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[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I received a proof copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, injury detail, death, cancer, medical trauma, suicide/suicide ideation
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A fast-paced and highly enjoyable space adventure that is a great balance of science, humour and ethics.
In a distant future where advancements in scientific technology have helped or really forced humanity to colonise the stars we follow Mickey Barnes, the Expendable of the team on a colonisation mission to the ice planet Niflheim. An Expendable is an individual who has signed on to put themselves forward for any and every life threatening task that needs doing and when they expire their body is regenerated anew with all memories intact.
We first meet Mickey in his 7th iteration out on a scouting mission when he gets stuck and left behind, presumed dead. Except he doesn’t die and this oversight finds him coming face to face with Mickey8, the 8th iteration of himself when he returns to base, a big problem since duplicate Expendables are against the rules. They both agree to keep the double situation a secret – which is of course not an easy feat when part of a small population living in a confined dome on a hostile planet.
**I received a proof copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, blood, injury detail, death, cancer, medical trauma, suicide/suicide ideation
--
A fast-paced and highly enjoyable space adventure that is a great balance of science, humour and ethics.
In a distant future where advancements in scientific technology have helped or really forced humanity to colonise the stars we follow Mickey Barnes, the Expendable of the team on a colonisation mission to the ice planet Niflheim. An Expendable is an individual who has signed on to put themselves forward for any and every life threatening task that needs doing and when they expire their body is regenerated anew with all memories intact.
We first meet Mickey in his 7th iteration out on a scouting mission when he gets stuck and left behind, presumed dead. Except he doesn’t die and this oversight finds him coming face to face with Mickey8, the 8th iteration of himself when he returns to base, a big problem since duplicate Expendables are against the rules. They both agree to keep the double situation a secret – which is of course not an easy feat when part of a small population living in a confined dome on a hostile planet.
"There's a certain peace that comes from knowing without a doubt what's going to happen to you. The possibility that I might survive this morning is a source of anxiety as much as it is a source of hope."
The straightforward and easy flowing plot meant I flew right through this book.
Mickey is a such fun and likeable protagonist with an engaging voice, and a personality that will make you laugh and want to facepalm in equal measure. The chaos of having 2 of him around made it all the more enjoyable. However, despite the mostly light tone of the story there are still some very dark moments that unfold.
The narrative alternates between showing his current situation and him relaying the past events which led him there, including showing us the extents an Expendable has to go for the job as well as insights into the expansive wider universe within the story and its history.
I really loved was that while we were following the happenings of this live colonisation project, we were also drip fed accounts of past missions that had varying degrees of success. Though I do wish we could have gotten a little more than just snippets of these.
"The thing about disasters in interstellar space is that some of them are fast, and some of them are slow - but either kind can leave you really, really dead."
The science and technology was really interesting and despite getting a little technical at times it was never too overly complex as to unsettle the story. Furthermore, we also come across a handful of side characters and the relationships they each have with Mickey were really well written and brought to light some deep conversations on philosophy and morality.
Overall, this would be a fun read for sci-fi lovers and those looking to get into the genre alike.
Final Rating - 4/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicide
adventurous
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions.
Mickey7 is a quick sci-fi adventure that explores the concept of identity, primarily, what aspects of yourself make you you? When we enter the story, Mickey Barnes is in his seventh iteration as an Expendable: everything about him is identical to the original Mickey Barnes who signed up for this job (from how he looks to his memories), but is he actually the same now that he’s been remade six times?
Mickey’s troubles aside, I really enjoyed the concept of this story and the idea of a futuristic humanity that has colonized multiple other planets, but has struggled to do so and is still struggling when we’re introduced to the narrative. Few of the sci-fi books I read really explore humanity’s failures to get to the point they’re at for the story, so I was interested in all the failed colonies in Mickey’s world (even if it was a brief mention) and their drastic impacts on the worlds they colonized.
However, I found most of the characters unlikeable, which meant their relationships didn’t feel natural to me and I struggled to see their connections (or sometimes, why they were even interacting). I also had difficulty with the pacing: every other chapter jumps back in time to focus on Mickey’s backstory or world building. It was nice to know some of this additional detail, but it left me wanting to see more conflict and I would have rather spent more time interacting with the planet and its current issues.
Overall, I think this book either needed to be shorter (and the focus narrowed to building on the relationships and the final conflict) or slightly longer (with more time spent meshing the world building with the dangers the crew faces colonizing a new world). Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC of this title.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
I picked this book up on the basis of the blurb and am so glad I did. The laconic first person narration reminds me strongly of Murderbot, though our protagonist here is a human being, even if one at the mercy of a particular set-up and abuse of technology.
The basic premise of Mickey7 is that technology now allows a small group of people to be basically immortal but this happens by means of uploading their memories and dumping them into a newly-cloned body after the previous version dies. In reality, this is used to provide Expendables, people who can do the dangerously lethal jobs that space travel and colonisation requires, and is primarily the role of conscripts or criminals because who'd want to put themselves at that kind of risk?
Our protagonist, the eponymous Mickey, finds himself in desperate straits after the latest in a long line of swindles goes wrong and volunteers to become the Expendable on a colony ship. Which is absolutely fine till that ship lands on their destination planet, discovers that it's covered in snow rather than ready for colonisation as well as being already occupied by possibly-sentient life that seems determined to kill them. While exploring said world, Mickey7 suffers a massive fall and the pilot who's supposed to rescue him decides the risk is too great and reports his death, meaning that when Mickey eventually gets back to base a new version of him is already there and waiting.
Since resources are limited and he doesn't want to get mulched, Mickey7 finds himself living an unexpected double life, trying to keep his secret safe from the rest of the crew, even as the colony starts to deal with the local life-forms becoming even more destructive. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and it had some twists and turns I didn't quite see coming - I look forward to seeing what else this author comes up with and will definitely check out their next book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion of the book in question.
The basic premise of Mickey7 is that technology now allows a small group of people to be basically immortal but this happens by means of uploading their memories and dumping them into a newly-cloned body after the previous version dies. In reality, this is used to provide Expendables, people who can do the dangerously lethal jobs that space travel and colonisation requires, and is primarily the role of conscripts or criminals because who'd want to put themselves at that kind of risk?
Our protagonist, the eponymous Mickey, finds himself in desperate straits after the latest in a long line of swindles goes wrong and volunteers to become the Expendable on a colony ship. Which is absolutely fine till that ship lands on their destination planet, discovers that it's covered in snow rather than ready for colonisation as well as being already occupied by possibly-sentient life that seems determined to kill them. While exploring said world, Mickey7 suffers a massive fall and the pilot who's supposed to rescue him decides the risk is too great and reports his death, meaning that when Mickey eventually gets back to base a new version of him is already there and waiting.
Since resources are limited and he doesn't want to get mulched, Mickey7 finds himself living an unexpected double life, trying to keep his secret safe from the rest of the crew, even as the colony starts to deal with the local life-forms becoming even more destructive. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and it had some twists and turns I didn't quite see coming - I look forward to seeing what else this author comes up with and will definitely check out their next book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion of the book in question.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical trauma