Customer Reviews

Red Planet: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Peter Telep's Red Planet introduces handyman Robert Gallagher, a mission specialist aboard the spaceship MEDEA ONE.

The author comes by his handyman-as-mission specialist honestly. Our 19th Century seafaring ancestors had their handyman-mission specialists... ship's carpenter, sail-maker (wind engineer?), etc. The ship's carpenter patched leaky hulls, repaired battle damage, stepped new masts, and moved and fabricated internal bulkheads. H.M.S. Beagle's five-year voyage (1831-36) contributed to Darwin's theory of biological evolution. While the deckhand, cook, carpenter, sail-maker - mission specialists all - kept the fragile Beagle out of harms way. And does SF writer A.E. van Vogt have these thoughts in mind when he places a 'Know-man' aboard the starship Space Beagle in the novel 'Voyage of the Space Beagle?'

Telep also reminds us that, "Wherever we go, our behaviors come with us." After all, it's these behaviors that make us... interesting! So hit the MEDEA ONE with a cataclysmic solar flare while she's in Mars orbit. Leave five crewmen stranded on the martian surface by crashing the Mars Entry Vehicle during decent. Have the MEV's piggyback robot go psychotic as a result of the crash. Discover the habitat you need for survival is totally destroyed. Then, let the handyman and his interesting shipmates work it all out while reacting to each other's paranoia, angst, love, hate, and murder - yes, murder! Did I mention the worms?

Through Gallagher's experiences, we are privy to a little social consciousness, spirituality, and philosophy... but there's not enough regolith there to scratch your faceplate.

Ultimately, survival is dependent upon two females! Mission Commander Kate Bowman orbiting above in a crippled spacecraft and AMEE who's lurking just over the martian horizon. Gallagher needs them both to escape the martian surface and effect a suborbital rendezvous.

After reading Peter Telep's novel I'm reluctant to see the Warner Brothers film. It's just too darn satisfying to use my imagination in consort with the author's word pictures. That's why I read fiction!

Mr. Telep's Red Planet is good old fashion SF - one cliffhanging chapter after another! Peter, if and when you revisit Gallagher... be sure to take us along.

Peter Telep has adapted a screenplay very well indeed. The book is gripping, and I read it very quickly. When I put it down, I returned quickly to finish the read. I almost wanted the character's peril to continue rather than have the conclusion arrive, because the time on Mars, and the solutions presented to the problems that crop up are really excellent. The science is good, and I will see the film, and hopefully enjoy it as much as the novel. If you don't like Christian spirituality mixed with your SF then be wary, but don't disregard the book because of it. It remains thoughtful and the religious parts were not overly objectionable to this non-believer.

`Red Planet' is an very well written and entertaining read. I tend to read novelizations before i see the film because often a movie will gloss over, bypass or ignore details that a book will take note of and make the characters and their situations much more interesting. Mr. Telep has done a excellent job with that because he explores the relationships between the astronaunts (the best part of the book) and their reasons for going to Mars, other than the mission, in such a way that only a book can divulge. This is a good old astronaunt story...no ET, no giant ant-like creatures, no Darth Vader - but there is...something up there. Read this book and you will believe you are walking the surface of Mars. If the movie is half as good, and believable, as the book then they have a blockbuster on their hands.

Red Planet was a surprisingly good read. Most books based on movies seem to be shallow, but Red Planet created a good atmosphere, and I actually *wanted* to read it. I haven't seen the movie, so I don't really know how it compares, if it adds to, or takes away from the story. It seems that parts of the plot are rather farfetched. Namely, sending an ex-military robot on a mission to Mars, with all it's military programming intact seemed to be something so extrememly stupid that even space agencies wouldn't do it. The whole 'Save Earth by terraforming Mars' plot seems to just be a story thrown together as an excuse to send people to Mars. Overall, it has little impact on the story as it becomes a battle to survive.

Peter Telep is a master of a unique form of literature sadly not yet appreciated -- the script adaptation. His takes on Space: Above and Beyond, Wing Commander, Descent and now Red Planet have all turned medicore games and movies into excellent stories! Read Red Planet because you're looking for engaging science fiction, not because you're familiar with the movie.

Lately there have been a lot of this kind of story in the movies: Going to a planet, something goes wrong, all hell breaks loose, etc. A lot of scifi suspense movies, if you will. Mission to Mars, Pitch Black, etc. There have been a lot in general, actually. This is the first book that I've read along those lines, and this is pretty good. There's a lot more depth in any book, of course, but this really shows the genre in a new light. I can't say it was the best scifi I've read, Dune holds that honor (and with good cause), but this one ranks in the top twenty or so. Well worth a read!

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was well written, and the story line flowed nicely, always keeping the reader in suspense. The book was very thought provoking, not just an average science fiction story. Although I have not seen the movie yet, I hope to soon, and I can only hope that it will be as good as the book. A fine job by Peter Telep, and I look forward to reading more of his works.

This is a very good book, up to par with Peter Telep's standard. It has a varied and intense character development, one of the prime requisites to be a good read for me. It also has a deep and branched plot, another must for keeping me hooked on it.

Too bad I still didn't see the movie, so I can't compare both just yet.

This is one of those ones that I'd keep in my collection permanently. :)

In the book the Earth is dying and Mars is our only hope. They're trying to give mars a breatheable atmosphere, and it's not working. Want to find out why? Read the book!

Peter Telep is a great sci-fi writer and proves it once again with Red Planet. The movie had bad actors, plot holes, and sorry jokes; the book on the other hand is full of rich, vivid detail, like only Telep can supply. If you like space or sci-fi this book is for you.

The movie is fine the book is much better. It much more full of detail and with none of that bad acting and cheesey humor. If you're into sci-fi or space then you'll like this book, it's that simple.