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Amazon.co.uk Review
Voted one of the best science fiction novels of the year in the 1985 Locus Poll, Icehenge is an early novel by Kim Stanley Robinson (author of the trilogy comprising Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) and takes place in the same universe. The story is part mystery and part psychological drama, divided into three distinct sections.
In the year 2248, Mars is ruled by a Politburo-like committee that actively discourages dissent as well as travel and exploration of other planets. Scientist Emma Weil becomes involved in a covert plot to convert a stolen ship into a self-supporting spaceship. She turns down a chance to accompany the starfarers, and returns to her beloved Mars where she joins the revolution already in progress.
Three centuries later, archaeologist Hjalmar Nederland unearths a governmental cover-up of the true facts behind the old revolution. At the same time, a Stonehenge-like monument is discovered on the north pole of Pluto, and Nederland sets out to prove his theory that the monument is connected to revolutionaries and their contemporaries who left for the stars. Seventy years later, his great-grandson Edmond Doya becomes convinced that Icehenge is a hoax, and attempts to disprove Nederland's theory.
In addition to futuristic issues such as interstellar travel and the terraforming of Mars, Robinson's characters grapple with politics, careers, families and ageing. Icehenge is a worthy introduction to the author's winning combination of hard science and believable characterization. --Bonnie Bouman
Review
"Unforgettable." --"The Baltimore Sun"
"In a genre not often distinguished by strong characterization, Robinson is a welcome exception. Yet even the memorable community of his "The Wild Shore" did not prepare us for this brilliant triptych in which the monolithic artifact of the title and the events surrounding it are described and examined from widely different points of view. The distinct, personal voices of the narratives, as they construct and deconstruct their elegant theories, are a pleasure rare in SF." --"Publishers Weekly"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"In a genre not often distinguished by strong characterization, Robinson is a welcome exception. Yet even the memorable community of his "The Wild Shore" did not prepare us for this brilliant triptych in which the monolithic artifact of the title and the events surrounding it are described and examined from widely different points of view. The distinct, personal voices of the narratives, as they construct and deconstruct their elegant theories, are a pleasure rare in SF." --"Publishers Weekly"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book after having read the Mars trilogy. I think it fares very well by comparison. Clearly it's significantly shorter, and therefore much less epic and grand in scope. Still, it has the advantage of telling a snappier, more intriguing story.
At its heart, this book is a mystery novel. Set in roughly the same future as the Mars trilogy (although with differences I felt were on a par with the differences between the Hobbit's world and that of the Lord of the Rings) the book focuses around "Icehenge" - a structure on a distant planet - and the mystery is about who built it, and why.
Robinson fills the book with his usual scientifically-rigorous background detail, making it feel as though he must surely have lived in this future and come back in time to tell us about it. His characters are, unsurprisingly given the length of the book, less developed than some of the ones in the Mars books, but the three central characters of the book are nicely detailed, and full of traits and peccadilloes, making you feel amazing sympathy for them even when they're behaving in ways you could never countenance.
If you really want to read Robinson's masterpiece, read the Mars trilogy (or at least Red Mars), but if you want to see how he got there, read this one.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Icehenge stands on it's own as a minor classic of SF, an absorbing story with strong characters and the wit to leave some of its mysteries unexplained.
The story starts with a woman who finds herself unwillingly caught up in a revolution against the rulers of Mars, before jumping ahead to an Archaeologist determined to prove that the official history of the revolution is a hoax. Finding the unwilling revolutionary's diary proves it to him - but what about the rest of Mars? And just what is their connection with the strange arrangement of Ice Blocks at the North Pole of Pluto?
A couple of hundred years later, one of his descendants is unsatisfied with even the revised explanations, and the search continues: who put Icehenge there? Is it a hoax? Is the whole thing a set up? There is only one way to find out - but will even that unravel every thread?
I enjoyed Icehenge immensely, and it is possibly one of the best introductions to Kim Stanley Robinson's work. It fully deserves a five star rating, and a place in the collection of anyone who enjoys serious SF.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read the Mars trilogy, the most absorbing series of books I have ever read, I continued straight into this book. It was a stunning alternate view to the immersive Mars Universe. Couple that with a mystery that keeps you guessing up to the last few pages and Robinsons' excellently fleshed out characters, this has all the magic of a Science Fiction Classic. If you liked the Mars Trilogy, this book is a must and should preferably be read immediately after you re-read the Mars books, you have read them at least 10 times I hope? If not, get reading.
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