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A review by katiesendlesstbr
How to Mars by David Ebenbach
3.0
If you're here for sci-fi, look elsewhere.
Yes, this novel is about 6 people to be the first to settle on Mars, but the science is mostly sidelined. It really is about one of those "Marstronauts" getting pregnant and how each character deals with that, along with an unprofessionally written handbook insisting not to have sex and a weird, hand-wavy inclusion of aliens. I really resent the comparison to The Martian, which had such a strong focus on the scientific aspects of being on Mars and made me expect the same. I guess there were inclusions of 'scientific reports', but these were also not very professionally written, sacrificing some realness to insert poetic writing and the emotional processing of the character. As someone in the astronomical field, I was distracted from the writing whenever the handbook or field reports came up, because I couldn't stop thinking about how none of this would fly in a professional setting.
This all being said, it was an interesting book and I liked the reading experience. The characters all eventually grew on me and I liked where and how the story went. I bet if I didn't have the impression that I would be getting a more science-y story, I think I would be rating this higher. If you're into a semi-character study of people dealing with this situation, I would recommend it!
3.5 stars.
Yes, this novel is about 6 people to be the first to settle on Mars, but the science is mostly sidelined. It really is about one of those "Marstronauts" getting pregnant and how each character deals with that, along with an unprofessionally written handbook insisting not to have sex and a weird, hand-wavy inclusion of aliens. I really resent the comparison to The Martian, which had such a strong focus on the scientific aspects of being on Mars and made me expect the same. I guess there were inclusions of 'scientific reports', but these were also not very professionally written, sacrificing some realness to insert poetic writing and the emotional processing of the character. As someone in the astronomical field, I was distracted from the writing whenever the handbook or field reports came up, because I couldn't stop thinking about how none of this would fly in a professional setting.
This all being said, it was an interesting book and I liked the reading experience. The characters all eventually grew on me and I liked where and how the story went
Spoiler
aside from the aliens. I think the ending could have been just as effective if Stefan was just in his head about wanting to be alone and resenting his coworkers. Since he already had a violent outburst without aliens telling him to do it, it would have been a natural progression and made more sense. There still could have been things going wrong with the dome, especially if Stefan bolted, since there's only one engineer3.5 stars.