The Sands of Mars

What a fascinating little book!

This is an atypical Clarke with a stronger-than-usual focus on story and characters. THE SANDS OF MARS reads like a non-fiction travelogue/part of a memoire of Martian pioneers. There's a lot of stuff on terraforming, Martian colonies and space trips. It feels more like Verne than Clarke, an often banal story that suddenly gets the usual Clarkian reveals and highlights.

It's a fun story where you can easily relate to the protagonist. The pacing and the way the story is told is quite well done- what starts as a travelogue turns into an adventure novel and then a full-on mystery. Would recommend to all fans of early golden age sci-fi!

3.5 stars.