This is...a lot. I appreciate that Robinson tried to write a full-scale approach to what colonizing Mars would mean but this should have been at least two, maybe even three books. Mixing Tolkienesque descriptions of landacapes over and over and over again, adding in actual maths and physics equations and graphs while discussing social, political, economic and ecological issues and philosophies is just too much. You can see that clearly in the narrative that shifts from character to character but it's just folks travelling around a lot without getting anywhere on their missions. The case of the death of one person that starts right at the beginning could have been a perfect narrative thread to keep me engaged but was dropped and picked up and then tossed again randomly. And finally, at the end, I'm not sure yet but it didn't feel satisfying how it all ended.