AwardsHugo (nominee)Arthur C. Clarke Award (nominee)Nebula"Simply the best tale ever told about colonizing another world."David Brin"I defy anyone who reads this book not to be convinced that this is Mars."Gwyneth Jones"A staggering book - the best novel on the colonization of mars that has ever been written."Arthur C ClarkeMars. The red planetClosest to Earth in our solar system, surely life must exist on it? We dreamt about the builders of the canals we could see by telescope, about ruined cities, lost Martian civilizations, the possibilities of alien contact. Then the Viking and Mariner probes went up, and sent back nothing. Mars was a barren planet; lifeless, sterile, uninhabited. In 2019 the first man set foot on the surface of Mars; John Boone, American hero. In 2027 one hundred of the Earth's finest engineers and scientists made the first mass-landing.Their mission? To create a New World,To terraform a planet with no atmosphere, an intensly cold climate and no magnetosphere into an Eden full of people, plants and animals.It is the greatest challenge mankind has ever faced; the ultimate use of intelligence and ability; our finest dream.