Red Dust

by Paul J. McAuley

Transformed into a reluctant deity by a viral kiss, former Contract Agronomist Technician Wei Lee is set adrift in a terraformed world of cowboys, tribal Yankees, and feral children, appointed to be their savior. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Collections, Space, Science Fiction Fantasy

400 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

name Paul McAuley previously wrote under

Reviews

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very unusual sci-fi, with a resident of Chinese-dominated Mars caught in a bind between the slow collapse of a terraformed ecology, the peril of authoritarian transhumanism and asteroid-belt anarchists who 'love bomb' the world with comic books. Also, cowboys.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked it up in a used bookstore and was blown away by the back cover description. Feral Yankees, anarchists, and agronomists. I'm in! Good times had by all.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mars has been mostly terraformed but a dispute among the ruling castes has seen an interdiction and the planet is slowly reverting back to its primordial state. Orbiting Mars are anarchist craft and one finally penetrates the battery of protective weapons and crashes not far from a settlement. Wei Lee and his co-workers ignore their task and find the crashed shuttle. it contains an anarchist Miriam Makepeace Mbele, who transfers a nanovirus to Lee without his knowledge. The ruling elite are now searching for Lee and Miriam and arrange for them to be killed and look like an accident but the virus has enabled an upgrade of Lee’s implants and body, basically enhancing all his senses. He discovers that he is a pawn in a very dangerous political game involving the immortal Chinese rulers and must get to the summit of the world’s highest volcano to change the world. Paul J. McAuley’s book has Martian cowboys, stampeding yaks, Heaven as an upload domain and martial arts battles but should be more entertaining than it actually is. It drags in parts and the unique approach only partly compensates. Mars as the Wild West with Elvis Presley from The Thing On Jupiter.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this. The Chinese colonised mars and established a sci-fi pre communist China mashup. But now the terraforming is going into reverse and the planet and its people may die. Underground Buddhist computer monk bunkers. An imperial palace on Olympus mons or the sea of tranquility or something. Cowboy Yankee/mongolians. Rice.

A really unique take on mars colonisation. A bit like shadow of the torturer.

Then it really goes off the rails in the second half. I think he was on something.

[Bartek · Rating 1 out of 5]

An art of DNF is something I wish I'd possessed when I was reading the book. Characters appearing and disappearing out of nowhere without much sense and logic, new locations randomly dropping in and out, no plot lasts longer than a chapter or two. Nothing even remotely interesting and engaging happens in the book.

[Jon Pennycook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got bored and skipped the last 3 or so chapters. More fantasy in the future and in space than SF. Not sure what the author meant by "virus" because these seemed able to do active things to inanimate objects and improve eyesight and physical exertion beyond the laws of physics.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nicely done!
Aged pretty well.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit that my choice of rating for this book varies from moment to moment but I a kind soul so shall leave it at this.
The reason for my indecision is that the book has many good points but a rather weak ending - normally I would mark it accordingly but there is more to this author.
You see this book came in to my possession years ago (yes I know there are those out there who know me, know that I am swine for picking up more books than I read and then stock piling them for a rainy day. Well in my defence in England I have many many rainy days). Anyway this book has a cover from Jim Burns and that is more than enough to catch my attention. Anyway the book itself really an odyssey and journey through a terraformed (but failing) Mars with more than its fair share of Chinese overtones - very similar to the Chung Kuo series - which is a fascinating read, where ideas and thoughts are given over to world building. But the end is rather weak as I said - in fact I see now that I am not the only one and some have taken great offence to this. So why the more generous rating - Well some years later I stumbled across more of McAuley's work and I must admit that I enjoyed it far more, not only that but he is still writing now and I see some of these books are gaining very favourable reviews so for now I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying its an interesting read if you are in to the journey not the conclusion.

[Karl Stark di Grande Inverno · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'ambientazione è sicuramente molto affascinante: è un misto di cyberpunk, romanzo di frontiera, Vance, Borroughs, filosofia orientale... insomma, una miscela ben riuscita.
Purtroppo non si può dire lo stesso del personaggio principale, e dei suoi comprimari, che sembra sempre in balia degli eventi, senza nessuna decisione realmente presa da lui.
Questa è una critica che ho letto anche in altre recensioni, e mi sento di condividere in pieno, così come il fatto che lo stile è molto confusionario, in alcuni punti non si capisce veramente nulla.
Anche la traduzione non è impeccabile, secondo me: tanto per dirne una, tradurre letteralmente i nomi dei due satelliti di Marte, Phobos e Deimos (che quindi diventano Paura e Terrore) non ha molto senso.
Insomma, un buon potenziale sviluppato solo a metà.
Nota: i capitoli 68 e 69 sono invertiti, almeno nella mia copia.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself inclined to only give the book 3.5 stars. That's unfortunate, since I enjoyed most of the book. It presents an interesting society based on a mix traditional and Communist Chinese cultures (transplanted to a terraformed Mars on the decline). It had a good pace. The journey of the main character is bit of an odyssey, although not epic by modern SF standards. But I couldn't be satisfied with the ending. Part of that is questions I had about the science - which would not be an issue for many readers. However, aside from that, the end did not stand up to the rest of the book. The journey part is interesting, so if your point of view is that the journey is more important than the destination, you may appreciate the book even more.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strangely I thought I was enjoying this, until I hit a section where the publisher appears to have swapped two chapters. I could have just read them in order, but it dawned on me that I am not invested in the story or characters, despite having read over two-thirds of the novel. Instead the interesting technology concepts and vibrant world kept me hooked. Sadly not hooked enough - Red Dust's story is shallow yet complicated, while most of the characters are dull or, worse, annoying. And instead of expanding on detail, the author just piled event after event on top of each other. Not a problem if you want a fast-paced action adventure, but a rather big one if your goal is heady sci-fi.

[Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting set of premises, and a nice picaresque romp across a terraformed Mars with lots of imagination, but too little shown of the larger backstory (leaving too many questions unanswered, and a combination of deus ex machina and dei absenti (where is earth?)), characters a little one-dimensional, the interaction of the virtual and the real confusing (and certainly not handled as well as in works such as John Wright's Golden Transcendence trilogy, or Iain Banks' "Surface Detail"), and the ending too quick, confusing, and uncompelling.

On balance, a nice summer read but not a great book.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back story is that Chinese communists colonize Mars, terraform partially and then decide terraforming is conflict with policy and stop (making them Reds in the Kim Stanley Robinson sense and in the traditional sense).

The protagonist has nanotech enabled superhuman powers to slow down time subjectively and goes on a Hero's Journey.

The short stories of the author are a lot better than this novel.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complicated, convoluted, and no satisfaction in the ending.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK read. I didn't really feel like things were taking place on Mars though. The protagonist never really made his own decisions, which gave me the feeling things were "just happening" st times.

[Russ]

Great, we've all been to Mars but McAuley makes this stand out from that early 90's influx of martian living.

[Caity]

I really don't know what to make of this book. It's very odd.

[Shaun Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! A wonderfully imaginative and adventurous novel about future Mars.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried but couldn't really get into this.....