#87 in Classics
The Martian Chronicles
- 262
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- Series 1980 +2
- On screen
- Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
- NPR Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books
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Our view
Bradbury’s Mars is a stage, not a planet: the air is breathable, the technical problems are waved off, and what remains is a chain of linked stories about settlers carrying their troubles from Earth to a world that already had inhabitants. The tales are simple on the surface and linger afterwards. Readers who want rigorous science may be frustrated; those who read science fiction for mood, melancholy and moral questions will find it rewarding.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Martian Chronicles is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth that is eventually devastated by nuclear war.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 3 times — from 1980 to 1988.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 1,105 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 88% of the weight and the score stays at 8.0 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 113 | 10% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 992 | 90% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Martian Chronicles?
It has 262 pages — shorter than 84% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Classics — and a score of 8.0, the closest to this book.
