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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Aggressively terrible. Decided on a whim to finally finish this book which's taken me nearly 3 years to complete, and minutes after picking it up again, I realized why I'd put it down to begin with. The plot points are interesting, and legitimately would not be amiss in a sophisticated, high-stakes space opera, but several things really hurt it.
One, the protagonist is incredibly bland. Her voice is super passive, and from the start to the end, it never really feels like she's in charge, or has any agency - she simply does things because the plot requires it of her, and it never once felt like she has emotion. Even when people she cares about end up injured or even killed, the prose is lukewarm and mild, almost as if she's watching paint dry instead of you know, people dying.
An egregious example: Right after a character is stabbed, almost bleeding to death, the narrative explicitly states that she's not dealing with her emotions well; she's about to breakdown. Cue a brief monologue where the protagonist proceeds to consider the nature of how sports would be played on Mars, and she's right as rain. The sheer disconnect of emotion here is well, beyond words.
Two, the author's narrative choices feel incredibly odd. Another example: A character of military background, described as being important for their quick thinking and strategic mind despite being injured, and is deemed someone who needs to be protected from the antagonist... is then killed because they tried to negotiate with the antagonist. Weaponless. Alone. Again, I am beyond words.
Three, the author delights in painstakingly describing procedures that need to be done, the way things work and the scenery of the Martian landscape. You might be thinking, 'hey this isn't a flaw, it builds atmosphere'. It should in theory, but in practice, it was the protagonist playing the role of a manual guide and explaining at you how things work, instead of how they experience things.
This also further exacerbated the main character's blandness and lack of emotion, because she literally isn't a character anymore; she's become a Mars 101 User Manual: Things to Know. Who cares if someone dies? The plot needs to be explained! The setting needs to be told to you, damnit! Have I mentioned this book is only 238 pages, which means those descriptions end up making the actual plot feel even more threadbare? There are great ideas in this book, interesting moments even, but there is absolutely no connective tissue, or even a setting that firmly establishes those ideas to make it sound plausible.
All in all, it almost feels as if this book was a random doodle that somehow, managed to luck its way into publishing. I obtained this book on sale, and I'm not even sure I'd say it's worth it. About the only positives I can give is that the cover has this lovely metallic hue that catches the light really nicely, and that after 3 years, the book hasn't really foxed in humid Southeast Asian weather. It'll look good on your shelf, if that's what you like. But for actual substance, I recommend avoiding this.
One, the protagonist is incredibly bland. Her voice is super passive, and from the start to the end, it never really feels like she's in charge, or has any agency - she simply does things because the plot requires it of her, and it never once felt like she has emotion. Even when people she cares about end up injured or even killed, the prose is lukewarm and mild, almost as if she's watching paint dry instead of you know, people dying.
An egregious example: Right after a character is stabbed, almost bleeding to death, the narrative explicitly states that she's not dealing with her emotions well; she's about to breakdown. Cue a brief monologue where the protagonist proceeds to consider the nature of how sports would be played on Mars, and she's right as rain. The sheer disconnect of emotion here is well, beyond words.
Two, the author's narrative choices feel incredibly odd. Another example: A character of military background, described as being important for their quick thinking and strategic mind despite being injured, and is deemed someone who needs to be protected from the antagonist... is then killed because they tried to negotiate with the antagonist. Weaponless. Alone. Again, I am beyond words.
Three, the author delights in painstakingly describing procedures that need to be done, the way things work and the scenery of the Martian landscape. You might be thinking, 'hey this isn't a flaw, it builds atmosphere'. It should in theory, but in practice, it was the protagonist playing the role of a manual guide and explaining at you how things work, instead of how they experience things.
This also further exacerbated the main character's blandness and lack of emotion, because she literally isn't a character anymore; she's become a Mars 101 User Manual: Things to Know. Who cares if someone dies? The plot needs to be explained! The setting needs to be told to you, damnit! Have I mentioned this book is only 238 pages, which means those descriptions end up making the actual plot feel even more threadbare? There are great ideas in this book, interesting moments even, but there is absolutely no connective tissue, or even a setting that firmly establishes those ideas to make it sound plausible.
All in all, it almost feels as if this book was a random doodle that somehow, managed to luck its way into publishing. I obtained this book on sale, and I'm not even sure I'd say it's worth it. About the only positives I can give is that the cover has this lovely metallic hue that catches the light really nicely, and that after 3 years, the book hasn't really foxed in humid Southeast Asian weather. It'll look good on your shelf, if that's what you like. But for actual substance, I recommend avoiding this.
Taht was very satisfying. Mars exploration and disaster-porn done right. Great hard-scifi details, well thought out Mars exploration. Mr Cawdron has done his due diligence and constructed a very believable Mars base. I couldn't fault much, which is often a hobby when reading Mars books.
The Protagonist who shall not be named/spoiled was a little unrealistic, but it all worked out in the end and the story held together pretty well.
Read this with my partner and she enjoyed it even more than I did.
The Protagonist who shall not be named/spoiled was a little unrealistic, but it all worked out in the end and the story held together pretty well.
Read this with my partner and she enjoyed it even more than I did.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Although there have been several books written about people being trapped on Mars (Andy Weir's 'The Martian' being the most obvious recently), Cawdron has taken a slightly different approach, placing a large contingent of colonists on Mars and then having an incident occur on Earth that means that they are alone as Earth is lost to them. How do they survive without their support? There is then a further story that happens on the Mars colony that creates this amazing book that you just can't stop reading.
