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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Absolutely stunning. Nobody does an unreliable narrator like Emma Newman, huh? This book was intriguing from start to finish. The suspense was well paced and the character work was intense, as always. I think the world these books are set in is the perfect type of near-future dystopia because it is such an attainable extremity. Like, it just makes sense that that’s what would go down and how technology would work. It’s a fantastic backdrop for these incredibly human stories.
Anna was an amazing character and she’s the reason I think of this book as my favorite from the series. As a childfree adult, I remember feeling so seen the first time I read this one and even as I grow older and hold less angst about it, the self-hatred and worry about not feeling what you think you should feel is still devastatingly relatable.
The dramatic irony throughout this book is so intense when the reader know about what happened in the finale of the last book, but those final chapters are shattering. I didn’t think she could get me again after After Atlas, but damn. I was got.
Anna was an amazing character and she’s the reason I think of this book as my favorite from the series. As a childfree adult, I remember feeling so seen the first time I read this one and even as I grow older and hold less angst about it, the self-hatred and worry about not feeling what you think you should feel is still devastatingly relatable.
The dramatic irony throughout this book is so intense when the reader know about what happened in the finale of the last book, but those final chapters are shattering. I didn’t think she could get me again after After Atlas, but damn. I was got.
I cannot get enough of the Planetfall series. The way Emma Newman interweaves these stories is near-genius. This book got a little bit spooky at times and kept me guessing up until the end. Emma, if you’re reading this, please write 10 more of these books. I want to see all of these characters interact with one another when they all arrive in God’s City...
This is the third book in a very psychological series. The narrative dovetails into the storyline of After Atlas from a different perspective (I did not read the first), not as a continuation, but deftly adding to it. The protagonist of this one is a woman who is as fully realized as the detective character in the previous book. With the constant anxiety of going mad (or is she being gaslighted) as well as being a bad and ungrateful mother, the artist/geologist's worries wore on me a bit. Still, a very enjoyable convoluted mystery lies at the heart of this third installment just as it did in the second and I was able to get past my irritations. I anticipated some of the events but that did not detract from the story evolving in Newman's own good time. The denouement is satisfyingly built up and played out. Again, it is the carefully detailed psychology of social beings reacting to unique events that I enjoy and that Newman provides so well.
This one is a big "meh". It's loosely tied to the previous two books, but if you haven't read them you won't be lost or missing out on anything. I wasn't really interested in any of the characters and only hung in there to see what the big mystery was. The reveal, when it finally happened was pretty underwhelming. IMO, you can safely skip this one
I stayed up late to finish the book last night because I was so close and I couldn't put it down! This is a really good mystery set on Mars with lots of twists right from the beginning. The main character Anna just arrived on Mars and finds a note painted in her own hand with a warning.
I am fascinated by Newman's future in which everyone has a chip in their heads with AI and how that changes so much of what we do. For example, you can go back to certain memories and replay them, stepping into the scenes. And like all technology, we learn just how much it can be altered both for good and bad.
Before Mars is a stand-alone book in the Planetfall series. Now I want to go back and re-read Planetfall because of the references to it (but they're not crucial to Before Mars if you haven't read it). I can't wait to see if there's going to be more in this series! Emma Newman is one of my favorite science fiction/fantasy authors. I read pretty much whatever she writes and have not been disappointed at all.
I am fascinated by Newman's future in which everyone has a chip in their heads with AI and how that changes so much of what we do. For example, you can go back to certain memories and replay them, stepping into the scenes. And like all technology, we learn just how much it can be altered both for good and bad.
Before Mars is a stand-alone book in the Planetfall series. Now I want to go back and re-read Planetfall because of the references to it (but they're not crucial to Before Mars if you haven't read it). I can't wait to see if there's going to be more in this series! Emma Newman is one of my favorite science fiction/fantasy authors. I read pretty much whatever she writes and have not been disappointed at all.
Impeccably plotted, claustrophic, and continues the thread of complicated protagonists (quite clearly going through it, mental illness wise) wrapped up in a mystery on an alien world.
It's felt a bit hard as of late to pick up a book, but I literally could not put this one down.
