An overpopulated Earth of the near future seems bent on self-destruction. Colonising Mars is perhaps the only answer for the human race to survive. A select group of volunteers go on a one-way trip. They build six towers and here Aldiss enjoys exploring complex ideas like alternative realities and the universe as a life form. Mars has underground water and oxygen, precious gems and an incredible life in the form of an amphibian approximating the Permian period on Earth. All is very exciting except for the problem of babies either aborting or being still born. And so the plot thickens. This is brilliant stuff. By his own admission it is his “final science fiction novel”. He certainly bows out in style.
Colonists on Mars fight to prevent their own extinction in ';a suspenseful genre-bending combination of straight SF and mystery' (Booklist, starred review). Doomed by overpopulation, irreversible environmental degradation, and never-ending war, Earth has become a fetid swamp. For many, Mars represents humankind's last hope. In six tightly clustered towers on the red planet's surface, the colonists who have escaped their dying home world are attempting to make a new life unencumbered by the corrupting influences of politics, art, and religion. Unable ever to return, these pioneers have chosen an unalterable path that winds through a landscape as terrible as it is beautiful, often forcing them to compromise their beliefsand sometimes their humanityin order to survive. But the gravest threat to the future is not the settlement's total dependence on foodstuffs sent from a distant and increasingly uncaring Earth, or the events that occur in the aftermath of the miraculous discovery of native life on Marsit is the fact that in the ten years since colonization began, every new human baby has been born dead, or so tragically deformed that death comes within hours. The great Brian W. Aldiss has delivered a dark and provocative yet ultimately hopeful magnum opus rich in imagination and bold ideas. A novel of philosophy as much as science fiction, Finches of Mars is an exploration of intellectual history, evolution, technology, and the future by one of speculative fiction's undisputed masters.
