5/5
      With Blue Mars, the author could easily have chosen to embroil its plot in civil war and strife among various Martian factions battling for control. What he opts for instead is something much more complex and hopeful: the working through of compromise and negotiation between opposing viewpoints that it takes a minor miracle to put in the same room together, let alone achieve any kind of lasting, workable agreement among. This is the far more difficult story to tell with any credibility, and the more rewarding one to read. There's less action this way, but some of this novel's greatest moments are the quiet ones in which characters reflect on trends and outcomes as they take stock of their surroundings, on Mars, on Earth and elsewhere.The entire trilogy has been a wrestling between views that cannot all achieve their vision. The author proved he can move the story to any character's perspective on this problem and bring me to believe in that person's viewpoint. As much as I side with the terraformers and ultimately rooted for them, consequently I can appreciate the other views that were shared. My greatest frustrations are with the characters who can't or won't share this empathy (especially Jackie and Zo). To my mind, the focus was always on characters' positions along the political spectrum rather than their individual stories, more geared toward exploring approaches and ideas for our future than moving its characters through a plot. I saw them primarily as symbols or little more than a thin fictional lens through which to explore how the settling other worlds might play out. But I was surprised by how much I came to care about these characters after all. Even without intricate plots laid out for them, they led realistic lives with confusions, hopes and loves that I could relate to. And this ending gets so many things right.The Mars Trilogy offers no simple solutions to complex problems. Instead it dives fearlessly headlong into that complexity, exploring all the layers. It comes up for air to provide the glimpse of a possible future that will never shed that complexity but one that doesn't have to end in chaos, anger and mutual destruction.
    • 4/5
      Recall enjoying the consideration of some of the social changes that may occur as humanity is split across planets.
    • 4/5
      I lived with this series for a while: in the end, from my perspective, the Mars stuff was a pretext for the sociology, and the sociology was a pretext for something more powerful: exploring what it might be like to outlive yourself and how we might cope with an emergent utopia. And lots of sentimental moments, but that was okay, because I grew fond of these characters. And lush writing of the geology and geography, and visions of areoforming and areophany. Too much of it, of course, as with nine out of ten SF series, but I don't feel bad about indulging him.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed the scope of the concepts in this book. The depth with which KSR gets into the project of shaping the climate of a whole planet is impressive. A lot of fun and I can't wait to get to the sequel!
    • 3/5
      The Acts of the Martian Colonists play themselves out in a piece of American Exceptionalism, mimicking the War of Independence, yet again. Well done, in a familiar setting.
    • 5/5
      My reaction to reading this novel in 1997. Spoilers followRobinson puts the capstone on his Mars trilogy which is one of the few sf series that, upon publication, one can unequivocally state will be regarded as a classic. This book continues the tradition of this series being an epic, heady mixture of character study, science and science as metaphor for human relations and consciousness. Sax Russell, at one point, thinks of fronts and storms of mood, stationary fronts of personality. This is also a political novel. In that regard, I didn’t find Robinson’s arguments for a mixed-economy convincing. First Hundred member Vlad Taneev dispatches the arguments of the somewhat libertarian minded Antar in a contrived manner even less convincing than the dialogues of Plato’s The Republic. Robinson, a rather Marxist-minded writer, sees egalitarianism, self-rule, and democracy as the ultimate aims of government, but tries to put forth the idea of a mixed economy with its guarantees of “housing, health care, food, education” as being compatible, even fostering, liberty. However, his cooperatives may be a workable idea though I don’t buy – especially in this age of increased self-employment and job mobility – that capitalism is a form of feudalism. (Robinson puts forth the idea of socioeconomic evolution where each new form is a synthesis of the two most recent forms -- in effect a reworking of the Marxian dialect.) Still, Robinson postulates a situation where even the basic biosphere and atmosphere, necessary for maintaining an Earth-like existence, must be constructed by someone. It’s possible market forces may not be up to this, but I’m skeptical. It is clear at novel’s end that this book is intended, as much as anything, to be a modern utopia. A new political-economic order is synthesized, life is spreading across the universe in the viridatas. And it’s the most interesting, superficially plausible, and pleasant utopian work I’ve read. (Though I’m also highly dubious that, given the high population and technical skills and tools “very few weapons” exist on Mars.) It’s air of a pleasant place of fellowship and craftsmen who take joy and pride in their work reminded me of William Morris’ pastoral News from Nowhere. The very fact that I take Robinson’s constitutional proposals seriously is a measure of the realism and verisimilitude of his writing. I also was reminded of Olaf Stapledon in the off Mars sections where we see man’s work moving out into the universe – to other stars, the outer planets and moons, the asteroids, and the wonderful city that move’s through Mercury’s termination. This impression was furthered heightened with Sax Russell and other scientists discovering more scientific truths about the universe, most of which point to some sort of anthropic principle. (Robinson throws a lot of scientific notions out in this book. Nearly all sound plausible with seemingly realistic jargon.). Man is beginning to speciate if not physically than psychologically on his different worlds. Robinson keeps most of the book focused, as with the first two novels in the trilogy, on the First Hundred and the second generation of Martians. But history marches on – and a new generation grows up which knows not of the First Hundred except as vague legends. Robinson takes time out to explore the short life of one of these, Zo who is Jackie Boone’s daughter. A creature entirely of the Martian civilization, she spies on Earthly briefly for her mother, visits Minoan ruins in a religious pilgrimage, flies the Martian skies in birdlike contraption, enjoys group sex in bathhouses, does scientific work in a cooperative, and is an ambassador to Uranus and Mercury. In short, a typical child of her world. In addition to many wonderful descriptions of the terraforming process and the land animals and plants it creates, there are many moving human dramas here. Michel Duval returns to his beloved Provence. Maya finds herself suffering the most severe case of a problem affecting most of the surviving First Hundred – increasing memory loss. She also must contend with the death of her lover Michel. She finds a new life as a theater director. As more and more of the First Hundred suffer “the quick decline” – a general condition of physical deterioration of which memory loss is but one symptom, Sax Russell puts his formidable mind to the task of finding a cure. (Some of the best parts of the Sax appearances are his fascination with etymology as a therapy for the aphorism induced by multi-national torturers and the fascination he shares with Maya of naming the many hues of sunsets.) Eventually, he decides to focus on solving the problem of memory blackouts. His therapy involves returning the First Hundred to the preserved remains of Underhill, their first settlement on Mars. (Robinson presents some fascinating theories on memory though I don’t know if any are real psychological theories.) During his preliminary experiments, he uncovers the truth behind John Boone’s assassination in Red Mars. But the most interesting parts of the book involve arch-Red Ann Clayborne. She transforms into what she calls a ‘counter-Ann” – sentimental, “stupid”, emotional – and then a third person much like Zo. Her oppositions to terraforming decrease, she has an experience with a Martian polar bear that causes her to appreciate the life of Mars’ new biosphere and not just the life denying wilderness of rock. For his part, Sax Russell is obsessed with making Ann understand the beauty and complexity of a green Mars. It eventually occurs to him (and Robinson handles this romance very well) that he loves Ann. Surprisingly, Ann’s attitude towards Sax gradually changes and, near the end of the novel, we discover that both were mutually attracted to each other in Antarctica but that their social ineptness left each with the impression of being rebuffed by the others and set the tone for their future alienation. I liked that the novels with them in love and the last words show the reverie of Clayborne at the entirety of Mars, the joy of life “On Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars, on Mars.” During the final political change when the conflict between an earth that wants to use Mars to relive population change and Martians comes to a head, the switching of positions between Sax and Ann symbolizes a new Martian unity in their relations with Earth. I also liked the feral hunting groups that spring up on Mars too.
    • 4/5
      Blue Mars is the conclusion of Robinson's "Mars Trilogy", and it actually reads more like a 600-page epilogue than anything else. I didn't really have a problem with that, though; the ponderous, thoughtful journey through life on twenty-third-century Mars is what we've come to expect from the series. What's clear here is, though the characters are persistent through the series, they're not what's important. It's not the characters, it's not the plotlines, but ultimately, it's the setting that trumps everything here, and the reader's desire to be immersed in it keeps one coming back for more. While some things may be a little tough to believe for the modern reader (for example, the fall of the mega-corporation), really the joy here is watching humanity grow and evolve as it spreads throughout the solar system. While this is fiction, it often seems more like history, and I came away feeling like I learned something.
    • 5/5
      The final book in this fabulous trilogy, and it manages to round the series off most satisfactorily, though not too neatly. This has been an unforgettable series of books for me, full of wonders and so believably and cleverly written that you can't help but dream of the day that life may immitate art, and mankind can begin to inhabit Mars with the real life equivalents of the characters that have become like old friends - Nadia, Ann, Frank, John, Sax, Maya, Coyote and all the rest. My one quibble with the whole series is the leisurely pace and somewhat meandering story archs. I would question whether this novel was really improved by, for example, about twenty pages on the brain chemistry involved in creating memories. Much of it is fascinating stuff, but when there are so many wonderfully drawn characters, experiencing such incredible events and breathtaking sights, all the hard science is an uneccessary distraction - for my tastes at least. This shouldn't detract from what a fanastic achievement the whole series is - full of things that will stay with you for a lifetime of reading, and will change the way you see the universe and the people who, maybe one day, will populate it far beyond our home shores.
