Comments | yandros: Random House Free Library

yandros

Random House Free Library

Mar 05, 2009 13:32

Random House has added some books available for free download, including Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson. While it's certainly not for everyone, I'm a big fan of this book. Be aware that it's the first in a trilogy, and that it does have some slow parts, a great deal of detail, and more than a little optimism. It also has some serious (if made ( Read more... )

sci-fi

Comments 4

orbitalmechanic March 5 2009, 22:06:07 UTC

I really enjoyed _His Majesty's Dragon_. It was a fast read but not shallow. _Blood Engines_ was fun too; the pacing felt a little off, it didn't hold me as well as I thought it could have, but it was cranky in a fun way.

Thanks! yandros March 6 2009, 19:44:33 UTC

Added to the list...

So, question ext_33407 March 6 2009, 19:04:59 UTC

I've never read the trilogy, but I've been warned that it starts off REALLY well, and then gets significantly crappier with every book...
That kind of always put me off the whole 'getting down and reading it'.

Your mission: Tell me to bother anyways!

Re: So, question yandros March 6 2009, 19:44:00 UTC

I wouldn't say that it gets worse with every book, but the style of book changes pretty significantly from Red Mars to Blue/Green Mars, so it's probably easy to find people who like the first but not the other two. You don't really miss too much just reading the first book, also.

I will warn you that there are long sections of all three books that are exceedingly `dry', as in ``Two Towers dry''. I fear that you will find chunks of the book to be boring. I think overall the risk is worth the reward, but I'm very fond of the subject matter, so you might not agree. Worth trying, I'd say -- if you find Red Mars has too many slow parts, just skip the other two.