Boring!!! Very poorly written. The plot is childish. A pity, because now, when the Mars One Project is taking applications to really go to Mars, I thought maybe here I would find a well supported study of the challenges of the colonization endeavour. But this book does not offer a good enough analysis of wajt it would mean to coloniza Mars, perhaps because the story starts when the first colonization problems have already been resolved. Not worth it.

Quite an interesting outline - good ideas. But poorly proofed, many typos, and no real drama which would make it more publishable.

Pretty fun read, wish the story would have kept going tho....

Bad writing, characters have not been developed at all, mis-spellings (and just wrong words) all over the place. By the end it skips ahead badly. No real plot, more like a 'future diary'.

in the beginning it said "little did they know only 14 people would return to earth"'this led me to believe there was some disaster or martian invasion on mars that would kill everyone on mars and only 14 escaped, this book had me going for a while but it got boring nothing really good happened sure Earth was destroyed.
It really needs to be spelled check badly and chapters better layed out it started out good be really fell short

A good story, could use some editing for spelling etc though.

My only complaint is it suddenly ended. i thought there was going to be more story.

Just pleased to see how much thought was given to the development of Mars as a working, living environment. the general overlay of the colonies of England and the addition of the United States and Australia as separate countries and the affiliated capital gains show a lot of history and the workings of mankinds' efforts of self government. keeping order and maing progress on a community project is a colloal job, It seeded like ou were up to the job for the time being. Good on you for going tot eh stars ti get more access to new raw materials for the advancement of spreading humanity to the galaxy. Are you project toward a longer view with revolution and further cutting of economic ties? Others have attempted it... care to take up the mantle? I have saved this to my computer for a re-read later. The ants in the Borrego Desert also used the earth as a cushion against the harsh environment. during the heat of the summer days they stay underground. It really helped the premise of life on Mars by humans to have the underground factor. thanx for a wonderful senario. claude

A bit rough, but a good story. Pace gets jumpy at the end...

A well structured view of the possible future of mankind. Cliff Roehr has a great talent for writing a good paced and captivating novel.

Good book, a little bit long, but still a good book.

Read more like an owner's manual than a novel. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are horrible! The only reason why I finished it was because I kept thinking it would get better. It didn't.

Have just finished this book, as others say, the writing could be better but that apart I enjoyed it VERY much.
Forget the grammer and just enjoy the storyline.

Very nice story! The author writes almost as an historian. Technical features are more important for him than characters' details. I guess this was an author's choice. The story goes much beyond I thought it would go. And that was fine!

Dear Cliff, I liked the whole idea.I found it a little too technical, it maybe needs some more dry humor spread throughout.I wanted to keep reading it though.Thankyou for your writing.

Not bad story line

an excellent story well worth reading

poorly written but an excellent story

Bad science, bad writing interesting premise though.

The first few pages were hard to follow, but once it got started, this was a VERY good book, well worth the time it took to read it.

There is no question that the book needs to be re-written for grammar and spelling, but if you turn your nose up at it because it's not perfect, then YOU are the loser here...

The author has only written two books so far. If he stays with it, he'll get better and very likely put out some very good books.

An easy read, some of the actual science is a bit faulty, as are the conditions on Mars, but it works as a story

I liked the basic premise. But the spelling and grammar need work. The authors understanding of physics could also be improved.

Too many grammatical errors. Feels like the author is trying to cram too much information with no story.

The idea and basic setting for the story seems good.
Alot of the spelling and punctuation errors would be fixed by a spelling check application. Also, it seems a lot like most of the effort was put into stating trivial technical data; scientific observations and everyday technicalities. Constantly it interrupts the flow of the story and end up seeming more like a wish to "fill more pages". Same goes for the thing with often "stating the obvious" and repeating less important technical information (like how many times the ships arrive each year). Repeating the same information multiple times seems like a repeating event that often repeats itself throughout the book.
Reading a book where most of the text consists of "speech" is new to me and therefore I got a little confused in the beginning, by the lack of text describing the transition between locations, but the author managed nicely to make me relatively quickly find out that a transition had taken place. I could get used to both if the later is done carefully and not too often throughout a story.
Mostly I get the feeling I am reading a scientific report more than a "story".
I would really like to read the result if someone were to use this book as an inspiration for a fully fleshed out novel with more depth and a smoother flow of the story.

Maybe try to have a look at some of Bill Bryson's work. You will get an interesting example of how to combine scientific observations and a "good story".

I have to agree with the other reviewers about the spelling and grammar. However, I really enjoyed the concepts in the book and was very entertained. I'd like to see more from the author.

Spelling errors and bad formatting.

Poorly written. This author has no clue how to spell or use punctuation.

enjoyed the book very much

Really like this book. Need some reading just for correction of some errors, but it is very well written.

Needs another run through an editor. But the overall book was a good read. Thanks!

This is a rough draft right?

The book is very good scifi. Target the human challenges on a possible mars colonization.

Good story, I don't care about any grammatical errors its the story that is important and I loved this one. A little scary though because its all possible!.

very poorly written. Lots of grammatical errors.

This is a good book, Little lengthy and very different then normal books but spans a long period of time. Good Job.

good concepts for securing a future for mankind.

See Tim and Carla read a nudespaper. See Tim and Carla take a 250 quest-shun text. See Tim and Carla go to Smars and joint a colosomy on Bars. Yikes! I couldn't take the stilted jerky non-flow of this authors non-style. He needs to feel the story and live in it, not report the facts. His research is great but his story telling sucks. I love almost anything Sci-fi but if you want to read a great story about colonizing Mars read a little Kim Stanley Robinson.

I enjoyed the story very much. The concepts at it's foundation are interesting. However, it seemed more like reading notes on a book and less like a book. a little more depth and story telling and maybe it could be split into a couple novels. I read this over the course of a few afternoons. The grammar and spelling mistakes were a disappointment, but I was sad to see the tale end.

Somewhat in line with the other reviews. Stilted structures; the transitions in particular could use more tact and detail.. More detail could be provided almost everywhere. Interestng concepts but too many, again, enought content for several books. Comments about editor needed are very valid.

Horrible grammar, spelling, dialog. Unreadable.

Good book, liked the ideas behind it, spelling/grammar not perfect but a good read.

While the premise for this book is a good one, it was horrible to read. The sentence structure and grammar are horrible, there are many spelling mistakes, incorrect usage of words (disparate instead of desperate, patients instead of patience, etc) and the dialogue is tedious. Some of the minutiae of the story has pages upon pages of description and explanation. The book could have been half the size and not lost anything. This story really needed an editor and a proof-reader, and about 6 rewrites.

good book
good story
very entertaining

I enjoyed reading this book, The ending was a bit abrupt, The story line was good. Spelling and grammar could be better but it was a good read,Thank you.

this is realistic adventure for all of us that believe that one day we will be able to inhabit another planet and meet other species. A star trek fan.

Thanks for an enjoyable book.

I thought that the idea for this book was very well thought out. I would like to see the author take more care in the sentence structure including grammar, spelling and layout. What the author lays out for the reader can be seen as completely doable; i.e., finding a cave on Mars, sealing it and producing a living breathable atmosphere. Would it be possible to try something like that on the moon first? Alas, Earth has to stop putting war first above science (even though war creates jobs and accelerates scientific discoveries). Thanks for the story. I loved it.