I first read this book in Middle School and strongly disliked it. After reading more of Bradbury works as an adult I wondered why I would have disliked this novel. Bradbury is a genius writer, and it is no wonder that he is one of the great Science Fiction authors that have made it a bit mainstreamed.

Yet, I still strongly dislike this book. My main issues is that it is written like a collection of short stories that coincide. Yet at time the stories completely contradict themselves. The first few stories descriptions of the Martians is vastly different than at the end. If there is an explanation for why there were cities modeled after Earth, or why some cities were destroyed thousands of years before humans traveled to Earth, yet we are responsible for their animation. Then Martians transform into some mystic aboriginal species who knows the mysteries of the universe. Yet in the beginning they were annoying, self centered, and bureaucratic.

Bradbury is a brilliant writer. Yet, the way this collection combines leaves me less than satisfied as a reader.