Cawdron has written an amazing book here, going into incredible detail about the Mars Colony, how it would have to be created so that people would actually survive, using actual research (he cities several sources including NASA), to create this story that is incredibly realistic, detailed and authentic. As you read this story, you get a real education about what is actually going to be required to live on Mars, how a colony will work, and what those living there will need to survive. Apart from this incredible Sci-fi thriller he has written, there is a kind of detailed documentary embedded in the story that only adds to this exceptional story.
The story is told from one of the US Colonists point of view, Liz, and how after a major incident on Earth cuts off contact from the colony, how this impacts each of the main players. There are 4 main modules in the colony, the Chinese, US, Russian and a Eurasian Module that is made up of Japanese, Brits, Spanish, Australians and a couple of other nationalities. Through Liz’s eyes we get to see how the event’s that have occurred on Earth affect each of the other colonists, each other character in the book, whether they are a major or a minor character. It is a very clever way of writing the story, allowing a single character to tell us the story, but at the same time, we also get the perspectives of multiple other characters, as well as a feel for the size and population of the colony, and a concept of what it is like to live in the colony, not just for Liz and the US contingent, but each of the other nationalities as well. It is yet another example of just how exceptional Cawdron is at character writing.
There are some fascinating characters in this story, from the US commander who is a self-taught astronaut, who taught himself whilst fighting as a Special Forces soldier. His 2IC, Harrison, is loud, obnoxious, but has a softer centre, if you take the time to find it. The Chinese contingent has a wealth of beauty, with Doi the older Commander, set in her ways, Jaiyun, Liz’s best friend and lover. The Russians have a couple of standard characters, Vlad, highly intelligent, likes to drink, and there is the beautiful Dr Anna, who everyone falls in love with at first sight. Of course, she is also one of the smartest people on the station as well.
This is an in-depth look at survival on Mars, a thriller with multiple sub-plots that unfolds after the events on Earth take place and of course, this is just an exceptional Sci-fi character story.
The interactions between each of the characters is Intelligent and gritty, realistic, Cawdron has put a lot of time and effort into making sure that conversations on the Sci-fi front are accurate by seeking guidance from NASA, he has done his research about building a colony on Mars, so much so that somebody should be hiring him to be on a committee for designing the plans for the next base up there.
And all of this is before the real twists and turns of the actual story take hold and you realise that you haven't even gotten into the real story yet. As I said, there are a lot of plots and sub-plots to make this an exceptional thriller and one that will leave you sitting there at the end going ‘Huh’ as you put it all together.
If you love Sci-fi, love a good thriller, are interested in Mars at all, liked ‘The Martian’, or just want a good read, then you should read this book.
Cawdron has written an amazing book here, going into incredible detail about the Mars Colony, how it would have to be created so that people would actually survive, using actual research (he cities several sources including NASA), to create this story that is incredibly realistic, detailed and authentic. As you read this story, you get a real education about what is actually going to be required to live on Mars, how a colony will work, and what those living there will need to survive. Apart from this incredible Sci-fi thriller he has written, there is a kind of detailed documentary embedded in the story that only adds to this exceptional story.
The story is told from one of the US Colonists point of view, Liz, and how after a major incident on Earth cuts off contact from the colony, how this impacts each of the main players. There are 4 main modules in the colony, the Chinese, US, Russian and a Eurasian Module that is made up of Japanese, Brits, Spanish, Australians and a couple of other nationalities. Through Liz’s eyes we get to see how the event’s that have occurred on Earth affect each of the other colonists, each other character in the book, whether they are a major or a minor character. It is a very clever way of writing the story, allowing a single character to tell us the story, but at the same time, we also get the perspectives of multiple other characters, as well as a feel for the size and population of the colony, and a concept of what it is like to live in the colony, not just for Liz and the US contingent, but each of the other nationalities as well. It is yet another example of just how exceptional Cawdron is at character writing.
There are some fascinating characters in this story, from the US commander who is a self-taught astronaut, who taught himself whilst fighting as a Special Forces soldier. His 2IC, Harrison, is loud, obnoxious, but has a softer centre, if you take the time to find it. The Chinese contingent has a wealth of beauty, with Doi the older Commander, set in her ways, Jaiyun, Liz’s best friend and lover. The Russians have a couple of standard characters, Vlad, highly intelligent, likes to drink, and there is the beautiful Dr Anna, who everyone falls in love with at first sight. Of course, she is also one of the smartest people on the station as well.
This is an in-depth look at survival on Mars, a thriller with multiple sub-plots that unfolds after the events on Earth take place and of course, this is just an exceptional Sci-fi character story.
The interactions between each of the characters is Intelligent and gritty, realistic, Cawdron has put a lot of time and effort into making sure that conversations on the Sci-fi front are accurate by seeking guidance from NASA, he has done his research about building a colony on Mars, so much so that somebody should be hiring him to be on a committee for designing the plans for the next base up there.
And all of this is before the real twists and turns of the actual story take hold and you realise that you haven't even gotten into the real story yet. As I said, there are a lot of plots and sub-plots to make this an exceptional thriller and one that will leave you sitting there at the end going ‘Huh’ as you put it all together.
If you love Sci-fi, love a good thriller, are interested in Mars at all, liked ‘The Martian’, or just want a good read, then you should read this book.
At its best moments, the book captured my attention. However, in my read-through of the book, the overwhelming amount of description given whenever the surface of Mars was brought up really cut my attention span short. However, it is definitely a really intriguing story, so I will be checking out the 2nd book!
This was a decent book, but I didn't love it. A lot of time was put into coming up with what an expedition to mars would look like, but the conflict didn't seem to fit, and the resolution seemed very rushed.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced