Review: The Martian Chronicles

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ray's writing is captivating in its simplicity. The chronicles tell of Earth explorers of the early exploration and eventual colonization of Mars. The early landings on the red planet are unsuccessful and are met by resistance from Martians. The Earthlings are persistent and eventually stay and colonize the planet fairly quickly. Most of the Martians perish apparently because of Chicken Pox.

Bradbury doesn't spend a lot of time explaining the technology behind space travel. It seems everyone in a relatively short time has rockets for space travel. Cities on Mars seem to prop up overnight. Also, they are capable of making life-like human robots. That perhaps is a part of the magic of Ray's writing, he focuses on the story and doesn't get hung up on technical details.

All the while this colonization is happening tensions are rising on Earth which are no doubt a mirror of the Cold War tensions and the threat of WW3 in the real world at the time of writing of these stories.

My early encounter with this story was the TV mini-series in the late 70's. For those that weren't there, pop culture seemed be to enjoying a resurgence of science fiction stories in movies and on TV no doubt spurred on by the success of Star Wars. These were different from Star Wars as they were closer to home and happened shortly in the future and not long ago or in a galaxy far far away. The stories also hit closer to home and not fantastical battles with heroes and villains.

The book is a compilation of separate stories each with its own story. Even though these take place on another planet these stories still have a very human element. I think part of what works for me with Bradbury is that he tells his story efficiently without feeling something is being left out. Ray cuts to essential parts of the story without going overboard with extemporaneous or long-winded details that can lose a reader. His stories are no less worthy because of it in my eyes.

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