Antarctica takes place in the early 21st century, at a time when the Antarctic Treaty is up for renewal. Wade Norton, assistant to Senator Phil Chase, is sent to Antarctica to investigate mysterious thefts and to gather intelligence to help ratify the treaty protecting Antarctica from exploitation. After flying to Antarctica and visiting McMurdo Station, Wade meets dozens of interesting people working there, including Valerie Kenning, who serves as a tour guide; X, a general field assistant; Ta Shu, a Chinese poet and master of feng shui; and numerous scientists ("beakers" to non-scientists) and NSF administrators.

Wade's investigations take him first to Antarctica's dry valleys, where he learns from geologists of potentially large oil and methane deposits in the continent. He next visits the South Pole Station, where he discovers more about the strange thefts that have been occurring, and about the odd but friendly subculture that has developed at the station. He then visits an African oil exploration camp at Roberts Massif, where he again meets X, and finds evidence that someone is restoring abandoned equipment for unknown reasons. During his visit the camp is destroyed by what appears to be sabotage, although no one is killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, Val is leading a six-person "In the Footsteps of Amundsen" expedition, re-enacting the first 300-mile trek to the South Pole. Ta Shu is along, broadcasting live to a massive television audience. They lose their sled and supplies in an accident, and find that all communications have been mysteriously interrupted. They must walk 100 kilometers to the nearest settlement at Roberts Massif. They arrive barely alive to find Wade and X in a similar predicament, and determine that massive sabotage must have occurred throughout Antarctica. Together the characters must try not only to survive but to learn what is happening on the frozen continent.

A perfect thematic prequel to the Mars Trilogy

Antarctica explores the same themes as Robinson's acclaimed Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars)--the stark beauty of natural landscapes, future technologies, humanity's relationship to the environment, and how people should interact politically. In many ways, Antarctica represents a concentrated distillation of the essence of the three massive Mars books, asking the same complex questions and coming up with virtually the same reasonable answers.

As with all of Robinson's novels, Antarctica combines sense-of-wonder-filled landscapes with an array of truly memorable characters. Robinson manages to portray Antarctica as profoundly as he did Mars through his use of vignettes from Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen, and the other famous Antarctic explorers from the early 20th century, and through his sheer love of landscapes. The novel also has many interesting narratives woven together to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

But it is the characters that make this novel truly worth reading. There are at least a dozen people in this novel who come completely to life. By the end of the book, it feels as if readers truly know some of the major characters, and want to know many others. This is not the case with the vast majority of hard SF novels.

Antarctica is superior hard SF from one of the field's best authors. This might also be Kim Stanley Robinson's most important novel, one that actually influences events outside of science fiction in the coming decades. Humanity will be making political decisions regarding Antarctica that determine whether it stays a scientific resource for all or if it's disastrously exploited for short-term gains. Readers can only hope that those making those decisions will read this book.