The geologist Ann Clayborne advocates a ‘Red’ position: arguing that Mars should be preserved in an undisturbed state. The physicist Saxifrage ‘Sax’ Russell advocates a ‘Green’ position: arguing for the immediate and rapid terraforming of Mars to make it more suitable for human occupation. In the first novel (‘Red Mars’), much of the debate/discussion is centred around the fate of Mars. It’s one way to solve a number of serious overcrowding and other problems on the Earth. It’s a joint American-Russian undertaking, aimed at establishing a permanent scientific outpost on Mars with a view to possible settlement and colonisation. On 21 December 2026, one hundred of earth’s most skilled engineers and scientists begin a nine-month long journey to Mars. ‘We have been sent here by our governments, and all of our governments are flawed, most of them disastrously.’ However, I will say that as a sci-fi fan, to my fellow sci-fi fans out there, do give this series (or at least the first book) a try. The whole series could have been pared down to two books, and focused less on politics. I guess this was realistic, but yet I could not help but feel disappointed. It's pretty clear that in Red Mars, one of the issues that led to the bigger problem on Red Mars was overpopulation, and I feel that humanity was just basically given a free pass at the end of the trilogy because now humans are expanding to planets beyond Mars. Blue Mars was not without its fantastic (and I do mean fantastic parts) but it was also slogged down with some really slow-moving parts. I absolutely loved Red Mars, and enjoyed Green Mars. Green Mars was not quite as strong, but still a decent read.

It was a chance find in a Little Free Library (seriously, support your local LFL!) and after reading the ending, I absolutely wanted more, and to learn what happens to the characters that made it to the end of Red Mars.

The first book in this series, Red Mars, was absolutely enthralling.

Kim robinson mars trilogy