Reviews

Before Mars by Emma Newman

jerseygrrrl's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 stars. I loved Planetfall, the first in this series. And I very much enjoyed After Atlas. All three books bring compassion to their stories about people with trauma and/or mental illnesses. This is unusual in the sci-fi world, which has traditionally favored tech and toys to psychological depth.

Before Mars also features an imperfect hero with a background that includes trauma. And it takes place on Mars, so bonus points for that. I didn't find it quite as compelling as the other two, but it was a great read.

eitani's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lini002's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

titusfortner's review against another edition

4.0

After the events of the second book, many of the twists and turns weren't actually wasn't as surprising to me as they were written to be... But it's still an amazing book, and I continue to appreciate the frank discussions of mental health issues.

emilyky's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: War and Death

Minor: Suicide attempt and Panic attacks/disorders

wah38's review against another edition

5.0

The first book I can remember reading where the ending was spoiled by the previous book in the series. Protagonist wakes up on Mars having apparently just arrived, but with a hand-painted note of hers telling her not to trust the ship's psychiatrist. She has flashes of recognition of the other people on the ship and places she hadn't seen. But once the author starts referring to the date of the start of the book it becomes clear that the book is set in almost the same timeframe as the previous book, which means that right when the capsule is opened on Earth, almost the whole Earth will be destroyed in thermonuclear war. So the protagonist struggles with the obviously-lying AI and the possibly-lying rest of the crew, discovering their innocuous secrets Poirot-style until the big reveal: the psychiatrist erased their memories after they had discovered that the Mars trip (which was sponsored by GaborCorp) was just a ruse to build a ship to go to Pathfinder, just as the Circle cult was the US's ruse to build a ship to go to Pathfinder in book 2. Hard to read the parts involving psychological breakdown, but overall a thrilling mystery not harmed by the fact that the previous book gave away 75% of the ending.

wah38's review

5.0

The first book I can remember reading where the ending was spoiled by the previous book in the series. Protagonist wakes up on Mars having apparently just arrived, but with a hand-painted note of hers telling her not to trust the ship's psychiatrist. She has flashes of recognition of the other people on the ship and places she hadn't seen. But once the author starts referring to the date of the start of the book it becomes clear that the book is set in almost the same timeframe as the previous book, which means that right when the capsule is opened on Earth, almost the whole Earth will be destroyed in thermonuclear war. So the protagonist struggles with the obviously-lying AI and the possibly-lying rest of the crew, discovering their innocuous secrets Poirot-style until the big reveal: the psychiatrist erased their memories after they had discovered that the Mars trip (which was sponsored by GaborCorp) was just a ruse to build a ship to go to Pathfinder, just as the Circle cult was the US's ruse to build a ship to go to Pathfinder in book 2. Hard to read the parts involving psychological breakdown, but overall a thrilling mystery not harmed by the fact that the previous book gave away 75% of the ending.

bookmarc's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

mjfmjfmjf's review

3.0

This is a book 3. My book club picked this book and just believed the person who nominated who said it didn't matter if you read the first two books or not. Which was pretty obviously complete garbage from almost page 1. Well I guess from a certain perspective, what you read if you read book 3 first is a DIFFERENT book. There were definite things to like about this book. And dislike. It was slow. It was an opportunity for the author to call out that all mothers were not the same, and that if you take her word from her epilogue, that she was like Anna.

I liked the way immersives were used and printers and drones.

I will probably read the sequel. I doubt most of my book group will.

3.5 of 5.

jdmitrijeva's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.75