Genre:
Science Fiction
Description:
“There
are eight settlers on Mars until the colony's psychologist walks out
an airlock to die on the cold, airless sands. Emma and her crewmates,
the next mission of settlers, launch from Spaceport America despite
the tragedy and despite their own misgivings. They take a tabby
kitten with them, as requested by the survivors on Mars, and hope to
revive the shocked colony.”
Author:
“Kate
Rauner (Hanover, New Mexico, USA) writes science fiction novels and
science poetry and serves as a volunteer firefighter. Kate is a
retired engineer and Cold War Warrior--she worked in America's
nuclear weapons complex. Living on the edge of the Southwest’s Gila
National Forest with her husband, cats, llamas, and dog, she’s well
on her way to achieving her life-goal of becoming an eccentric old
woman.”
Appraisal:
As a
young man, I’d have jumped at the chance to sign up for a one-way
ticket to Mars, so this book fitted right in my wheelhouse. I
particularly enjoyed the opening chapters, which started at the
Earth-side preparation station with potential travelers confined for
two years in a modular habitat that simulated the conditions they
would encounter on Mars. Better to discover claustrophobic tendencies
and personality clashes before takeoff, right?
Once
on Mars, though, the story meandered and got bogged down in the
day-to-day minutia of the settlers. I understand that living in an
artificially maintained environment on a planet with no atmosphere
would involve a lot of chores and attention to detail, but the
activities became repetitive in the extreme. So much so, that the
plot and characters became secondary. Moments of tension were few and
too easily resolved. Potential conflicts were hinted at, but not
fully realized.
And
the cat? Well the cat made it onto the book’s cover but didn’t
have any significance. That red-herring niggled at me most of the way
through.
IMO,
assuming the technical details are accurate (and they seemed to be,
which is all that really matters for disbelief suspension, right?),
this could be turned into an engaging story if it underwent a content
edit.
FYI:
Clean
copy, solid writing skills.
Format/Typo
Issues:
None.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: Pete Barber
Approximate word count:
75-80,000 words
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