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The Martian Race
 
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The Martian Race (Paperback)

by Gregory Benford (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 472 pages
  • Publisher: Orbit; paperback / softback edition (6 April 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1857239997
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857239997
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 278,641 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #7 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Benford, Gregory

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Esteemed Mars guru Bob Zubrin calls The Martian Race "one of the finest novels about human exploration of the Red Planet ever written." But then again, Bob is a character in the book (albeit in the briefest of cameos), so what else could he possibly say? That notwithstanding, Zubrin's right--he couldn't have picked a better book to show his face in. By popular assent, The Martian Race deserves top honours among the millennial wave of Mars exploration tales, propelled as it is by the skilful storytelling of physics doyen Gregory Benford, a Campbell and two-time Nebula winner.

Martian Race is near-future SF, set in the twenty-teens (just before Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars saga kicks off), which may contribute to its being a bit of a slow starter; this is realistic, nuts-and-bolts speculation on a mission using pretty basic technology. But the pace picks up considerably as our heroes--the likeable Julia and her Russky hubby Viktorand crew, backed by the Mars Consortium and its biotech billionaire CEO John Axelrod--begin to duke it out with a Euro-Sino concern to claim the $30 billion Mars Prize and, of course, get back from the Red Planet in one piece. Benford's work throughout is engaging and thorough, exploring every aspect of why we should make this trip at all (and even a few arguments against it, like Mars Bar marketing tie-ins). --Paul Hughes

New York Times Book Review
`...writes with verve and insight not only about black holes and cosmic strings but about human desires and fears'

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2 Reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling nut's and bolts Hard SF, 2 May 2000
By A Customer
I'd better begin by saying I am a Gregory Benford addict. In view of this and my engineering background: I found the technical details precise and believable, the description of Mars and her environs beautifully written. Nevertheless, the personal interactions between Tycoon and Astronauts fell down somewhat from the beginning as did the corresponding spats with the Airbus crew. This is unusual for me as Benford often excels with human interaction. However, this does not hold up the plot machinations or hinder the book in any serious way.

Overall, the story is extremely compelling - and the science even more so - and I would rate it as one of the best Mars books so far. Sorry to give you only 4 Greg......

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Just for a moment . . ., 30 Oct 2000
. . .I thought something exiting was going to happen but it was just a blob of stuff wiggling around. Okay, so finding life on Mars (oops, but then you thought that would be in the plot anyway right?) would be exiting, but this novel singularly fails to convey any such drama. In fact Robert Zubrin's book oulining the technical basis for how this type of exploration might be feasible (The Case for Mars) is way more interesting and is not cluttered up with clunky stereotypes crunching about in the red dust bothering us with their mundane introspections. And I don't believe astronauts are this dull either, or that a Russian with the level of training and technical expertise portrayed here couldn't get his head around English grammer. And the cartoony mogul pulling the strings on earth is Bond-film implausible. There is a 'dashed off' feel to the whole thing, which is a shame because the science is good enough to support a really compelling drama. Maybe I should write it . . .
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