Customer Reviews

Marsbound

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Certainly, none of us suspected that there was a 19-year old woman living inside Joe Haldeman, but one has emerged in his latest novel. Perhaps given his contact with college students at MIT, he has chosen to write his latest novel from the perspective of a 19-year old woman. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly given Mr. Haldeman's talent, he does a pretty good job of it. The current novel is classic science fiction and feels a bit retro in flavor hearkening back to earlier decades, but incorporating modern sensibilities.

Marsbound is an engaging novel told entirely as a first-person narrative. It is not a long novel (the one constant in ALL Haldeman novels is his compact writing style), but it is complete and will leave the reader satisfied. As with most of his novels, Marsbound is a writing exercise. Haldeman constantly tries new things in his writing and is not formulaic. You never know what to expect when you open one of his books. Some of his experiments in writing work better than others, but the journey is always fascinating. I enjoyed the current novel and highly recommend it.

I've always loved the subtle style Joe Haldeman incorporates into his works. The references to other sci-fi literature and the subtle humor every few pages kept my as amused as the story, which unfolded at a nice pace.
From a quadriped who expresses concern about humans standing on two "unsteady" legs to an administrative character as hated to me as Malfoy in Harry Potter, every moment was richly developed into a very plausible and interesting view of the future.
What makes Haldeman's works so interesting is that they are told so matter of factly--referring to future events that the reader does not know about as if we do (but with the understanding that the consequences of historic events play themselves out over time and that is universal)--and in a way told so that the near future is just that. There could possibly be a space elevator at some point, and if not a Hilton in orbit, what other hotel chain would beat them out? (hopefully not something like the "super 8").
A good, strong read if you're looking for a nice escape and a vivid story about the first colonists on Mars, and the inane tendencies of human interaction.

THE GOOD: "Marsbound" is a relatively short, easy read and moves along at a pretty brisk pace. The portrayal of space exploration some 40-50 years hence (including space elevators, space tourism, Mars colonies, and the hazards that go along with them) is believable. Except for a few sexually explicit episodes, I would probably characterize this as juvenile science fiction, and reminiscent of Robert Heinlein's "Red Planet," as many reviewers have noted. The book is divided into three parts: (1) "Leavetaking," (2) "First Contact," and (3) "Second Contact." The first two parts are quite good. Unfortunately ...

THE NOT-SO-GOOD: The third and final part of the book is where it starts falling apart just a bit. The narrative becomes rather frenetic, and the science fiction becomes highly speculative. As mentioned above, this is a book that seems geared toward a younger audience, which made me wonder whatever became of the author who wrote "The Forever War," one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time.

Overall, a mixed bag. The novel's protagonist, Carmen Dula, is likable enough, though not nearly as well-drawn as Cassandra Majumdar in Greg Bear's "Moving Mars." Haldeman has certainly left plenty of room for a sequel, and if one is written I'll be sure to read it. But coming from someone with the stature of Joe Haldeman, "Marsbound" feels a bit phoned-in.

About five pages into MARSBOUND I suddenly realized how much I missed "old school" Science Fiction. I think Haldeman is pretty brave** to tackle some of the most covered ground in the genre: humans going to Mars and finding, well, Martians. If you told me last year I would not only be reading such a book but tearing through the pages to finish it in one sitting I wouldn't have believed you. I'm not sure many others could have pulled it off but Haldeman revitalizes a classic theme all the while producing something undeniably his.

I think MARSBOUND compares favorable to his classic WORLDS and AFAIK this is also the start of a trilogy (and incidentally it also has a female protagonist). It's a fun story, well written, well paced, and has just enough real science to keep the story grounded. I also appreciate that Haldeman deftly avoiding obvious "plot twists" something so many of the "epic" science fiction and fantasy novelist of today can't.


It's a great story and well worth your time. Haldeman fans will love it and it's not a bad place for people new to him to start.

**Okay writing a time machine novel seemed pretty brave too. But Mars? No that really takes balls.

This book, while not poorly written, is clearly not up to Haldeman's other work. I am also puzzled why it is being sold as an adult book (and shelved so in the library) when it is clearly a YA book.(Young Adult; read: early teens).

It is written at a level neither a 10 year old nor her parents would have problems with, either in terms of language or concepts. The POV of the main character and the storyline (kid finds amazing thing and has to convince the dorky adults around her) just *screams* YA.

Then again, the entire F&SF market seems to be headed that way; crap serial fantasy spew is all the rage -- the only 'adult' material tends to be... well, let's call it gay male porn for heterosexual women ;)

This book is certainly better-written than the stuff I refer to above, but in terms of SF for the adult reader, you'd be better off picking up Little Brother (by Cory Doctorow). Oddly, *it* is marketed as a YA book, but it is far more interesting and extremely relevant to our times.

I just finished reading this book on my Droid phone, which is equipped with the Kindle app. I have a hard cover copy of the book, but by virtue of it being on my phone I was able to hit this book when pulling out a hard cover might have been prohibitive such as when on the checkout line or on the subway.

