First Landing [Paperback]

Robert Zubrin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2002

The author of The Case for Mars and Entering Space delivers a startling, authentic novel that follows mankind's first manned mission to Mars.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Having won plaudits from the likes of Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke for his nonfiction (The Case for Mars, etc.), Zubrin delivers a debut hard SF thriller that balances technical detail with political back-stabbing and intrigue. The crew of the Mars-bound Beagle is the usual oil-and-water mix of stereotypes. Mission Commander Townsend, the quintessential "bomber-jacket-clad ex-fighter jockey," has his hands full keeping rein on his unlikely team: Major Guenevere Llewellyn, no-nonsense coal-miner's daughter and flight mechanic; laid-back Texan Luke Johnson, mission geologist; Dr. Rebecca Sherman, the chief scientist with "the mind of Einstein in the body of the young Kelly McGillis"; and dark horse Kevin McGee, a journalist with the political ties to buy a slot as mission historian. An equipment malfunction possibly sabotage forces a dangerously off-course landing on Mars. Then Dr. Sherman's discovery of primitive bacteria leads to rioting back on Earth as pseudoscience supporters prime a gullible public with fears of alien contamination. As the president and his cronies scramble to avoid the fallout, further sabotage empties the fuel tanks on the Beagle's return vessel. Will the political climate allow for the sending of a resupply ship? Despite a crew seemingly chosen by Hollywood rather than rigorous psychological and scientific processes, and despite the mission's apparent lack of predetermined priorities and research schedules, among other logical inconsistencies, the action quotient is high enough to keep not-too-fussy readers entertained. (July 10) Forecast: With blurbs from Kevin J. Anderson, Kim Stanley Robinson and Gregory Benford, plus a fan base for Zubrin's nonfiction, this first novel is almost guaranteed a successful launching.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-An entertaining, fast-moving, and thought-provoking tale of the first Earthlings on Mars. They don't have an easy time of it-but not because of flaws in the expedition plan itself. They are sabotaged by politics back home and even subverted, for a time, by their own lack of cohesiveness as a team. Beginning with a spectacularly bumpy landing, the entire mission is plagued by a series of inexplicable mishaps and thrilling escapes. At first, pursuing a scientific mission, the astronauts make some significant geological and biological discoveries. But soon the extent of the sabotage becomes apparent and they must direct all their talents and energies toward survival, growing food and creating fuel from Martian resources. To complicate matters, the two women and three men are highly individualistic people whose personal, religious, and scientific values are in many ways incompatible-scientist and military commander, hillbilly and preppy, intellectual and religious fundamentalist. But despite (and eventually because of) their differences, they don't just survive but far exceed the original vision for the mission. The author is known for his leadership in the cause of Mars exploration (his The Case for Mars [S & S, 1996] detailed a realistic plan for an expedition in the near future-a blueprint actually adopted by NASA). Readers might expect "harder" SF from such a writer in his first fiction outing but though its science is indeed interesting, First Landing is chiefly a story about people and their vision for the future, a utopian adventure that many teens should enjoy.

Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ace (July 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441009638
• ISBN-13: 978-0441009633
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's time to go to Mars!, July 17, 2001

By 

Kevin E. Atkins (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Landing (Hardcover)

Every once in a while, I pick up a book thatÕs tough to put down. I read this one in several sittings and as I read, I kept thinking of what a great film it would make. I make this statement because the novel is very visual, has a great cast of characters, and a story line with a interesting perspective on the first manned Mars mission. I like my Science Fiction with a heavy emphasis on science and technology, and this book delivered. I found myself deeply involved with the characters, and their situations as well. The last few chapters, especially the epilog, brought a tear or two to my eyes. I highly recommend this novel.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost every page is cringe-worthy, March 24, 2005

By 

Christopher Nieman (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: First Landing (Hardcover)

I have read most of the modern Mars novels, including Ben Bova's MARS, Jack Williamson's BEACHHEAD, Stephen Baxter's VOYAGE, and Kim Stanley Robinson's RED MARS. Until now, I have always felt Williamson's book was the worst -- the equivalent of CBS' soap opera 'Dallas' set in space. But Robert Zubrin's FIRST LANDING actually sets a new low.

