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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
But what's the point?, Mar 22 2004
The Mars trilogy is one of the most divisive works in science fiction. Some people list the books as great masterpieces, while others merely find them languid and annoying. I place myself solidly in the pro camp. However, I feel that Robinson should have quit while he was ahead."The Martians" is a collection of short stories set at various stages during the overall arch of the trilogy. Robinson's main strengths are still here: scientific rigor and some excellent descriptions of the landscape of Mars both before and after terraforming. He uses different narrative styles for each story, and some work better than others. The high point is a novella-length narrative about a mountain-climbing expedition. On the other end of the scale, some shorter stories and a collection of poems at the end don't score so highly with me. But the big problem I have with this book is that it doesn't really add anything to the trilogy as a whole. "The Martians" seems more like a collection of vaguely interesting ideas that just didn't fit neatly into any of the three novels. As a separate collection, however, they don't come close to being as thought-provoking as the originals.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag, but some worthwhile stuff inside, Mar 14 2004
On the odd chance that you've come here by accident, let me open up by saying that Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (consisting of Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) remains one of the greatest SF epics of all time, managing to combine a grand scope with highly emotional storytelling and a riveting plot, as well as a overarching concern for environmental issues. If you haven't read it, go out and buy all three books right now, because otherwise this book here will hold absolutely no interest for you at all. After he finished the trilogy Robinson apparently had some leftover thoughts and supplementary material he thought worthy of publishing and so this book is a collection of short stories and other pieces all relating to that great trilogy. The only thing is that a lot of this is hit and miss, with decent stories sitting next to somewhat useless pieces. The biggest problem here is for people like me who read the Mars trilogy years ago (about seven years ago, I think) and a lot of the better stories make references to events that happened in the novels themselves. And while this doesn't ruin the stories, the shorter stories lose some of their resonance because the reader doesn't grasp the whole context and people who have never read the novels will be totally lost. But a good majority of the meatier stories stand up quite well on their own (I like the baseball one, the original "Green Mars" story was neat, and a lot of the viginettes involving Coyote was well done) and make for quick, enjoyable reads that take the reader back to the glories of the trilogy. But a lot of the other stuff is just Robinson clearing out his notebook . . . a draft of the Martian constitution (followed by someone's notes on it), a brief piece with abstracts from Martian scientific journals, a long section with various poems of varying quality and a series of one or two page stories that just sort of sit there without really doing anything. But, as I said, the best stuff here reminds us why we loved the original trilogy in the first place (and almost made me want to go back and read it again) and you can just skim past the so-so stuff and move on. You may be doing more skimming than you might like, but there are some gems buried in here. If anything deserved a buyer beware, this would probably be it . . . the best time to read this is right after you finish the original trilogy so that most of this makes sense and you can extend the marvelous glow of the novels just a little bit longer. But for those looking for Robinson's best work, I'd go for the Orange County Trilogy and some of his other novels, that's where his genius really lies, while a book like this merely only shows you some aspects of it. I got this as a bargain book and that's probably the price you want to pay for it, anything more and you're going to feel ripped off. And I'll say this just one more time . . . go read the Mars trilogy! I can't put it any clearer than that.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Hit and Miss, Aug 22 2003
Two things generally stand out in Kim Robinson's better work: wonderfully developed and interesting, if somewhat narrow, characters and seamlessly integrated new technologies, with a masterful understanding of how they affect a civilization. In "The Martians", you often get one or the other, but it seems hard to get both.Several of the stories feature the same characters (some of them are from the original Mars novels and others aren't). Just about all of these characters seem to embody some part of Robinson's idealized self, or collection of selfs. Which is to say, each of them does a good job of representing some idea, worldview, or professional interest in a fashion that makes it understandable to you. As a consequence, they all make a lasting impression. There are quite a few other protaganists you are never able to connect to though, and they invariably seem to appear in the most
technically interesting stories. Although, to be honest, "technically interesting" is stretching it. It is fairly clear Robinson did little original research for this collection. There is a little bit of bioinformatics and quantitative genomics, but not much, and not enough to teach you anything. This is in sharp contrast to his Mars series, where you couldn't help but learn something about geology (or areology), planetary engineering, and physics. Still, all that said, there are a few truly great stories in the collection. Stories that take you to a 22nd or 23rd century Mars, and let you, even if only for a short time, live a future you will otherwise never know. So, in the end, the Martians provides some excellent morsels, and some forgettable rmablings. Whether or not the book is worth purchasing depends on how badly you want the few exceptional stories. Just go into the book knowing that there aren't all that many of them.
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by Kim Stanley Robinson
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