christy4 's review for:

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

3.75

adventurous hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I liked it a lot but it was hard for me to read a big batch at once. 

It’s complicated! The politics are very not black and white. The people surprise you. (Does it make sense narratively entirely? Eh, I’m not thinking about that.) 

It’s strange, reading other people’s reviews (the ones with long narratives are very negative about the politics of the book). I think for me the book was like a thought experiment—what would you have to figure out about these two types of people coming together? 

I wonder if people read this book because “it’s queer!” And expected queer politics? When really it’s mostly just that Mars has a genderless society. And btw I say this as a queer person myself.

I do think the author would have benefitted from more reasoning behind

Gale being an advocate for forced naturalization. I think they’re too smart of a character to have leapt to that as the only policy solution.