Customer Reviews

Red Dust

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

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

Despite the science fiction setting Red Dust is basically a quest, with hero Wei Lee seeking to achieve his destiny and discover what happened to his long-lost parents. The story takes place on a Mars colonised by the Chinese, and McAuley depicts this transplanted oriental milieu with style and considerable gusto. There are some striking scenes (Matrix-like fights and Yankee whalers hunting on seas of dust) yet there is not much depth to this imagined world, and Wei Lee is rather too passive to be a convincing hero. Faults notwithstanding, I enjoyed Red Dust and found it an entertaining read.

A book about Mars, should be interesting, right? Wrong! This book starts slow, stays slow and coasts to a stop at turtle speed. It takes the reader awhile to catch on to the social and political climate of the solar system since McAuley doesn't straight out tell you until later. Everyone is chasing Wei Lee because he's a threat to their plans. Gee, really exciting! As you can probably tell, there's not much of a plot. I congratulate myself for the willpower to stay with this book for 400 pages without throwing it in the trash. The book is tedious, very tedious. I recommend it only for insomniacs. A sure cure!