It's felt a bit hard as of late to pick up a book, but I literally could not put this one down.
Amazing! This gets all the stars. I have never really tried to figure out who my favourite authors are, but Emma Newman must be in my top three. This third novel is probably my favourite in the series so far too, the story is written so well and the plot just captivating.
Emma has a talent for creating very real characters and I've had no difficulty connecting with each of the protagonists so far. In Before Mars our protagonist experiences a chain of events which combine with her personal background to have her in a frenzied state of uncertainty and constantly teetering on the edge of a paranoid insanity. It worked so well with the mysterious plot and I couldn't figure out anything ahead of the author's reveal.
The story coincides in time with the events of book two but apart from noting significant world events the story does not cover the same ground. It is all linked though and has created a fabulous setup for the next installments of the series.
Emma has a talent for creating very real characters and I've had no difficulty connecting with each of the protagonists so far. In Before Mars our protagonist experiences a chain of events which combine with her personal background to have her in a frenzied state of uncertainty and constantly teetering on the edge of a paranoid insanity. It worked so well with the mysterious plot and I couldn't figure out anything ahead of the author's reveal.
The story coincides in time with the events of book two but apart from noting significant world events the story does not cover the same ground. It is all linked though and has created a fabulous setup for the next installments of the series.
All the Planetfall books do essentially stand alone, but I wouldn't recommend reading this one first as I think it would spoil the mystery in the other books.
Once again an excellent depiction of mental illness, in this case dealing with a mentally ill parent and additionally the social construct defining 'abnormal' and making perfectly fine people feel fucked up for not adhering to a prescribed standard. I have several friends in similar situations as the MC in this book, who came to love motherhood later, or who liked having kids, but did not like having infants and felt "broken" for not bonding with their child in the way they were told they would.
And again I'm challenged because I'm also not sure I agree with the way some mental illness was handled in the story. The MC's experience of growing up with a schizophrenic parent is very real, and very much how she experienced it even if it turned out but I'm not sure how I feel about that basically being an easy fix for the father. That was also the worst loose end in the story for me. Who was causing it and why?
There were actually very few surprises for me in this story. Given what I know of this universe from the other book, it was pretty clear early on exactly what was going to happen. Maybe not the how or why, but definitely what. There was very little mystery to it, being very obvious to me (though not to the MC) but this story was immensely enjoyable anyway. If I was going to nit pick anything, it's the loose end mentioned above, and the nature of way the story unfolds doesn't allow us to see real bonding between characters. I'd have loved to see This book like the others was imperfect, too long in some parts, too quick to deal with other things, but the characters, the storytelling, and the language were wonderful making for a very enjoyable read.
This series is so fantastic. I'm sad I have to wait for the next book to be released. Especially since I need to know if
Once again an excellent depiction of mental illness, in this case dealing with a mentally ill parent and additionally the social construct defining 'abnormal' and making perfectly fine people feel fucked up for not adhering to a prescribed standard. I have several friends in similar situations as the MC in this book, who came to love motherhood later, or who liked having kids, but did not like having infants and felt "broken" for not bonding with their child in the way they were told they would.
And again I'm challenged because I'm also not sure I agree with the way some mental illness was handled in the story. The MC's experience of growing up with a schizophrenic parent is very real, and very much how she experienced it even if it turned out
Spoiler
to be intentionally caused by bad guysThere were actually very few surprises for me in this story. Given what I know of this universe from the other book, it was pretty clear early on exactly what was going to happen. Maybe not the how or why, but definitely what. There was very little mystery to it, being very obvious to me (though not to the MC) but this story was immensely enjoyable anyway. If I was going to nit pick anything, it's the loose end mentioned above, and the nature of way the story unfolds doesn't allow us to see real bonding between characters. I'd have loved to see
Spoiler
Anna and Dr. Elvan's relationship re-develop in their new timeline and maybe see it be parallel to the original one. Or at least have him more developed as a character, as he didn't much going for him besides 'nice' and 'handsome.'This series is so fantastic. I'm sad I have to wait for the next book to be released. Especially since I need to know if