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Manny Garcia es un joven cuyo padre murió en extrañas circunstancias y que regenta con su madre un decrépito motel próximo a Cabo Cañaveral. Dak, su mejor amigo, es un afroamericano que trabaja en un concesionario y que comparte con Manny su obsesión por el espacio. Ellos dos contemplan junto a sus novias el despegue del Ares 7, la primera misión tripulada de la NASA a Marte. El lanzamiento llega con demasiado retraso, pues una misión china está ya en camino, pero, esa misma noche, el accidentado encuentro de los cuatro amigos con el alcohólico ex astronauta Travis Broussard cambiará las cosas. Jubal, el primo de Travis, es un genio excéntrico que ha descubierto una nueva fuente de energía, y con su ayuda y el esfuerzo en equipo emprenderán una carrera contra el reloj por completar el proyecto más ambicioso que jamás habrían imaginado: construir desde cero el Trueno Rojo, una nave espacial para viajar a Marte.Trueno Rojo es un nuevo hito en la carrera de John Varley, una lectura refrescante que nos devuelve a la esencia de la edad de oro de la ciencia ficción. Una historia llena de ironía, humor y optimismo sobre las aspiraciones de la carrera espacial y las esperanzas de una nueva generación.

Meh. No real conflict in the story and everything turns out well. The "kids" build the spaceship the the drive is magically given to them. ( )

I really wanted to enjoy this novel.

It's been years since I've read any Varley, but I remember the previous stuff with fondness. The Titan/Wizard/Demon trilogy, Millenium (which was turned into such a shitty movie with Cheryl Ladd), and a couple of short story collections. I remember loving them all.

I was in the Dominican Republic last week, I'd blasted through all the reading material I'd brought with me, and they had a library of used books you could donate to or pull from. Most of it was stuff I'd never read, much of it stuff I simply couldn't read due to a foreign language. It boiled down to one book, and I'll say right now, I was pleased that it was a Varley novel, more pleased that it was one I hadn't read, even more pleased that it was the start of a four-book cycle.

I started reading it, then researched it a bit when it wasn't coming out as expected, and that's when I figured out it was an homage to the old Robert Heinlein adventures. Fair enough.

Except...no.

Heinlein was great for his time, and he single-handedly got me interested in SF. He was the gateway author for my discovery of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Frederick Pohl, Larry Niven, and just a ton more. But through those others, I also outgrew the dated boys' adventures of Heinlein.

And here, Varley gamely tries to update that for the near future. The problem is, it's a different world. And it's a world of difference in today's readers, as well. A story where people happen to just meet the exact person they need to meet at the time (two teens want to go to space...so they meet an astronaut...who has a cousin who's a genius that just happened to solve the world's energy issues and find a way to get to Mars in a week...and the teens friends happen to either be rich or have studied medicine...and another cousin's a welder...I could go on and on...)

And this motley crew? Yeah, they basically come together artificially quickly, solve any problems that happen to be lingering (minor things like alcoholism or a failing business...), never have anything beyond a minor furrowed-brow disagreement, and a common goal of being the first Americans on Mars.

Honestly, there's just so much wrong with the execution of this novel...it's not awful, but it's sure as hell not good. I even switched over from the hard copy novel to audiobook, just to get through it. Didn't really help.

The problem I see with this is, any intelligent adult should be saying, "Oh come on!" every few pages or so. Any kid 15 and under might get bored with some of the science, and mildly titillated at the teen sex that happens fairly often, and anyone in between will simply be bored because there's so much better SF out there.

Not good.
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Not his best, but far from his worst. Many other reviews point out that Varley is in Heinlein mode in this novel, and there's some truth in this. Nonetheless, I was reminded of Spider Robinson more than Heinlein (Robinson was heavily influenced by Heinlein, make your own inferences).
I imagine this was a conscious choice on Varley's part, as he has such a strong, individual narrative voice of his own. ("The Golden Globe", his last book, was more than a little derivitave of the novel before it, even for a story set in the same fictional world.)

The plot is nothing particularly original, but as in almost all of Varley's work, it's the characters, the route they take, that will keep you turning the pages. I enjoyed the book quite a lot, and I'm looking forward to the next novel.
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