RED DUST [Import] [Paperback]

PAUL J. MCAULEY (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: GOLLANCZ; New Ed edition (1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575055995
• ISBN-13: 978-0575055995
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Paul McAuley's first novel won the Philip K. Dick Award, and he has gone on to win almost all of the major awards in the field. For many years a research biologist, he now writes full-time. McAuley's novel The Quiet War made several "best of the year" lists, including SF Site's Reader's Choice Top 10 SF and Fantasy Books of 2009. He lives in London. Visit him online at unlikelyworlds.blogspot.com .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, But Dull At Times, September 25, 2001

By 

Kevin Spoering (Buffalo, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Dust (Paperback)

Red Dust is a novel of a terraformed Mars set about 600 years into the future. A young man named Lee traverses Mars in an adventure of intrigue, surrounded by events that nearly overwhelm him. A young woman drops from space in a small pod to the surface of Mars carrying special viruses which are really nanotech devices, and she infects Lee with them, starting a chain of events beyond Lee's control and immediate understanding. The plot is complicated with many political groups trying to gain control, with their own agendas....sounds familiar, does'nt it! The novel incorporates a couple of cultural icons from our time, it is interesting how they are revered and distorted in this far flung future.

This novel was copyrighted in 1993 so it is one of the earlier novels to use nantechnology as an integral part of the story. Paul McAuley also portrays an artificial reality in which many people choose to die and go to. McAuley writes, it appears to me, that man still struggles with himself, even 600 years into the future, that prophecy is almost sure to come true as we seem to have an innate ability and desire to fight among ourselves.

McAuley in this novel sometimes writes in a vague and discordant manner, which makes reading a bit difficult at times, and a reader has to pay attention to a lot of details to keep proper track of the plot. Also, I personally feel the novel could have been 30-40 pages shorter, as there are long dull stretches here and there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Talk about changing plot lines..., November 14, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Red Dust (Paperback)

This book took me longer to read that any other recently, mostly because every chapter or so everything seem to change - new characters etc..). Lots to digest - thoroughly enjoyable... J

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 4, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Dust (Paperback)

McAuley combines hard SF detail with an ambitious picaresque tale for a novel that feels unique. Very satisfying