First Landing - Robert Zubrin Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author Robert Zubrin

"First Landing"
Message Board

Review Summaries

" Ace, July 2001, 24.95, 272 pp. ISBN 0441008593 After a year in space, the five-person team on board the Beagle are getting ready to land on Mars. The landing, like everything else that follows, does not go smoothly but it does get the astronauts there in one piece. Within the first few weeks there, they have found a gemstone that is harder than a diamond and microorganisms that prove there is life on the red planet. The astronauts are elated by their discovery of life on Mars but on Earth, hysteria sets in, fanned by a popular writer and a televangelist. They fear that the astronauts will bring back some pandemic disease to earth. A fuel line leakage leaves them stranded on Mars and the president, who is up for reelection, is not pushing a rescue mission. This means that the five stranded Americans will have to find a way to get themselves off planet or die when their air and food runs out. Robert Zubrin has written a science fiction that measures up to the works of Author C Clarke and Robert Heinlein. The politics that are involved in a space mission are astounding to behold and the interactions of the five stranded people who have been cooped up together for three years ring true (ever share a house with another generation?). FIRST LANDING is a work of hope, written by a visionary who sees the possibilities in the not too distant future. Harriet Klausner "
Harriet Klausner, Resident Robert Zubrin Scholar

Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - exploring a wondrous planet or phenomena - stranded on alien planet, fighting aliens to survive
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - fighter (air/space) pilot
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Planet surface, need spacesuit
Which planet? - Mars
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - quite a lot of techical jargon
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books by Gordonator ranking
Freedom's Choice - Freedom Series 2 by Anne McCaffrey
Deluge Drivers - Icerigger Trilogy 3 by Alan Dean Foster
The Culling Dark by Bettyann Craddock
The Smoke Ring by Larry Niven
Deepsix by Jack McDevitt

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Movie search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed movie search
(click here) or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion

Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!

Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!

Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game

Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 3/20/2010 11:56:07 PM

Blade Runner: Blade Runner 3/19/2010 3:02:42 PM

Alice in Wonderland: Alice in Wonderland 3/12/2010 3:47:50 PM

Star Trek Enterprise: Jolene Blalock on T'Pol and Star Trek Enterprise 3/7/2010 11:02:27 PM

Lord of the Rings: Why would Aragorn choose pig lips Arwen Evenstar over Eowyn? 3/5/2010 12:12:07 AM

Stargate (TV): Is Teyla's character racist against black people? 3/3/2010 11:07:08 PM

Stargate (TV): Why is Major Carter so Butch? 3/3/2010 11:00:12 PM

Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman: Why do fembots growl? 3/3/2010 10:49:55 PM

Six Million Dollar Man & Bionic Woman: What was so great about the Six Million Dollar Man? 3/3/2010 10:41:43 PM

Doctor Who: Who was the most annoying of the Doctor's companions? 3/3/2010 10:25:55 PM

Newest slaves:
Kathleen Turner 11:43:05 AM
Kate Jackson (Charlies Angels) 11:34:56 AM
Heather Locklear (Melrose Place) 11:34:28 AM
Denise Richards 11:34:03 AM
Sandra Buttock (Bullock) 11:33:40 AM
Uma Thurman 11:33:16 AM
Catherine Zeta Jones 11:33:00 AM
Sharon Stone 11:32:33 AM
Karen Allen 11:32:05 AM
Jodie Foster 11:31:44 AM
All slaves
(click here)

Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)