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adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
very necessary sequel that wraps up some major plot points and makes the end of mickey7 feel a little more satisfying. a lot more development for the side characters, making the entire cast feel very rounded out and tangible, and i really do enjoy how ashton describes niflheim; his writing is very good. the only downside is this book kind of makes me hate all the human characters, because of, you know, colonization and all that. it's present in the first book of course but as the world is built on and the lore expanded it just becomes so hard for me to not root for the aliens. speaker is definitely my favorite character in the entire series now and i'm absolutely devastated with the implication he's going to die.
i think this works very well as a duet, and other books might ruin the magic, but i can't say i'm not interested in learning more about whatever it is that was controlling the other group of creepers
i think this works very well as a duet, and other books might ruin the magic, but i can't say i'm not interested in
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation
Minor: Genocide, Pregnancy
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
antimatter blues is a great continuation of the story started in mickey 7. in this book, mickey deals with managing the alleged relationship he established with the creepers near the dome while attempting to retrieve the bubble bomb he hid in a pile of rocks- leading to an adventurous, daunting journey to get the bomb back in order to ensure the colony has enough fuel to make it through the next winter, something that won’t be possible without the return of the bomb.
i read a few books in between mickey 7 and antimatter blues, but it was extremely easy to jump right back in where the story left off. the author’s voice is remarkably similar to the first book, which makes sense because the same person wrote both books, but i was struck by the author’s voice as i started.
overall, i feel like the books started a little bit slow and then quickly picked up pace. my favorite parts of this book was the deepening lore of the world, both on niflheim and on other space colonization attempts made by the human race. learning more about the creepers, getting to see what comes alive during the warm seasons, and getting introduced to a new organism was very fun and very entertaining. i felt a serious dread as i realized the friends to the south was likely a parasite. mickey calls it a fungus and the description of the organism reminds me of the cordyceps fungus on earth. which. no thank you. terrifying.
one thing that this book had that i believe mickey 7 didn’t have to quite this extreme we’re the moral and ethical quandaries that come up when you’re in an unfamiliar and hostile environment with language and cultural differences. how do you adapt and compromise your ways of communicating and your understanding when negotiating with an alien species? who takes precedence? who should bend, and where, and how far? which promise matters more when you have made conflicting agreements? it was something that infinitely frustrated me as i read this book, especially the xenophobia that was clearly expressed by the humans regarding speaker, who i think wound up being my favorite character.
i read a few books in between mickey 7 and antimatter blues, but it was extremely easy to jump right back in where the story left off. the author’s voice is remarkably similar to the first book, which makes sense because the same person wrote both books, but i was struck by the author’s voice as i started.
overall, i feel like the books started a little bit slow and then quickly picked up pace. my favorite parts of this book was the deepening lore of the world, both on niflheim and on other space colonization attempts made by the human race. learning more about the creepers, getting to see what comes alive during the warm seasons, and getting introduced to a new organism was very fun and very entertaining. i felt a serious dread as i realized the friends to the south was likely a parasite. mickey calls it a fungus and the description of the organism reminds me of the cordyceps fungus on earth. which. no thank you. terrifying.
one thing that this book had that i believe mickey 7 didn’t have to quite this extreme we’re the moral and ethical quandaries that come up when you’re in an unfamiliar and hostile environment with language and cultural differences. how do you adapt and compromise your ways of communicating and your understanding when negotiating with an alien species? who takes precedence? who should bend, and where, and how far? which promise matters more when you have made conflicting agreements? it was something that infinitely frustrated me as i read this book, especially the xenophobia that was clearly expressed by the humans regarding speaker, who i think wound up being my favorite character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide, Medical content, War
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death, War
Minor: Genocide
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Violence, Medical content, Colonisation
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, injury, body horror, death, medical trauma, genocide, war, colonisation, terminal illness
--
Kicking off 2 years after the closing events of Mickey7, Antimatter Blues has us returning to the ice planet Niflheim and following (almost) everybody’s favourite and now retired Expendable as he faces a new conundrum.
I’m not going to give too much of the plot away so as not to spoil aspects of book 1 but this book can be classed as a standalone. That being said for the best experience I would recommend checking out Mickey7 before picking this one up as it does continue certain plot points from its predecessor.
Once again the story is easy to follow and Edward Ashton balances all the science and action perfectly with humour. Mickey is one of those easily likeable characters that will have you smiling and facepalming in equal measure and I really enjoyed being back with him and co for a new adventure. The banter between the characters was great.
There is a bit of an expansion to the specific world they live on in terms of what else is there but otherwise I would say this story didn’t add a lot when it came to wider worldbuilding.
The main reason I’d say I enjoyed this a little less than book 1 has to do with the pacing. The middle of the book did drag at times and this made the concluding events seem rushed and wrapped up extremely quickly.
