This is the first book in a trilogy about the colonization of Mars.  The first book itself is enormous in scope, from the departure from Earth, the landing, building of settlements, commercialization, and finally Revolution.  Perhaps too large in scope.  The whole series was recommended to me by GP, whose judgment I respect.

Red Mars is the story of a handful of the "First Hundred" colonists on Mars.  They are the pioneers of the new frontier, braving the journey out, surviving planet-side and establishing the first settlement for permanent habitation.  We are treated to Love Triangles, political maneuvering, interpersonal conflict, and clique groups.  Surely some of my favorite themes.  And once the de facto leader of the First Hundred is murdered, we get political intrigue added too.  No investigation, just intrigue.

Technically, this was a brilliant work.  Narratively, not so much.  I found that I really didn't care about the characters and frequently lost track of what was going on.  I don't think it was that there were too many characters, because Red Storm Rising had more and was an incredible story.  Many times I would be reading a segment and have completely forgotten why they were doing some action.  It may be that as a dad of two very small ones, it was natural to fall asleep reading this book every night:  It was definitely a long read;  I purchased this book in July and only finished it this weekend.  My personal opinion is that this would have made a great prequel to an established series; the author tried to put way too much into this book causing it to be flat.  I am disappointed in this book, and despite owning the other two books, I am not sure I will read them.