3.5/5. This book is an enjoyable read. Many elements are dated of course, such as the idea of vegetation on Mars, but that didn’t detract from the story for me. The journey and exploration of Mars is still a lot of fun, and I enjoy Clarke’s writing style. The family drama plot line was less interesting to me, though it hinted at a theme that would be better fleshed out in some of Clarke’s other novels such as Childhood’s End. It was strange how there are hints about Gibson having some unusual abilities, but they aren’t explained and don’t seem to have much to do with the plot. I get the sense that Clarke was setting up a sequel, but to my knowledge it was never written. The story doesn’t feel incomplete however, and I still enjoyed it overall.

Still a good read, despite some of the incorrectness of the science. I especially liked the assertion that there aren't any mountains on Mars.

A classic that stands the test of time!

THE SANDS OF MARS is a joy - a lightweight, easy-reading, far-sighted hard sci-fi novel that addresses the broad topics of interplanetary travel and colonization, development and terraforming of the hostile extra-terrestrial Martian environment. One could quibble, I suppose, that the science is slightly dated and there were certainly a couple of predictions that have since been proven incorrect but, for my money, the story is made all the more exciting and amazing for the degree to which it is now, fifty years later, approaching reality and the possibility of achievement!

Martin Gibson, a celebrated science fiction writer, has been invited to be the first and only passenger on the maiden voyage of Ares, the first interplanetary vessel that will be devoted to passenger travel. A simple thesis indeed for a marvelous novel - Gibson's job is to report back to earth on the trip and his perceptions of the progress that the first colonists have made in their establishment of a flourishing base on Mars. Unlike Asimov's THE GODS THEMSELVES which addresses the philosophical and psychological impact of living in an alien environment on Earth's moon, THE SANDS OF MARS restricts itself almost exclusively to addressing the hard core physical and scientific issues. Not to suggest that makes it less interesting or a weaker novel - that's just the side of the sci-fi coin that turned up when Clarke flipped it, I suppose! There certainly wasn't any shortage of topics - oxygen, air pressure, weather, heat, buildings, local travel (both on the planet and to Mars' moons, Phobos and Deimos), interplanetary travel back and forth to Mars, emergency preparedness, government, effective utilization of limited manpower, biology and zoology (or at least Clarke's rather exciting vision of what is possible), communication and more!

I also appreciated the fact that, while the science was straightforward and not particularly complex, neither was it dumbed down or patronizing. For example, when Ares first left Earth's orbits to begin the long trip to Mars, it was described as follows:

" ... she would pull away out of the orbit in which she was circling and had hitherto spent all her existence, to swing into the long hyperbola that led to Mars."

I haven't been a big fan of Arthur C Clarke's other more open-ended esoteric novels such as AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT but I certainly enjoyed this one!

Paul Weiss

The Sands of Mars follows the experiences of one Martin Gibson, a SF writer who travels to Mars where a small human colony has been established in order to explore it, the planet, the people and the whole adventure of traveling to a different planet.

Let's get the caveats out of the way first. This was Arthur C. Clarke's first SF book and while the writing itself holds up, some of the science does not. We now know a lot more about Mars so reading the book does require the reader to turn off their brain from time to time and just accept this alternative reality.

The book itself will feel very familiar to anyone who has read other works by Clarke. The focus very much is on exploration, on discovery, on experiencing new sensations and adapting to strange circumstances. The main character is thrown into a variety of new environments and forced to adapt to them at the same time as the reader which really helps with immersion and with keeping the reader engaged.

The characters are serviceable with only Martin having a true arc alongside one other character who becomes entangled in his story. Everyone else does their jobs and fit their roles with a few standing out from among the crowd.

This book was very surprising for me. First efforts are typically a bit sluggish, a bit awkward, maybe not everything fits quite as well as it should. But this is not what I found here. The Sands of Mars is a great hard-ish SF book, fascinating and engaging even if a bit dated. Clarke's style is very obvious and one can clearly see the seeds of future classics in this novel.

This slim novel, published in 1951/1952, was a delightful little read. I think it must have been one of Clarke's earlier novels, as it doesn't feel quite as polished as his later works. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this simple space story. It's a fairly low-energy novel, in that despite the fact that the main character is flying in a space ship to Mars, there is a sense of the routine and commonplace about it. That's intentional, as the plot is based around the idea of this science-fiction author being the first passenger on this new spaceship and one who is going to visit the growing Martian colony and write dispatches back to Earth for popular consumption. Because the author is not an astronaut himself, there is a sense of wonder about the trip (my favourite part was definitely the transit between Earth and Mars!) and I could only imagine myself what it would be like to look with my own eyes upon the stars, unfiltered and blazing bright. The part set on the Mars colony is a little more dull - mostly because the colony itself is thinly sketched by Clarke and the colonists are given little chance to jump off the page. But apart from these negatives, I really did enjoy this book for the stimulus it provided my imagination. To set foot on another planet and gaze off into the far void of space in which Earth is but a speck. To fight for your very survival on a world which is not your own. To dream of a future in which ships hurtle throughout the solar system in twirling patterns of comforting routine. To imagine standing on a moon of Saturn and gazing up into that planet filling half the sky. The wonders of creation dazzle the mind and to read works that make me feel such emotions is something that brings me much joy.