Reading order · 3 books · 1992 to 1996 · Set in Mars
Mars Books in Order
The Mars trilogy follows the first hundred colonists to Mars and their descendants over two centuries, as they terraform the planet and fight over what kind of society to build there.
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Series facts
The reading order
Every Mars book in publication order. Choose a title for its cast and summary.
3 books · Set in Mars
- 1Red Mars1992With John Boone and Frank ChalmersIn 2026, the First Hundred, a team of scientists, set off to colonise Mars.Buy on Amazon
- 2Green Mars1993With Maya Toitovna and Nadia CherneshevskyA generation later, Mars is slowly being terraformed, and the surviving First Hundred lead an underground resistance against the corporations of Earth.Buy on Amazon
- 3Blue Mars1996With Maya Toitovna and Nadia CherneshevskyMars, now with oceans and a breathable atmosphere, becomes an independent world, as the long lives of the First Hundred near their end.Buy on Amazon
Do you need to read them in order?
Read Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars in order.
Who appears in which book
The series’ main characters, book by book. Lead means the book is told around them; minor covers cameos.
| Book | Maya Toitovna | Nadia Cherneshevsky | Sax Russell | John Boone | Frank Chalmers | Ann Clayborne | Hiroko Ai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Red Mars | LLead | LLead | MMajor | LLead | LLead | MMajor | MMajor |
| 2 Green Mars | LLead | LLead | LLead | MMajor | ·Minor | ||
| 3 Blue Mars | LLead | LLead | MMajor | MMajor |
Characters in the Mars books
7 characters from Kim Stanley Robinson’s chart, with the number of Mars books each appears in.
| Character | Books | First in this series |
|---|---|---|
| Maya ToitovnaRussian leader | 3 | Red Mars 1992 |
| Nadia CherneshevskyEngineer and builder | 3 | Red Mars 1992 |
| Sax RussellPhysicist driving terraforming | 3 | Red Mars 1992 |
| John BooneFirst man on Mars | 1 | Red Mars 1992 |
| Frank ChalmersAmbitious American leader | 1 | Red Mars 1992 |
| Ann ClayborneGeologist opposed to terraforming | 3 | Red Mars 1992 |
| Hiroko AiBiologist and mystic | 2 | Red Mars 1992 |