I got over half-way through the book and there wasn't even a hint of a plot beyond a travlogue of the main character. So after multiple months of trying, I'm giving up. ( )

The beauty of this book is its optimism! Of course it is dated as it was written in the early 1950's, but because of its character development and overall use of human idealism and positive interaction I love it very much. This is not an overall story review of The Sands of Mars by AC Clark, rather a reason to read it. Feel good. That's why you should read it. ( )

Life on Mars? Arthur C Clarke thought so in this 1951 novel. It was published early in Clarke's career, but perhaps he could already imagine himself as a famous science fiction author. In the book Martin Gibson is the famous writer and he has been invited to travel on a spaceship to Mars with five other astronauts; it is in the 1990's and there is a well established colony on Mars and the spaceship is being made ready to provide tourist accommodation for the three month trip.

The novel starts with the journey to Mars and the difficulties of space travel. Gibson is the newbie travelling with four other seasoned astronauts and one junior. Clarke's ideas of space flight are not too wide of the mark considering that this was written before a manned space flight, but he also is able to portray well the developing relationships between the men who must learn to live with each other. The story starts to move forward when Gibson arrives in the colony, but Clarke is as interested in the human relationships as he is in the science of living on Mars and the politics following a trip across an unexplored section of the planet.

This is a good solid entertaining read with some fireworks towards the end of the book. It is well thought through with enough of a mystery to keep me reading till the end. Nothing spectacular and apart from some obvious anomalies I thought it held up pretty well. No obvious racism and although women on the colony are employed only as office workers , this is not unusual for the period. 3.5 stars. ( )

1950s YA. The intention here is to encourage British boys to kick-start the Space Age. You can be a girl too, as long as you can smile and type. The story (there is no plot) follows Martin Gibson, British sf writer and journalist as he travels to the new British colony on Mars where everyone is incredibly British. Clarke has taken British culture from 1951 and transplanted it into the near future. So we have newspapers, typewriters and telegrams. There’s even smoking on board spaceships, which must make a dreadful mess. I think Clarke’s point is that the settlement of the planets is not a matter for the far future, but the time is at hand. Unfortunately it has caused the novel to date beyond use. It would be funny if it weren’t all rather dull. Like Britain in the 1950s. So Gibson has a look about on Mars and there’s a half-hearted attempt by Clarke at some drama, and there’s a scene of mild peril which turns out to be a happy accident. You know the kind of thing.

Well written on a sentence by sentence basis. There’s a couple of good mind-bending moments and a couple of passages of poetry. Don’t expect too much though. ( )

Early novel by the great Arthur C. Clarke. This was not his best work by a long shot. Did not enjoy it and will not keep my copy. Glad his others works are so good. ( )