I'd put off the Red Mars trilogy for years, for some various bad reasons, but finally got around to it, and well--God. Damn. This is an amazing book!

KSM explores the consequences of colonizing Mars in the best traditions of hard science-fiction, blending both imaginative and plausible technology with the realistic tensions of ideology, power, and politics that arise when ambitious people reach a frontier. The 'areology' of Mars is beautifully realized, the stark, cold, dusty planet is very much a character in it's brutal transition to life. Sure, this book is perhaps a little longer than it needs to be, too many similar reveries about isolation and freedom and change from characters who are little too much alike. But the magisterial vision of space colonization and its problems makes up for all that.