Where to start with Kim Stanley Robinson: 8 award-recognized books
Kim Stanley Robinson writes about how people might actually live in the future: on Mars, across the solar system or in a world reshaped by climate change. His books are detailed, hopeful and full of ideas.
If you read just one: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, because it is his most urgent and widely read book, and stands alone.
The Mars trilogy
1. Red Mars
Won the Nebula Award; finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards (1993–1994) ·
The first hundred settlers arrive on Mars and argue over what to make of it.
2. Green Mars
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1994–1995)
Terraforming takes hold and a revolution brews.
3. Blue Mars
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (1997) ·
A changed Mars and a crowded Earth find their way to a new future.
Climate and Earth
4. The Ministry for the Future
Finalist for the Locus Award (2021) ·
An agency created to speak for future generations, after a deadly heat wave.
5. New York 2140
Finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards (2018) ·
Residents of a flooded Manhattan build lives, and a financial plan, in a drowned city.
6. The Years of Rice and Salt
Won the Locus Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards (2003) ·
An alternate history in which the Black Death wipes out Europe, told across centuries through the same souls.
Across the solar system
7. 2312
Won the Nebula Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo and Locus Awards (2013) ·
A solar system settled from Mercury to Saturn, and a mystery that spans it.
8. Aurora
Finalist for the Locus Award (2016) ·
A generation ship arrives at a new star, narrated by the ship itself.
How we chose
Every book in this guide won or was a finalist for at least one of the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or Arthur C. Clarke awards. Each book page lists its full award history with sources. Page counts come from English print editions and vary by edition. 8 books in all.