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Review of Martian Rainbow by Robert L. Forward
From /tmp/sf.3694 Sun Nov 8 23:06:49 1992
Path: isy!liuida!sunic!psinntp!psinntp!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!jdaneh
From: [email protected].edu (Robert Schmunk)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Re-submit of missing review (just in case)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 23 Dec 91 19:55:34 GMT
Sender: [email protected] (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Reply-To: [email protected].edu
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Approved: [email protected]
MARTIAN RAINBOW
By Robert L. Forward
A book review by R.B. Schmunk
(Copyright 1991)
MARTIAN RAINBOW is a new hard sf novel by Robert L. Forward, author of such
books as DRAGON'S EGG and ROCHEWORLD. Like many books given the 'hard sf'
label, it is long on ideas and a bit short on plot and characterization. In
this case, the problem would seem to be that Forward has packed in too many
ideas for a single novel and not left himself room for the other components.
This isn't surprising, as Forward is a working scientist who has either worked
on some of the topics which arise in the course of MARTIAN RAINBOW or who has
read extensively about them. Among the issues presented are the future of
warfare and the accompanying technology (especially in a vacuum environment),
advances in electronic surveillance, Martian geology and climatology, and
terraforming. All were reasonably presented, and I don't recall noticing any
inaccuracies in the material with which I am very familiar: Martian
climatology. (I should note that Forward includes a short bibilography. Some
of the papers cited are a bit dated, but they're still valid.)
The book begins with the conquest of Mars (c. 2040) by a United Nations
expeditionary force, composed mostly of US forces and commanded by American
General Alexander Armstrong. In some unexplained (and it should have been)
fashion, Mars has been taken over by Russian Neo-Communists, with whom the US
is also fighting over the Baltic republics. The invasion is quickly over, with
only a handful of deaths, and General Armstrong returns to Earth in triumph,
bringing back all the Russians identified as KGB agents, which is most of them.
Left behind on Mars as military governor is the general's twin brother,
Augustus Armstrong, who can only be differentiated from his brother by a couple
of missing fingers, lost in an auto accident in which Alexander was driving.
He soon declares the end of martial law and moves into a position as head of
the Sagan Mars Institute, a research organization, and lets someone else become
the elected governor of Mars, now a UN territory administered under US law.
It is soon apparent that the brothers differ in more than the number of their
fingers. In very broad strokes, Alexander is painted as a hot-headed
megalomaniac, a super-MacArthur, who *very* publicly retires from the military
in a tiff over a promotion. He immediately hooks up with a billionaire who is
the secret power behind the Unified church, which seems to be an amalgamation
of Moon's Unification Church and of the Scientologists. Quicker than you say
"What?", Alexander is presented to a believing public as God, the Infinite
Lord, and from there he moves on the US presidency.
Meanwhile, back on Mars, Gus is just your average working-class science
institute director, accompanying researchers on a tour of Olympus Mons. The
trip is broken short when he departs to find out just what was going on at the
north polar icecap back during the invasion, and it is revealed that the body
of some sort of Martian/alien being has been discovered buried in the ice.
From this point the book would seem to have any number of possible directions.
Will Alexander's drive for power succeed? Given their differing personalitites,
will some sort of conflict occur between the brothers? Will the conflict
escalate to warfare between the planets? Where did the frozen alien come from,
and how long has it been there? Are there more? The unfortunate thing is that
the book tries to cover all of these possibilities, and some new issues that
arise later in the book. All of them are interesting. Potentially each would
make an intriguing novel in its own right. Instead, we are overwhelmed and some
of the threads suffer when they are cut short by Forward's next good idea.
As I noted above, the other problem with MARTIAN RAINBOW lies in the
characterization. I have had trouble with Forward's characters before and was
unable to finish reading FLIGHT OF THE DRAGONFLY (re-named ROCHEWORLD) because
of it. The people in MARTIAN RAINBOW are an improvement, but Forward still
has a way to go. Alexander Armstrong is portrayed as a psychotic genius, but
other than a comment that he is still compensating for being born a minute
later than Gus, only the effect of his psychosis is shown. Other than the
invasion of Mars, is he merited in having such a high opinion of himself? And
why is he so intolerant of underlings who show signs of thinking on their own?
On the other hand, Gus is seen as a admirable, hard-working scientist. He
works well with others, and his relationships with women are based on love and/
or mutual repect rather than satisfying his needs. However, this description
is still a bit shallow. I never had a grasp on Gus' thought processes either,
particularly as little is shown of his life outside of work. Worst of all,
two days after reading the book, I cannot recall if it was once mentioned what
field of science was his specialty.
And in the end, I could not see Forward's point in making these two men
identical twin brothers. The idea of twin brothers with radically different
personalities would suggest that the book would be a series of minor conflicts
between the two, leading up to a battle which settles things once and for all,
but this is not the case. The brothers are on two different planets, with
minimal contact between them, and the book certainly does not end in a
resolution of their differences. Alternatively, perhaps it is important that
some mistake be made in distinguishing between the two. Such a scene does
indeed occur, but by the time it happens, its importance had been diminished
(in my eyes) by all the other sub-plots which have been introduced. Given all
that was going on, Forward could have made the two men un-identical, perhaps
not even brothers, and still have easily found a way to resolve things. This
feature of MARTIAN RAINBOW would seem to be a hook which doesn't hold.
There are, of course, other characters in the book, described with varying
degrees of success. There is Gus' lover Tanya, a geologist studying Olympus
Mons; Chris Stoker (an amalgam of Chris McKay and Carol Stoker, planetary
scientists mentioned in the bibliography? I wonder), the fun-loving governor
of Mars; Robert Krapp, the money-man who financed Alexander's rise to power;
Jerry, the programmer in charge of the Mace of God; etc.; etc. Given their
subsidiary roles, I had little problem with their portrayals, except that I was
a bit uncomfortable with the women. Of the three women who play any noticeable
part of the story, two are seen using sex as a weapon (for either good or bad).
Perhaps three women is a very poor data sample to work with, but this still
makes me uncomfortable.
Given what I have had to say in these last few paragraphs, you would probably
expect me to weigh in with a recommendation to not read this book. Surprise!
Despite the massive problems I had with MARTIAN RAINBOW, I still found much
of the book fascinating. I'm not suggesting that you run out and buy the
hardback, but if you happen to run across a copy at the library or on a
friend's bookshelf, give it a whirl. In particular, those of you who have an
interest in the planet Mars may be as enthralled as I was during certain
chapters.
%T MARTIAN RAINBOW
%A Robert L. Forward
%I Ballantine Del Rey
%C New York
%O hardback, US$18.00
%P 319 + 14 pp.
%D June 1991
%G ISBN 0-345-34712-9
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robert B. Schmunk <[email protected].edu, [email protected].edu>
SPAC, Rice Univ, Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251 -- (713) 527-4939
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an
interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and
you give me a dangerous enemy indeed. --Anne Rice, THE WITCHING HOUR
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