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Posted By: lisseut Aug 30, 1999 - 08:59 pm

Anyone here like Kim Stanley Robinson? I'm almost finished Antarctica and will start on Red Mars next. Antarctica is really good but sometimes he goes into too much detail. It's like he wants to show off how much scientific trivia he knows. In spite of that it's a very good read, with good characterisation and plot.

Posted By: The Master Aug 31, 1999 - 11:05 pm

I read The Memory of Whiteness when it come out in 86 (oh, oh...showing my age). I don't remember a lot of details, but recall that it was fairly complicated (in a good way though). Also, styles in the 80's had a distinctly different flavor than they today, so TMOW reflects that.

I've read two of the Mars books, but haven't gotten a chance to read the rest yet. Now that I'm not one but two books behind, I'll probably take the time to get caught up.

Posted By: T5 Nov 17, 2000 - 01:09 pm

The MARS books are great!!!!
But as you say, he likes to fill the pages with techno-babble.
Sometimes it´s interesting and sometimes it just slows things down.

Posted By: kahlan Jun 02, 2001 - 08:17 am

I read ICEHENGE and quite enjoyed it. I have only read about half of RED MARS but love the idea of it.

Posted By: Aslan Jun 03, 2001 - 09:56 pm

I had really mixed feelings about Red Mars, the only book by KSR that I've read. I really liked his very well thought out ideas on terraforming - the hows and whys of it. Very imaginitive and detailed. Great "world building" in every sense of the word.

However, I thought his characters and plot were weak. The characters had interesting backgrounds, but I just couldn't believe that people would really act like that. And, like others have said, the plot got severely bogged down in the techno-babble. Personally, I like the techno-babble, but the plot wasn't strong enough to sustain interest while wading through it.

It seemed like the plot and characters were just an excuse to show off his wonderful terraforming ideas. Nothing wrong with that. That's what hard-core sci-fi has traditionally been all about. But the lack of real Story kept me from picking up the other two books (though I was interested in how the terraforming would have turned out). Maybe I'll pick it up again someday.

Posted By: Coyote Jun 06, 2001 - 01:49 am

Discovering Kim Stanley Robinson was a real treat.I have read Red Mars,Green Mars, and Antarctica so far and look forward to more. Admittedly KSR makes me think of a Michener gone hard Sci-Fi sometimes, but I like Michener. Antarctica took a while to get rolling, but the near future hard science approach kept me going.
When I read the Mars books, I couldn't stop thinking about applying those ideas here on earth. KSR gave me back the reason I fell for Science fiction-the 'Wow'.

Posted By: Lazarus Sep 24, 2001 - 08:49 am

I've have to say KSR is one of my fav's having read Red Mars,Green Mars,Icehenge,Escape from Kathmandu and Pacific Coast.I can safely say the only one that disappointed me was "Escape" which was Three poor short stories wrapped up as a novel. And as for "Pacific Coast" ,Being an avid cyclist myself it truly is my idea of Utopia.

Posted By: LD Jan 28, 2002 - 06:11 pm

So far I have found KSR's books about Mars the most enjoyable. I did like Ben Bova's Mars books, but I still prefer "Green Mars". I haven't read Antartica yet, I got caught up in Asimov's Robot series.

Out of the three books I like "Green" the most. Good reads.

Posted By: Elle Feb 22, 2002 - 09:23 am

I haven't read Blue Mars yet, but I've read the other 2. I actually liked his "techno-babble" that he put in it. It really explained the physics and biology behind his ideas. He supported them well and made me really think that he knew what he was talking about. The prospect of that space elevator was really cool.

I don't know...I just liked how scientific his sci-fi was.

Posted By: QuarkyQuark Jun 22, 2002 - 04:30 am

Iv'e read red, green, and im half way through the blue, I personaly love the 'techno babble', but i find the descriptions of the landscape hard to absorb, I think maybe with something as abstarct to the human mind such as another planet, maybe some supporting images might have been a nice idea.
Also in the blue book the air of course is almost breathable, with genetically engineerd species surviving on the surface such as polar bears, leopards and other predators. Why! I ask would KSR want to walk around on a newly terra formed humanised enviroment knowing he could be eaten any minute...does this add to the thrill of space exploratoion! as if it isnt dangerous enough!..maybee KSR would like to let loose a couple of man eating tigers around on the space station, just to give our astronaughts something else to think about!!
Sorry to go on but that part of the book annoyed me.

Posted By: Sagethai Feb 13, 2003 - 12:22 pm

Finished the series a bit ago, and definately think that it is the most comprehensive, detailed, and realistic of mars-colony books. Main problem is that he makes rather large assumptions about what the future will have interms of material sciences. But, then again he may be right, lets hope so!!! I enjoyed the readability of the books, but I also found that there tended to be a bit of alull in by the end of Green and most of Blue. Perhaps his detail made the novels seem droll after a time.