The characters are drawn in absurdly basic types, showing no shades of subtlety whatsoever. Luke the Texan is almost literally a cowboy, right down to his "Yee-haw!" exclamation. Gwen is a head-to-toe Atlanta Braves fan, a God-fearing country hick with a rebel yell (I'm not making this up!). Rebecca is the intellectually and morally superior type, accustomed to winning every battle, and her awestruck fan is McGee the historian (a WHAT?), a nerdy bookworm and token outcast. Finally, the commander and Right Stuff guy, Townsend, feels the need to wear a leather pilot's jacket and peaked hat while putting in the stick time! How could these people possibly get chosen for history's first flight to the red planet? It is simply some of the most cartoonish characterization I've ever read in any supposedly serious novel. And I thought Bova was bad.

The plot is even worse. It has so many holes and it's so driven by cliches that I simply had to give up looking for any substance. Every obligatory plot device in the handbook is thrown at us in the interest of furthering the story -- and moving the story along is all it's there for -- intrigue, personal conflict, conspiracy, politics, despair, love interests, murderous rage, hairy scrapes, life-and-death cliffhangers, good guys and bad guys, you name it. I found myself shaking my head at almost every page. All the novel has to offer are extremes. It's an old-fashioned pot-boiler, setting the scenes, throwing in conflict and resolving them, over and over again. All we need now is for a villain to be unmasked in a Scooby Doo ending.

Incredibly, the novel's third major failure is that Zubrin, a trained engineer, doesn't even include much hard science here (and whenever he does, they're usually the best parts of the book). We never find out why the crew marks days by the terrestrial calendar rather than with sols (martian days), and we never get a genuine feeling of the crew's physical distance from earth. We don't find out many details of how the mission actually got to Mars. We get nothing more than a thumbnail sketch of mission control, and we don't see any of the program's background. There simply isn't much for the reader to chew on besides the soap opera.

This should have been the guts of his earlier book, THE CASE FOR MARS, set in motion in novel form. Instead, the adventure of going to Mars takes a back seat to the melodrama, so we have the equivalent of 'Survivor: Mars Outpost.' Now I know why Zubrin never addressed the human factors issue in his earlier book -- it's because it just doesn't matter enough to him.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is "hard sci-fi." It isn't. It is strictly old school -- and I mean very old. Zubrin must have watered down the writing to try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, but instead, he came up with a "young adults" Mars novel that manages to insult everyone's intelligence. Considering its source, FIRST LANDING is a major disappointment, and I think it's so bad that it actually undermines his non-fiction.

Read FIRST LANDING only if you're interested in finding out how not to write a good science fiction novel. It may be appropriate reading for the beach, but not for the armchair adventurer.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The science may be good, but the story's a dud, January 6, 2002

By 

Larry W. Bastian (Bountiful, UT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: First Landing (Hardcover)

Author Robert Zubrin obviously has great scientific credentials. He must be brilliant. His non-fiction book, A Case for Mars, added valuable insight and understanding to the body of thought on this subject and generated kudos from the likes of Buzz Aldrin, Carl Sagan, and the revered Arthur C. Clarke.

Unfortunately, however, this novel about man's first voyage to the red planet is idiotic. It supposes that five incompatible personalities travel to Mars for a years-long mission, about which they have no clear sense of what they're supposed to accomplish. Laughably, having arrived, they can't agree on why they're there, as if NASA sent them with simply"take a look around and let us know." Even the earthbound scientists directing the mission are yet arguing about what they should be about on the martian surface.

Then there's a rediculous scenario about a phony "expert" riling up the entire country with the idea that the crew, having been contaminated, shouldn't be allowed to return to earth, as if NASA hadn't considered beforehand what exposure to the martian envoirnment might entail.

I gave it a good try, but halfway through the book I could suspend my disbelief no longer; NASA just couldn't be that inept. This story appears to be the result of someone saying, "You know so much about this stuff; you ought to write a novel," and our scientific and technological genius rising to his level of incompetence.

So, in my opinion, this book is a waste of time.

A successful science fiction novel must, I believe, not only have good, or at least feasible, science, but also believable characters and a story line that makes sense. Zubrin's characters are believable as people, I suppose, but not in this nonsensical scenario. Were Arther C. Clarke or Orson Scott Card to write a similar tale, there would surely be no suspension of disbelief problems nor confusion about who the reader would be pulling for.. Come to think of it, they already have!