First Landing (Hardcover)

by Robert Zubrin (Author) "THE BEAGLE WHIRLED SILENTLY THROUGH THE VOID..." (more)
Key Phrases: rover sortie, flight mechanic, launch window, Mission Control, White House, Colonel Townsend (more...)

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.

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 262 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; 1st edition (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441008593
• ISBN-13: 978-0441008599
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #967,259 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 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 "space_modeler" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

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:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Science Isn't Improbable, The Story Is, September 9, 2002

By	John Cabral (SF Bay Area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This first novel by Mars enthusiast, Robert Zubrin, follows hard on several much more successfully realized works by Ben Bova, Gregory Benford, Geoffrey Landis, and others. It is ironic and disappointing that one of the leading voices on behalf of Mars exploration should turn in such a half-hearted effort. What's missing here are the very minutiae that writers such as Bova and Stephen Baxter excell at detailing. Zubrin fails to make his story as much about the expedition and the planet on which it is set as it is about the people, all of whom remain mere thumbnail sketches, caricatures. That any space agency would group these five disparate souls together for the first expedition to Mars is not only unlikely, but completely improbable. Among them number Rebecca the empiricist, Gwen the religious zealot, Luke the good ole Texas boy, and so on. Didn't NASA conduct any psyche profiles before selecting this crew? And how unlikely is it that NASA would ever select historian/chronicler McGee for such a mission? Wishful thinking on Zubrin's part. NASA, furthermore, is reknowned for exercising control over virtually every detail of an expedition such as that depicted in the novel. It borders on the ludicrous then that upon arrival, the crew and Mission Control suddenly debate the priorities of the expedition: geology or biology. Like other recent novels, Mars Crossing and The Martian Race, First Landing is as much about suspense and thrills as it is about science and planetary exploration. It succeeds slightly better on this score, I think, through a series of improbable but exciting mishaps. What's missing, however, is the wonder of walking on the Martian surface, of walking on a new, unexplored world. The author hurries through the science unneccessarily, as if his audience would somehow be bored by the very things that made them, certainly me, pick up the book in the first place. I don't doubt that Zubrin has a better Mars novel in him; he needs, however, to trust his reader's enthusiasm as much as his own.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dismal, boring & shameless, December 15, 2003

By	C. Speer "speerhead" (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: First Landing (Paperback)

I was pretty excited to get started reading this book after reading the reviews. I am very interested in exploration of Mars, and this book seemed to be a perfect fit for me. Unfortunately I can not say I enjoyed this first attempt at fiction by Mr. Zubrin. The plot is predictable, and shallow. The characters could have been pulled from any number of previous tombs on exploration. At one point there is even a shameless plug for one of Zubrin's non-fiction works.

I found this effort to be really lacking in conviction and creatvity, a least two more complete edits were warranted, unfortunately it is the reader who suffers reading through this dribble.

About the only positive point I can note is that the suffereing is short-lived, as "First Landing" is quite short, and requires very little in the way of concentration, as the reader is aware of what lurks around every next corner.