Moving Mars

A desert planet with an ancient history of very un-Earth-like life, a frontier world that mixes social conservatism and radical experimentation, this is Mars in the late 22nd century. Casseia Majumdar is, she thinks, an ordinary person just trying to find her niche in life, beginning with student rebellion against Statism and progressing through her emergence as a key leader in a redesigned Martian political system. Parallelling her own development is the rise of Charles Franklin, her first lover and theoretical physicist extraordinaire. In its theme and style, this story reminds me most of John Varley's _Steel Beach_ and Heinlein's _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ -- but while it has all the exciting detail and deep, rich texture of the former, it's far more subtle and sophisticated than anything Heinlein ever managed. The feel of the world's overwhelming strangeness and almost unimaginable complexity 175 years from now is accomplished very smoothly, almost sneakily, without ever overexplaining things. The physics "feels" right. And the characterization is always spot-on. And the title of this thing should be taken literally. Putting it simply and baldly, this is a perfectly marvelous book. It is by far the best thing of Bear's I've read and it's one of the best sf novels I've read by *anyone* in several years.

Heh, small joke. Sorry. I've seen this book for years, but always held off on buying it, seeing it as just another of those Mars books that seem to crop up every few years. Yeah, I like the idea of colonizing or visiting our red neighbor but that doesn't mean I have to read every book that someone decides to write about it. But I finally got around to it, since it seemed different enough from such works as Kim Stanley Robinson's great trilogy and just finished reading it and, well, I was wrong. This is a great book, full of ideas and interesting characters that you can sympathize with, if not relate to (in a sense) and while it doesn't rank with the famed Mars trilogy (Bear's writing just isn't as poetic or piercing as Robinson's), Bear gets major credit for crafting such an epic, wide ranging piece and managing to contain it all in one book. What's it all about though? Indeed, it's about Mars, and how Earth is trying to keep the poor colonists under the heel of their boots, and since Mars is mostly divided up into factions of different families, Earth doesn't need to do all that much to keep the status quo going. Then comes the student revolts, which really don't amount to all that much in the end, except that they introduce the two most important characters in the book, Cassie and Charles, who will go on to change Mars. People sometimes complain that the first hundred or so pages of the book devoted to the revolts aren't really that important to the main story, and they aren't. But that isn't the point, it's there to lay down the foundations of the characters and without that foundation it becomes that much harder to fathom where they are at the end. Suspense and political intrigue run rampant throughout the book, with everyone making plans against everyone else and when Charles and company discover an entirely new technology, well, then, things start getting rough. There's no turning back for the Martians at that point and if you thought that the title of the book was just mere hyperbole, well you ain't see nothing yet. The last hundred pages or so are classic SF thriller stuff, racing along so fast that you have to almost stop and catch your breath. Typical of Bear, the science is well thought out but grasping it might require some high level physics (but then not all of the characters seem to understand it that well so don't feel ashamed), don't worry, just let go and race along for the ride. Good memorable stuff, the kind of the quality the genre could sometimes use more often.

To say that Moving Mars is a good book would qualify as the largest understatement of my life. It was a great book, an amazing book, possibly even the best hard sci-fi novel that I have ever read. What could possibly cause such admiration in a reader, you ask? I shall tell!The story admittedly starts out slowly. The reader is left wondering exactly what a student revolt at a Martian University has to do with anything. The first 100 pages, while far from boring, don't give you a glimpse of the marvels in the rest of the book. However, once you pass that mark, their is no going back. Cancell all of your appointments and call in sick at work, you will not be able to put this book down.Greg Bear masterfully weaves together a plot full of political intrigue, character interests, imaginative future technology (that actually makes sense when explained! ), and of course the threat of total armaeggedon.I don't want to give away too much, but by the end you will no doubt consider yourself a Red Rabbit (Martian) and be so wrapped up in the lives of the characters that you will almost forget that we are still confined to this lonely planet Earth.Bear's portrayal of the not-so-distant future is truly monumental. I have read a great many hard sci-fi novels and this one outshines them all, with the possible exception of Forge of God (also by Greg Bear).

I guess I'll add my praises for Moving Mars, or should I say, for Casseia Majumdar, the first leader of a new nation under seige. I thought characters and plot were well developed; the book built to a wonderful crescendo that had me turning the last 100 pages in one sitting. The sequence of the actual moving of Mars--the thought processes, the emotions of awe and fear, the description of the undescribable and unexplicable--was absolutely stunning. And unlike some reviewers, I thought the beginning was not slow, but a necessary development of the world, the people, the events, and the person that made the book truly enriching. I was also quite moved by the poignancy of the somewhat unexpected (and likely realistic) ending. In many respects, a perfect read.

I was frankly surprised by a lot of the reviews of this book. Shallow characterizations? This book follows the leads throughout a goodly chunk of their lives ... so that we learn first-hand what makes them do what they do! I've read one opinion that the prime character Casseia is too juvenile and directionless at the beginning. That's because she IS juvenile at the beginning - a teenager in college just beginning to look for a direction in her life. The book is a chronicle of a life growing up, and of Mars growing up around her. The parallel is there if you just look for it. A warning: this is NOT a book for someone wanting to be lead by the hand. If you're into simple, straightforward, comic-book plots, Bear is going to leave you cold and confused. This is complex, intricate SF at its best. You have to think about it. Dive into it. Be swallowed by this new and different world and learn its rules. That's what Bear is best at, as he's shown in Eon, Eternity, Queen of Angels and /Slant. The science and engineering is plausible, the politics all-too-realistic and the humans are very full of human nature, even in this advanced society. The cohesiveness and depth of this depiction of future human culture in the "Triple" is amazing; again as were Bear's world of Eon/Eternity. I found Red Mars by Robinsion simple, predictable and technically unbelievable by comparison. Moving Mars is now in my permanant, never-give-it-to-the-used-book-store collection. Eventually I'll end up buying it again because I'm sure to wear this copy out.BTW, many don't know it (I just discovered this myself), but "Heads," a very short book Bear wrote back in '91 is actually the genesis of both Moving Mars and the Queen of Angels, /Slant pair. Not exactly a prequel, but a lot of ideas for the later books started there. Interesting to see how those lines developed out of that little, obscure book.