I loved it, or mostly liked it and well enough to want to read the other two books in the trilogy, Green Mars and Blue Mars. A conglomerate of corporations and the UN send up a ship full of 100 mostly scientists to colonize Mars because Earth has gone to hell in a hand basket. Things go fine for awhile but eventually all of Earth's problems end up on Mars as well...overpopulation, corrupt politics and murder and then eventually mayhem and rebellion. Scientifically, Kim Stanley Robinson made everything sound so possible even plausible. Mars didn't really seem to be such a bad place to live...if you don't mind living in a bubble or a tent or underground. The last 100 pages really picked up the pace but then the last chapter really bogged down and I was glad it finally came to an end. But overall a very good read.