Customer Reviews
Great for fans of Mars series, but for others . . . ? - By: Christian McCallister, 18 Mar 2004 
This collection of short stories will have great meaning & be enjoyed by any reader who liked the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. I had the feeling that, as Mr. Robinson wrote the Mars trilogy, he occasionally jotted down a note about a side story related to one of the characters and, after he finished the trilogy, he took those notes & wrote "The Martians". Readers can tell the author loves the Mars he has created for the trilogy, & maybe was not ready to leave it behind. There is also a melancholy to some of the storiesin "The Martians" that lends them poignancy.
However, for readers unfamiliar with "Red Mars", "Green Mars", & "Blue Mars", they will be lostin some of the storiesin "The Martians", as some depend heavily upon a knowledge of the characters' "history"in the trilogy or the culture createdin the trilogy. A few stand alone as gems unto themselves, though. "Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars" can easily stand alone & actually showed upin Asimov's Science Fiction magazine before "The Martians" was (were?) released. It has a real down-to-Earth (down-to-Mars?) feel to it. Mark Twain would have loved this story.
For fans of the Mars trilogy, "The Martians" is a must-read. For readers who have not read the trilogy but plan to do so, I suggest reading Stanley's "Antarctica" BEFORE reading the trilogy & reading "The Martians" afterward. That's a lot of reading, but you won't regret it.
For readers who disliked the Mars trilogy, you won't like "The Martians" either (xenophobes?). However, you might still like "Antarctica".
Good, but can be unsettling - By: Ben Cooper, 11 Aug 2002 This is what KSR is good at - presenting multiple possibilities of the future (see his Orange County series). In this book, he gives some alternate ways that the Mars trilogy could have panned out.
Yes, when I read the first chapter for the first time, it was a bit confusing, but it really only took one chapter to get the hang of what he was doing.
A good book - left me feeling "I'm glad things actually worked out the way they did" which is an odd way to think about a work of fiction...
Not recommended, especially if you liked the trilogy - By: , 20 Sep 2001 
I was very disappointed. Much of the book is alternative histories to the material that appearsin the main trilogy, yet this is not made clear. The result was a puzzling & frustrating read, with seeming contradictions with the story I enjoyed so much. In the end I realised this, & became so frustrated that I gave the book away having read about half of it. In my view, this should never have been publishedin this form - the cover material should be much clearer about the content & the fact that it is 100% out-takes. If the original trilogy seemed real to you, don't buy this book!
An interesting and worthy addition to the Mars trilogy. - By: ianwhitmore@lineone.net, 12 Nov 2000 
The Martians offers some unusual & intriguing extrapolations from the Mars trilogy. Robinson tempts the reader with glimpses of some of the characters & events from R/G/B Mars, sometimes enlightening, sometimes puzzling. There are also some alternative histories, which still sit well with the those more conventional items which attempt to fillin a few gaps from the original books.
I usually find short story Sci Fi quite dissatisfying, as if the author is presenting discarded ideas or plot strands didn't quite work out. In this degree, Robinson has done pretty well, & most of the collection left me content on such bite-sized morsels. For once, the whole exceeded the sum of the parts. However, this is not for readers who have not enjoyed the preceeding volumes.
For me, Robinson succeeds bestin his wonderful landscape imagery, & the book continues to show you around the planet as looking through a lens. The Martians furthers the conviction that if you found yourself on Marsin a few years time, you would recognise it instantly - no guide book required.
The end...sniffle - By: , 22 Aug 2000 
If anyone tops this series I'll be mortified. A touching & astonishingly personal conclusion. Marvellous
