Escape Velocity

A curated Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Media

Search Results for: andy weir

Artemis

Review: Artemis – Andy Weir

Jazz Bashara lives in Artemis, earth’s first colony on the moon. She is also poor, a petty criminal and a deep disappointment to her father. When the chance at a really large stack of money comes by, she can’t pass up – but gets entangled in a game with the future of Artemis itself at stake.

The Martian

Review: The Martian – Andy Weir

NASA Astronaut Mark Watney was only supposed to be on Mars for 31 days. When a dust storm almost kills him, the rest of the crew leaves – under the impression that their colleague is actually dead…

Review: The Sands of Mars – Arthur C. Clarke

Famous science fiction author Martin Gibson is invited to board the Ares, the first large-scale space passenger liner, on its maiden voyage to humanity’s experimental colony on Mars. As he befriends the crew of the space ship and explores the small settlements on the red planet, Martin Gibson quickly finds that his previous works were rather less accurate than he had hoped – and that there are all kinds of plans in motion behind his back.

Review: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein

Manny is a computer engineer in charge of programming Mike, the central supercomputer running the systems of Earth’s penal colony on the Moon. Unbeknownst to anyone but Manny, Mike has achieved self-awareness. Mike mainly wants to learn to understand human humour, but when the AI meets political activist Wyoming Knott through Manny, the three of them start speculating on an uprising that would free Luna from the yoke of the Warden and the Federated Nation’s Lunar Authority.

Review: Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky

Earth is no longer habitable, and humanity must find new planets to terraform. The crew of the Gilgamesh has its sights set on one such planet. What they don’t know is that the planet isn’t the new Eden they are expecting. Meanwhile, a new species has made the planet their home. Who will inherit the new Earth? Humanity, or the species that has been living there for thousands of years?

Review: Caliban’s War – James S.A. Corey

Part two of The Expanse – Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante once again find themselves at the center of the solar system’s politics when they discover that the use of a secret weapon on the agricultural moon of Ganymede is about to turn the tension between Earth and Mars into a war that may cause the end of all humanity. Meanwhile, Bobby, a Martian marine caught in the fighting, forges an unlikely alliance with Chrisjen Avasarala, a foul-mouthed grandmother who happens to hold a lot of strings in the Earth government.

Review: Green Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson

As the terraforming of Mars progresses and the population continues to grow, the influence of the big metanational corporations that control the earth is starting to grow as well. An ‘underground’ movement of early settlers and their children forms in response, seeking to channel the powers that be towards the political and climatological future for Mars as they envision it.

Review: Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson

In the near future, mankind sets out to colonise Mars. But as tensions within even the first 100 colonists starts to rise and the first cracks begin to show, the question rises whether mankind will ever come to an agreement on what life on Mars means for the shared future of humanity.

As the colonisation progresses and man’s impact on the planet keeps growing, the disagreements between the first 100 turn into full blown gloves off interplanetary politics. Still, the personal relationships between those first settlers may prove pivotal in preventing worse.

Review: Seveneves – Neal Stephenson

When the moon is struck by an asteroid, humanity must evacuate the surface of planet earth or go extinct in the firestorm of moon debris burning up in the atmosphere that will immolate the land and evaporate the oceans. Seveneves is the story of humanity trying their best to navigate the engineering of survival in orbit and the politics of the apocalypse.

Review: Leviathan Wakes – James S.A. Corey

Jim Holden serves on an interplanetary ice hauler when disaster strikes. He and a handful of his crewmates are thrust into the center of an encroaching conflict between the superpowers of the solar system: Earth and Mars. Joe Miller works security on the most populous space station in the Kuyper Belt until his investigations lead him to a mysterious connection with the cause of the looming war.

Review: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor – Hank Green

Andy Skampt, April May’s closest friend, struggles to find meaning in his life after April’s death and the disappearance of the Carls. When he receives a mysterious text message and finds a mysterious book of instructions, he is dragged into an equally mysterious game. When he finds out an old nemesis has grand plans, he and April’s other friends are forced into action once again.

Review: The Martian – Ridley Scott

NASA Astronaut Mark Watney was only supposed to be on Mars for 31 days. When a Dust storm almost kills him, the rest of the crew leaves – under the impression that their colleague is actually dead. In his logs, Watney keeps track of his days (or “sols” – Mars days) on the Red planet, and his efforts to survive on the supplies and equipment left behind with him. Every so often Mars tries to kill him, but Watney is resourceful and keeps his spirits up with humour.