Many of the minor characters seem to be there solely to provide information dumps. The characters are flat and two-dimensional and given to delivering set speeches on scientific and political topics. The prose is functional and competent but nothing more. Events do finally take a more interesting turn in the final third of the book, but even so, there is too little danger and too much talk. A mystery is solved in a dull and perfuctory fashion. There are many journeys, all of them long, during which little or nothing happens. There are storms, but everyone survives them without too much difficulty. The story unfolds at a glacial pace and the author studiously avoids anything approaching adventure. Sadly, all of these ingredients are absent. To sustain such a long narrative, you would hope for interesting characters, lively prose and plenty of incident and excitement. Even if it were only half its current length, this would be a big book. So, what's the problem? Well, there's the length, and there's the pace of the story. As far as I can ascertain, the author's research is impeccable and the descriptions of Martian geography and scientific processes are inspired. The book itself is epic in scope and tells the story of the settlement and terraforming of Mars in great detail. Let's start with the positives: the audio production of this recording is excellent and the narrator is top notch.
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