Reviews

Before Mars by Emma Newman

booksmacked's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

karinlib's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars really. I rated this a little less than the other two books in the series. Newman's prose is amazing. I have a really hard time putting her books down, once I have started. It seemed to get bogged down in the middle, but I really liked the ending.

shadyeglenn's review

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

mabs's review against another edition

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

4.5

librarian_of_trantor's review against another edition

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4.0

Like [b:After Atlas|28361265|After Atlas (Planetfall, #2)|Emma Newman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456689269s/28361265.jpg|48430277] this is a tightly plotted story where all the pieces fit nicely together at the end. The characters are well drawn and the world well built. Newman does a good job of describing the struggle with mental health issues. But there are a couple sections of the book where the first person narrator's inner turmoil needed to be balanced more with some action.

crimsonsparrow's review against another edition

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4.0

Mesmerizing... and a tad disappointing.

Newman is a unique and compelling writer. This story is intense and difficult in places simply because it is so vivid in its portrayal of real human emotion. Regardless, I was captivated from the beginning by a classic mystery set in the perfect moment in the history of her series - a moment in which we already have a clue as to the events of the future and can anticipate the way she will weave it all together for the reveal.

But the end felt ... rushed and anticlimactic, maybe even a little disorienting ... because it wasn't really a reveal at all. It had the feel of an installment story, lackluster by itself, needing something more and depending a little too much on its predecessors - and its successor. This was particularly disappointing because it was so rich with potential and depth! I'm left feeling like the narrative was clipped in the midst of its bloom and then discarded, and now it feels a little pointless in the grand scheme.

Bummer.

sevskywalker's review against another edition

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4.0

Emma Newman is fast becoming one of my favorite female as well as science fiction author. Her Planetfall novels are some of the best SF has to offer today, but still I don't think they are getting the attention they deserve from the community. Let's hope that will change in the future.

This book is the third one in a series of novels that take places in the same universe or in the same far future, and everything about it is so fascinating. From the leaps in technology to the way the people of Earth are living at that time are very interesting and this shows how well and convincing the author can build a world and weave stories around it.

I still think the second book is the best one. And since expectations are bound to be sky high, I shall have to say Before Mars just falls short of those expectations. It is not a big book, hardly more than 300 pages, but still the first half of the book is a very slow burn. Even though there are some very thrilling scenes in this part, it takes about 65% of the story for the book to completely turn into avalanche mode and the ending itself is very satisfying and heartbreaking for both the characters and the reader.

This book has a few firsts for me. This is the first book from Emma Newman in which I didn't like the main character. Dr.Anna Kubrin is a very fascinating character, but some of the thoughts she has are not exactly what you call pleasant, especially the way she feels about motherhood and being a mother herself. As I said, not very pleasant to read but I think that was the intention of the author, so I don't know how I feel about it. To talk about other firsts will be delving into spoilers, so I will refrain from doing that.

Other than that, the story itself is very good, starting off normal and slow and gradually increasing in tension and ending in a bunch of twists and fucked up resolutions where it feels like everything is gone to shit and world just ended. But the pacing isn't slick in the first half of the book or not enough slick for a thriller, but it is the complete opposite for the second half. To put it in perspective, it took me more than 6 days to get through the first half, but for the second half I breezed through it and finished it in a mere hour and a half.

So, I don't know if there will be another book set in this series, I would love for several other books to be written, but we still haven't any info at this point. Emma Newman has other books available, but I am not a big fan of Urban Fantasy, so I don't know if I will ever pick them up. But who knows, if I was drained of her stories long enough I may end up doing just that.

kynan's review against another edition

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4.0

Before Mars is the third of Ms Newman's Planetfall series, a series that I'm increasingly suspecting was a significantly cathartic experience to write! If you've not read the previous two books, stop reading here as there will be spoilers for them shortly (not for Before Mars though).

I read Planetfall back-to-back with After Atlas. I loved After Atlas, partly because of the unexpected change of perspective from Planetfall and partly because the character building continued to be so real and so well done! I had a crisis of conscience regarding the sci-fi filter bubble I found myself in and took a break to read Americanah before hitting Before Mars and, feeling refreshed and ready for something new and interesting I dived in...and immediately felt like I was re-reading a slightly disguised After Atlas.

Before Mars describes some of what was going on in the Gabor-side of the court prior to and during the events chronicled in After Atlas. We're now hanging out with a scientist/painter/newish mother named Anna who's been sent off to Mars on a special mission for Stefan Gabor. She's a bit like Ren and a bit like Carl but she is, very definitely, her own person.

I guess that Ms Newman is on a mission to normalise frequently stigmatised things, be they mental health issues, gender or, in the case of this book, post-natal depression.

I really like the way that we get inside the heads of the major characters. We get a view into their decision making process but, more interestingly, get an understanding of how their various neuroses are impacting those decisions. Often in ways that may not seem rational to someone else. There's a real possibility for empathy with the characters and less opportunity to brush off a "poor" decision as just irrational or stupid.

There's also the gender neutral pronouns again which seemed a little jarring at first in After Atlas, but this is purely due to lack of exposure. Further exposure like this is probably an awesome way to normalise it!

beniceorleaf's review against another edition

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4.0

Didn't realize it was the third book in a series until after. That explains a lot. Still very good!

tensy's review against another edition

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3.0

Not my favorite of the series. We spend too much time in Anna Kubrin's head as she arrives on Mars and deals with her complicated family issues. The ending was not much of a surprise if you have read the previous novels, but at least the plot picked up a bit. I will read the next in the series in order to see where it all ends.