    • 3/5
      I tried to love this trilogy. Really, I wanted to love this book too... As I said before he basic concept is absolutely fascinating. To see the Mars terraforming, to imagine what it's like.... To watch the political skirmises of a new world... But I'm sorry to say, sometimes it's damn boring written. It would be a so better read without a few hundred pages. A great pity....
    • 1/5
      A long hard SF book. Large cast of characters whose psychological interactions are minutely detailed. Unfortunately these characters are either boring, humorless or unpleasant, frequently they are all three. Consequentially it is difficult to give a shit about any of them or this book.
    • 4/5
      A book so densely packed with ideas should not be this readable.
    • 4/5
      This is the third in Robinson's Mars trilogy, a monumental story of human migration to Mars over a 200-year span. Totaling 1700 pages, the trilogy is crammed with ideas about physics, neurology, sociology, identity, ecology, and just about any other sector of human activity and concern. Due to longevity treatments developed by some of the First Hundred settlers (almost all brilliant scientists), some of the group is still living at the end of the story, alongside numerous second, third, and younger generations born on Mars, as well as millions of immigrants from an Earth torn apart by over-population and ecological disaster. Some have left to populate other planets, moons, and asteroids in the solar system, and a few even further. Despite several massive wars, some between factions on Mars (the fight over terraforming being a major focus) and between Mars and Earth (which wants to relieve its population woes with unlimited immigration), a new civilization evolves on Mars: a fascinating amalgam which is clearly Robinson's hope for our future.The characters are not particularly well-developed, but that hardly matters, because 80-90% of story is taken up with descriptions and theoretical explorations of possible future developments. The writing sometimes seems to go on and on (and on), and at times the reader just wishes the editor had been more brutal with Robinson. But although each volume is less than perfect, they add up to a solid 5 stars as a whole. As irritating as the writing can be, this work will make you think, think, think. And keep a dictionary at hand - Robinson gives no ground in using scientific jargon, some of which I think he may have made up. I used the dictionary function on my Kindle ever page or two and was well-rewarded.
    • 4/5
      The last of the famous trilogy suffers from the common problems with sequels and pure science fiction.It is a fine book and a must read if you liked the first two installments. Robinson creates deep, realistic characters and the stories are more about their evolution than the planet's. The detail and descriptions are excellent.But it is far too long. As can happen when a writer gains status it becomes harder to edit out extraneous passages. Often I found myself understanding what he wanted the reader to see about a character or a plot point then slogging through ten more pages of (frankly well written) over kill. Thios book could easily be 200 pages shorter without losing anything.When pure science fiction goes too far into the future it is hard to keep out of the realm of fantasy but Robinson so carefully builds upon the advances made in previous books it all seems plausible. But you do see the biases of 1990's thinking everywhere by the end. There is a a lot of the "men bad, women good" slant of the early Oprah show in places. But to his credit he writes strong female characters and many of them are not admirable.The best part of the book is the way characters react to one another over hundreds of years.The trilogy is a masterpiece. But it could have been a lot shorter.
    • 5/5
      Exceptionally difficult to review. This is a thoroughly gripping book without any trace of a plot whatsoever. It covers and touches upon a huge range of themes and is perhaps a shining example of literary SF, the impact technology and science has on society, and how people within that society can react to that. It is highly focused to an individual level viewpoint, but at the same time widely viewing greater societal changes.The narrative style is the same as the first two books - each section is tight third person prose from the viewpoint of one of the central characters - not always a remaining member of the First Hundred, but mostly. However many of the section in this book are much shorter than in the previous volumes, giving us greater jumps thorugh time (and space). Although it is difficult to keep precise track, Blue Mars covers something like 100 terran years.The plot such as it is, contains the same pressures that featured in Green Mars - and over burdened earth attempting to ease it's gerontolically extended population pressures, and a still inhospitable Mars, trying to preserve it's way of life. Sax Russell is again the chief protagonist - scientist hero - exploring the consequences of extended age and the complexities of memory while his friends including the ever defiant Ann, attempt to finesse the politicing. With asides and diversions everywhere, mostly into sociology and governance but also what science IS, and aspects of geology and ecology.As with the earlier novels some of the actual technological speculations are at best unlikely - quantum effectes are far too unstable at metabolic tmeperatures to play any signigicant part in memory effects for example, and Aldebaran is a few hundred years away rather than the 20 or so stated - but these minor technical niggles don't detract from the studies of hummanity that the rest of the book is based on. It's a wonderful meandering and rambling account of the problems of being old amoung other things, and has huge references to todays problems - immigration and climate change, how we repsect the environment, what it means to be human and of course love. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but for anyone who loves to get to grips with a slow novel go out and read, settle down and enjoy all it's quirks.Hiroko where art thou?
    • 3/5
      confused old people stumbling around on mars.