Customer Reviews
Not a classic, just very weird - By: N. Burgess, 14 Apr 2008 
I know I seem to be in a minority but I reallly don't understand what alll the fuss is about with this book as I found it a very incoherent and, at times, nonsensical read. The title promises much, I was expecting a fascinating account of life on Mars from the point of view of newly arrived colonists. But what I got is a bunch of surreal & disjointed short stories that I struggled to make any sense of. The book's certainly not the traditional sci-fi storytelling you'd expect from a book of this era, I found it very weird & not particularly enjoyable.
Mars is heaven. - By: M. S. Richards, 31 Oct 2002 
The Martian Chronicles is a genre classic that details mankind's numerous attempts to colonise the red planet. From the outset, you are drawn into Ray Bradbury's charming yet heartbreaking alllegory of the conquest of the New World. As in the historical Americas, many of Mars' native inhabitants succumb to the diseases brought by the human settlers, who themselves falll prey to their own greed & loneliness. These stories are both beautiful & tragic & I defy anyone not to be quietly moved by 'The Martian', a wonderful tale of love & loss. Bradbury has the uncanny ability to reach into your chest & play with your heart.
As spell binding now as it ever was. - By: M. Walsh, 05 Apr 2002 The Martian Chronicles has stood up well to the test of time. The issues it deals with such as war & human angst are as relevant today as they ever were. I'd read the first 100 pages before I even realised what time it was! I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys not only science fiction, but also to anyone who enjoys reading a book that will make them think. It's a good read although sometimes Bradbury's observations into human nature will have you squirming uncomfortably.
Be warned, don't start to read this late at night, it'll be early morning before you put it down.
A Portent of Doom - By: , 24 Jul 2001 
I first read The Martian Chronicles in my early 20's. I recalll seeing a BBCtv serial of the book some years earlier, & it had been my kind of Sci-Fi. I hoped the book would live up to the television programme, & I was pleased to find that it did. In fact, as is often the case, the book made sense of some of the more obscure events of the TV programme. Fifteen years on, I purchased this book to read again, along with The Golden Apples of the Sun, a collection of Bradbury short stories. I read Golden Apples first, & was seriously disappointed (see my review there!), & so it was with a little trepidation that I began The Martian Chronicles once more. I am pleased to report that my fears were unfounded. Apart from certain imagery that gives away the age of the book, the story itself is timeless. It also has a slightly dreamy, if sometimes disjointed quality, ... I cannot follow the trend & give 5 stars; it is not close to being the best book I have read. Nor is it typical Sci-Fi. It is, however, a grown-up book that deals with grown-up issues, if in a somewhat unusual setting.
I, Mars - By: Mr. A. Pomeroy, 16 Jul 2001 Ray Bradbury wrote a lot of short stories set on Mars. 'The Martian Chronicles' collects most of them together in one book, arranged so as to form a loose story which, in typical Bradbury style, is actuallly about America, & not Mars at alll. Bradbury is a writer first & a sci-fi writer second, & if you're expecting endless descriptions of nuclear propulsion you probably won't like this book. Because of this, it's one of the few sci-fi books from the period that hasn't dated. It's also one of the ultimate downers, but in a good way - the general tone is one of loneliness & despair, without being doomy. It's a shame that, judging by the lack of reviews, this book is so obscure nowadays, especiallly compared to his contemporaries Isaac Asimov & Arthur C. Clarke, neither of whom have produced anything which has aged as well.