The plot made me feel that Joe Haldeman was channeling a bit of the old Heinlein magic: strong female character, bratty brother, smart parents, all bound for a family trip to Mars. Indeed, Carmen, the daughter would have been at home either in Haldeman's own works (such as his under praised "Worlds" trilogy) or a Heinlein novel. The story involves an "outpost" on Mars and man's first contact with intelligent non-human life.

My only main criticism is in the development of some of the characters; such as the antagonistic colony administrator; which are not fleshed out as fully as I would have liked (a great villain usually needs some sort of great back story). The ending, with no spoilers needed, left me happy, in the past I have sometimes felt Haldeman's endings are a bit too abrupt, but this one had that gentle touch of humor that makes me went to read the next book in the series.

Lastly one minor quibble, the formatting, at least on my Droid/Kindle, had words fused together in several spots, I don't know if it is native to the Kindle formatting of this book, or just the way it is presented on my Droid phone or not; but this should not take away from a fine old school science fiction yarn.

Hard to believe that this is the same person that gave us the Forever War. This novel has the feel of the Dean of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein. If that was the feel Mr. Haldeman was going for he exceeded and then some. I can narrow this story down to three words: A Fun Read.

Joe Haldeman's Marsbound is about as close to a new novel by Robert A. Heinlein as I've ever read. Even Spider Robinson's completion of a Heinlein outline, Variable Star, doesn't quite reach me in the same way, and that was a high standard.

Curiously, Marsbound feels like a hybrid between Heinlein's juvenile novels of his early years and his more adult writing of his later years. Carmen Dula is every inch a precocious Heinlein heroine, but she has a sex life that we're privy to. I love her voice and the first-person style Haldeman renders in this tale. Carmen sounds like a lot like my daughter and the teen girls I've listened to over the years, except she's more knowledgeable about space and colonization and other things science fiction. I enjoyed her as a character, and I enjoyed the way she looked at the world.

The first part of the book is a slow build-up despite the narrative tension that Haldeman manages, but the sense of wonder pervades the writing and kept pulling me along with all the nearly here science. I loved the idea of the space elevator, and I know it's based on models scientists have actually played with over the years. Now that space exploration is getting more and more privatized, maybe I'll live to see something like it.

I liked the way the narrative was set up, but often it reads more like a journal than a story. Carmen sums up a lot of what's going on and we don't get real "scenes" much of the time. Likewise, there is a shortage of dialogue, but the narrative pacing and cool science stuff keeps pounding right along.

I had a blast with the Mars-centric stuff too. My 12 year old has lately gotten totally entranced with the idea of space travel and colonization. When he gets a little older, I'm gonna hand him this book and tell him to read it because it shows a lot of what to expect and how Mars can be colonized.

The enmity between Carmen and the head of the Mars colony is really well done too. I detested that woman every time I found her on the page. With good reason, as it turns out. Dargo Solingen was a total headcase and I found it easy to empathize with Carmen. Of course, it was great to see that Carmen's initiative/revenge is what sets the whole colony on its ear and advances everything they're doing.

The third act settles into the interaction with the alien species, and I liked that a lot too. The aliens feel very much like Heinlein aliens in his juveniles, and I like the twist with the time element as well as the fear on both sides.

This is old school science fiction in contemporary mode, with a heroine that any SF reader will enjoy. But it's more adult in some areas that some parents will be willing to share with middle graders.

It's a quick, simple read, but contains a strange story that really doesn't make much sense in the end, shallow characters, and really not much else. It's what I would call "chewing gum sci-fi". Something to pass the time because nothing better is on the shelf. I got this one from the library, luckily. Accidental Time Machine was much better, get that one instead.

If you really must know the details...there is a very long, drawn out beginning about just getting to Mars. Way too much time spent on the "personal details" of taking the space elevator and then on the ship: talking about toilets, bad food, homework and routy kids. There's really no sci-fi there AT ALL. If you want to learn about space elevators just read Arthur C. Clarke's "Fountains of Paradise".

Finally they get to Mars, and again, lots of personal hygene discussion, and prancing around naked and trying to get some nookie. Not until far into the book does anything interesting happen. Once it happens, you're like "that's bizzare, and not in a good way".

After the initial stange thing happens on Mars it's pretty much downhill from there, without much of an ending to satisfy the tedious chore of getting there. I have this gripe about most sci-fi authors: it's like they've never heard of the concept of "denouement". There just climax....then nothing. So there you go.

I've been a fan of Haldeman's work since The Forever War. Unfortunately, this book just doesn't measure up to his previous books. It feels like a short story that was expanded into a book. The first half of the book is a mechanical description of how a mars mission might work. There is really no plot and limited character development in this first half. Suddenly, the second half of the book turns into a story (built on weak characters). In the end, the story in the second half was just ok and the overall book gets dragged down by the first half.