The breakdown of humanity in many phases was almost as fascinating as the descriptions of Mars. Excellent book.

Great book, you can feel the story….

This book pours on the science of Mars as it is and might well be to colonists. It’s very well written, extraordinarily well researched and offers a compelling story. A great read. It may be, however, a little dry for readers who are used to gripping drama and heroic battles. Here we get a lot of protracted scenes of individuals driving across landscapes, making observations. Mars itself is the main character, called Big Man, and he id dead, though perhaps not for much longer.

This will appeal to those who enjoy hearing about how gigantic feats of engineering make Mars habitable. But while it is generous with such scientific detail, it is weak on human story, reading mostly like a documentary with some scant soap opera thrown in to give it some drama. I wanted it to be over before I was halfway through, but I deeply respect the work that went into creating it, and I suspect the readers who love it will love it a lot.