Product Description

On Mars, 200 years in the future, Casseia Majundar is forced to become one of those who will lead mankind into a new era, due to a new kind of physics which could change man and the universe irrevocably.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #542371 in Books
• Published on: 1994-11-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
Medium-future Martian odyssey from the author of Anvil of Stars (1992), etc. In 2171, Mars inhabitants are grouped in extended family businesses that sometimes compete, sometimes cooperate, and resist the imposition of a central authority. But Earth is forever trying to impose its will upon Mars; and so young politician-to-be Casseia of the old and powerful Majumdar family - following a brief and painful affair with ambitious, brilliant physicist Charles Franklin - will travel to Earth with her uncle Bithras to negotiate with the powers that be. Unexpectedly, the talks fizzle; worse, Casseia learns that Earth has infected Mars's artificial-intelligence "thinkers" with virus-like "evolvons." With Earth now openly hostile, Mars must present a united front, and Casseia is elected Vice President. She realizes that what has alarmed Earth are the discoveries of Charles Franklin: his physics of "descriptors" allow the alteration or "tweaking" of matter and energy within the absolute-zero Bell Continuum. In practical terms: instantaneous communications, the ability to fry remote targets instantaneously, even the moving of entire planets! Earth attacks by activating the evolvons that sabotage Mars's thinkers, producing chaos. Charles Franklin's team retaliates, and the attack ceases. Clearly, though, this is just the first phase of a struggle that must result in Mars's subjugation - or its leaving the solar system altogether. Mundane politicking, plotting, and characters combined with stunning and remarkable invention and extrapolation. Bear is an infuriating writer in that his narrative skills never come close to matching the sheer brilliance of his ideas. So it has been; so it is here. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

A must-have, stays interesting for years
I've owned this books for many years now and I keep rereading it. The politics of Mars come across as a very interesting way to run a society but Earth isn't neglected either and is presented as having a fascinating life of its own. Both the 'Thinkers' and the nano-tech come to life in a great way in this story. The physics is grand, to boot.

A classic!

Up to Bear's usual standards
This is the fourth and final book in one of Bear's best series; Queen of Angels, Slant, and the short and forgetful Heads. Thankfully Moving Mars provides a suitably spectacular ending to the series, although like the other three, it's set some distance apart from the other books.

The social and political stresses between Earth, Mars, and within Mars itself are all detailed in the usual Bear style, complete with deep characters, scary weapons, and a decent pace that if you're not careful will keep you up late to read "just one more chapter".

Grab it if you can; it's not exactly one of the easiest books to get hold of.

An amazing surprise
A few years ago I came off Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars Trilogy with an appetite for more Mars. Walking into a bookstore there was a book called Moving Mars by Greg Bear. I knew off him, but had never read any of his work.

I was mesmerized by the far thinking plot of political struggle of the Martians as they try to seperate themselves from the domination of the Earth/Moon system. It actually made for good "continuation" of Robinsons colonization trilogy, because when we meet the Martians they are a well established planet...no longer a sparse colony.

The setting in a nanotech developed future follows freedom fighters from their first college insurrection through their careers as key political figures...and then war begins.

I loved it......great ending with far fetched quantum physical tricks that Bear makes perfectly believable.