I’d say this continuation was not really needed but it was an highly enjoyable read all the same though and I look forward to reading more from Edward Ashton in the future!
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Star
CW: violence, blood, injury, body horror, death, medical trauma, genocide, war, colonisation, terminal illness
--
Kicking off 2 years after the closing events of Mickey7, Antimatter Blues has us returning to the ice planet Niflheim and following (almost) everybody’s favourite and now retired Expendable as he faces a new conundrum.
I’m not going to give too much of the plot away so as not to spoil aspects of book 1 but this book can be classed as a standalone. That being said for the best experience I would recommend checking out Mickey7 before picking this one up as it does continue certain plot points from its predecessor.
Once again the story is easy to follow and Edward Ashton balances all the science and action perfectly with humour. Mickey is one of those easily likeable characters that will have you smiling and facepalming in equal measure and I really enjoyed being back with him and co for a new adventure. The banter between the characters was great.
There is a bit of an expansion to the specific world they live on in terms of what else is there but otherwise I would say this story didn’t add a lot when it came to wider worldbuilding.
The main reason I’d say I enjoyed this a little less than book 1 has to do with the pacing. The middle of the book did drag at times and this made the concluding events seem rushed and wrapped up extremely quickly.
I’d say this continuation was not really needed but it was an highly enjoyable read all the same though and I look forward to reading more from Edward Ashton in the future!
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Star
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, War
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow. A fantastic sequel to Mickey7! Mickey continues to struggle with questions about his identity, while the colony faces another challenge only he can solve. I love how this sequel deepens the world building of Nefflehim, especially as we gain deeper insight to the inner workings of the creeper civilization. Be sure to check out this book when it's published on 3/15. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this stellar read! Find more reviews on instagram@lahars_little_library
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Violence, War
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mickey is an Expendable. When dangerous tasks need to be completed for human survival and for the advancement of space exploration/colonization sometimes mech doesn’t cut it. But who can? An expendable. They can eat that dangerous plant so we can see exactly what happens when a human ingests alien flora and fauna. We can withstand some radiation in the moment more than other tech but of course we die a gruesome death. But, with Expendables they upload their memories and personalities and ext and then BOOM 3D print out a new body where everything is downloaded. Cloning at its finest.
Usually, this job is a sentence for criminals as no one volunteers for this even if it means in some way you live forever…well, except for Mickey. Mickey is the unglamorous every-day-man. He’s not good enough at anything to be the best and selected for the great jobs and he accidentally got himself into some terrible loan shark situation on his home planet of Midguard. So, signing up with his best friend for a one-way space colonization mission seemed like a good idea. And for a man with no talents, the only job open was Expendable. Heh, at least he’ll live longer than anyone…well via the long road as it’ll only have to cost him dying over and over again to achieve it. Alls fair for love and space exploration.
Here, in Antimatter Blues, we come across Mickey who has dutifully survived (So to speak) the first novel title ‘Mickey 7’ but not as gracefully as any standard space hero. This sequel picks up two years later which is the perfect amount of time for consequences of the first novel to kick in. That’s right, we actually have a sequel that is a result of the first novel. Hizzah! Mickey has retired. That’s right, no more dying on command, and he gets to live his life as anyone should. But, on a space colony, that makes him a freeloader. Cleaning up after rabbits or trimming tomato vines isn’t enough work to justify the resources Mickey needs and his saving grace, a relationship with the locals, isn’t really enough to please the colony’s leader.
When the colony’s future survival in the planet’s upcoming winter is at stake, Mickey has to suit up and test his relationship with the creepers. They have something of his that he really needs back or all the human’s future is non-existent. To bring it back, he will have to make empty promises and go back on his word. Which is a testament of what would you do when you would be responsible for the total destruction of your found family? (Okay, they’re not exactly found family but they are all the family he’s got). This time, it’s a mission he doesn’t have to go in on alone but, that doesn’t make it any easier. Is there a point where the survival of ourselves exceeds the damage it would do? Humanity are monsters and we don’t make sense which this book explored just enough.
“Not sure I’d want to live in a colony that would be willing to go that far.”
Antimatter Blues has everything I could ever want in a Sci-Fi adventure action novel and is a perfect sequel. That’s right, I said it. A perfect sequel. Don’t mind me as I order every edition and cover of this series that I can get my grubby hands on.
If you're looking for science facts and over explanation of alien intentions and so forth, this isn't it. It's meant to be just a good time and it does that exceedingly well. Sit back and enjoy the adventure!
**Also, I’m begging the author/publisher to please release a Speaker plush. This ancillary would love to have the cuddles.***
Content Warnings
Minor: Genocide, Violence, War