# Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a deep, cautiously hopeful story about settling Mars, too rich for a movie. Critics find it dry and slow, with a lot of space politics.

## Why people recommend it

- Too much depth for a movie (1 comments): "There's way too much depth in this (wonderful, cautiously hopeful) series to pack into a movie, or even a trilogy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47543658))
- Story payoff comes full circle (1 comments): "Some of the most interesting stuff starts happening to them and it comes full circle" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544565))
- Vivid visuals (1 comments): "The visuals are vivid. They were tedious to digest." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46482663))

## What people warn about

- Dry, slow space politics (2 comments): "I found it much drier than I expected. It's been a lot of space politics so far" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905676)) "The visuals are vivid. They were tedious to digest." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46482663))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir](https://hackerapproved.com/p/project-hail-mary.md): 117 recommend
- [There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-is-no-antimemetics-division.md): 98 recommend
- [Blindsight by Peter Watts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blindsight.md): 96 recommend
- [Dune by Frank Herbert](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dune.md): 82 recommend
- [Accelerando by Charles Stross](https://hackerapproved.com/p/accelerando.md): 71 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593358821?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780593358825) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson", https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-mars/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).