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Blue Mars

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Blue Mars

By: Kim Stanley Robinson
Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
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About this listen

 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.

©1996 Kim Stanley Robinson (P)2002 Recorded Books Fantasy Science Fiction Fiction Solar System Mars

Critic Reviews

  • Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1997

"Robinson's achievement here is on a par with Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Herbert's Dune." (Publishers Weekly)
"A well-written, thoughtful conclusion to the trilogy." (Library Journal)
All stars
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Astoundingly detailed. Absorbing story. Entirely plausible and technically brilliantly construction. The place and the characters develop over the three parts and it's so easy to become involved totally. Richard Ferrone does a great job in bringing the place and people to life. Immensely enjoyable and entertaining. Highly recommended

Blue Mars - Mars Trilogy #3

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An absolutely fantastic conclusion to the Mars Trilogy. Inspiring. A glimmer of hope for the future.

Absolutely loved it

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not the epic conclusion you would respect from a third novel on a series. read books one and two and stop.

read the other two then stop

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A truly magnificent story, and wonderfully narrated by Richard Ferrone. I highly recommend all the books in the Mars trilogy. I honestly dont know where to begin in how the imagination, research, and sheer vision of these books completely changed the course of my life. And as someone who retrained as a geoscientist as a result of this series, I dont say that lightly. Please, do yourselves a favour and take the time to listen to the messages within it.

Magnificent. Just magnificent.

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I did enjoy this book. However, it could have ended at book 2. The ending didn't seem right.

pretty good

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A stunning trilogy that plumbs the anticipated future of humans colonising beyond our cradle world. Through the continuity of the perspectives of the multiple protagonists (over some 200 years) the author paints a rich tapestry of humanity as we currently are, and what we are likely to become.

From romance to science, from politics to religion, from environmentalism to economics, all told through first hand perspectives trying to navigate humanity's propensity for tribalism.

!!!Reader beware!!!
-This is a particularly cerebral trilogy. A second reading might be required...

Exceptionally grounded and imaginative at the same time.

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Red mars I would give 10/10, green marks 8/10 and this one 6/10. It’s just laborious going with a fraction of the excitement and novelty of the previous two books. The novelty of this Martian techno-utopia starts to wear thin.

Happy to get to the end though, there is some cute romance resolution between some unsuspecting protagonists to keep your eye out for.

Unnecessary addition to first two books

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The author has a deep commitment to scientific and sociological theories and concepts: nobody can debate that.

However this book reads like a journal of whatever he was interested in that week, ham-fisted into a Mars colonisation narrative. I love hard science, but gosh not at the expense of characters or goals that I can care about.

There are plot points in here that should have been the focus of a tight engaging story. They are begun and then dropped to maintain the breakneck speed of the epic timeframe.

It’s actual torture to get through this because we are never given time to care, connect or discover. Thats actually unbelievable considering how long the book is.

What on Earth?

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