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mary_c's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
At first I thought it was too similar to the narrator in the Murderbot series. But it came into its own. I really enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Medical trauma
Minor: Colonisation
ababytapir's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Easy to read, an enjoyable sci fi adventure set on a new planet that doesn't make you think too hard, but does contain a sprinkling of ethics around cloning and colonisation. The main character is kinda dumb and I enjoyed that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Murder, and Colonisation
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
araehop's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Blood, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
singalana's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was a bit of a letdown. I want to like light sci-fi books so bad, but this just didn’t do it for me.
We follow a character called Mickey, who is an expendable at a newly established colony on a icy planet. That means that whenever something dangerous probably resulting in death needs to be doing, Mickey is the guy they sent to do it. Because every time Mickey dies, they make a new copy of him, with all the memories of the past Mickeys. Except this time things go wrong and now there are two Mickeys.
The book is told through Mickey’s POV, and few other notable characters are Mickey’s best friend (Berto), a woman he has a relationship with (Nasha) and the base’s commander Marshall. The characters lack depth, and even the relationships feel disingenuous. And it bothered me how Nasha’s and Mickey’s relationship played out in the book. Marshall is the most infuriating character of them all.
Something about this book just felt off. The tone is light and bantery at the beginning, but then things take a slightly darker tone. At first I wanted to learn more about other colonies that failed and other expendables, but when the author delivered, it felt lukewarm at best. And in the beginning of the book we have a deus ex machina moment, and the ending is way too neat.
This book needed to pick out a tone and stick to it, give the characters more depth and explain the issues the characters are dealing with a little bit better. Now the plot feels paper thin.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book started out fun and the voice was great, but the focus lingered way too long on Mickey absolutely failing in every way to stay hidden and not long enough on the entire plot, which was basically shoved into the last 50 pages. The antagonists were interesting but barely described and the solution that works in the end is ridiculous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation
Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Toxic friendship
schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I enjoyed it.
The existence of Expendables raises a lot of questions only some of which are addressed, if not answered.
It makes total sense that people would have religious objections to Expendables, and even that it would be a major tenant of a religion. Although I would think it would be problematic to
If a person can only become an Expendable to be a terrible kind of guinea pig which will always be killed over (and over and over) I can see why it wouldn't appeal to people. But it is more than a little surprising that it's not a technology utilized by the wealthy and powerful to extend their lifetimes indefinitely. Not to actually be expendable, of course, just to live.
It's more than a little surprising that there's apparently no one involved in mental healthcare as part of the colony. Leaving the position of the Expendable aside, the mental, emotional and physical stress of space travel and starting a colony would be tremendous. But taking the Expendable into account, especially an Expendable who is conscripted, which it sounds like most are, how is there not mandatory counseling for that person? Like every day. Even before you get to the Ship of Theseus problem, how many times can a person remember dying in terrible and painful ways or just watch a video of it even without the actual memory and not develop crippling PTSD or become catatonic? But there's no suggestion of that at all. (Either that it's a concern or that Mickey experiences it). I do get why there are occasions where it's important for the Expendable to remember what caused his or her death, but how does remembering being injected with different pathogens and then dying a long, painful death help. What are they supposed to avoid, going to the doctor who is going to use them as a test subject?
The sociology of it is interesting, too. Everyone (including the Expendable) is conditioned to think of the Expendable as the same person, which means that a) people resent their "immortality" and b) no one appreciates their sacrifices. And that sort of makes sense, too, from a good of the colony standpoint. If people are allowed to realize that someone is essentially being tortured over and over, especially if that person was conscripted, they may decide that's unacceptable. (Or they may well say if the Expendable is a prisoner he/she/they probably did something to deserve it and better someone who can be downloaded into a new body than a person with a finite lifespan).
It's also unclear what the term of service is. Is Mickey expected to stay in that position for the term of a natural lifespan, 1,000 years, 1,000 deaths? Until the sun burns out? Until the colony is firmly established?
It's clear that Mickey7 and Mikey8 are different people. Mickey7 is more empathetic by far. And maybe it's attributable to Mickey8 being closer to starvation, or Mickey7 being saved by the crawler and having the memory of it happen. It just seems like there should be more of an explanation since the difference in time between them is only six weeks.
Also, they're terraforming a planet with other sentient life and...it never occurs to them how doing so might affect that life?
Learning about the various colony failures was interesting.
The existence of Expendables raises a lot of questions only some of which are addressed, if not answered.
It makes total sense that people would have religious objections to Expendables, and even that it would be a major tenant of a religion. Although I would think it would be problematic to
If a person can only become an Expendable to be a terrible kind of guinea pig which will always be killed over (and over and over) I can see why it wouldn't appeal to people. But it is more than a little surprising that it's not a technology utilized by the wealthy and powerful to extend their lifetimes indefinitely. Not to actually be expendable, of course, just to live.
It's more than a little surprising that there's apparently no one involved in mental healthcare as part of the colony. Leaving the position of the Expendable aside, the mental, emotional and physical stress of space travel and starting a colony would be tremendous. But taking the Expendable into account, especially an Expendable who is conscripted, which it sounds like most are, how is there not mandatory counseling for that person? Like every day. Even before you get to the Ship of Theseus problem, how many times can a person remember dying in terrible and painful ways or just watch a video of it even without the actual memory and not develop crippling PTSD or become catatonic? But there's no suggestion of that at all. (Either that it's a concern or that Mickey experiences it). I do get why there are occasions where it's important for the Expendable to remember what caused his or her death, but how does remembering being injected with different pathogens and then dying a long, painful death help. What are they supposed to avoid, going to the doctor who is going to use them as a test subject?
The sociology of it is interesting, too. Everyone (including the Expendable) is conditioned to think of the Expendable as the same person, which means that a) people resent their "immortality" and b) no one appreciates their sacrifices. And that sort of makes sense, too, from a good of the colony standpoint. If people are allowed to realize that someone is essentially being tortured over and over, especially if that person was conscripted, they may decide that's unacceptable. (Or they may well say if the Expendable is a prisoner he/she/they probably did something to deserve it and better someone who can be downloaded into a new body than a person with a finite lifespan).
It's also unclear what the term of service is. Is Mickey expected to stay in that position for the term of a natural lifespan, 1,000 years, 1,000 deaths? Until the sun burns out? Until the colony is firmly established?
Also, they're terraforming a planet with other sentient life and...it never occurs to them how doing so might affect that life?
Learning about the various colony failures was interesting.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Death, Genocide, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, and Injury/Injury detail
vanilla_chief's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"Mickey7" captivated me with its intriguing themes and character development. As a history enthusiast, I appreciated Mickey's interest in learning from past failures. While the Mickeys were not always engaging main characters, their transformation from slacker to someone discovering their self-worth made for an enjoyable read despite some plot weaknesses.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Violence, and Colonisation
carolined314's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Scalzi-esque male cis protagonist who signed up to die a lot, and some unexpected things occur - including aliens!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Sexual content, and Colonisation
juksu's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Figuring out the "twist" in the first 30 pages wasn't a bad thing, since Mickey7 has a lot of other stuff going on both in the present and in flashbacks. On the other hand, I feel like there was so much other neat worldbuilding and potential conflict that we could've explored more, like the Natalist movement or the wider impacts of resource scarcity .
Instead, we got Mickey8 spending what felt like 50 pages asleep or hungry interspersed with commentary on profound topics like genocide, cloning, and identity... but because Mickey is just a guy, his ideas didn't break any new ground for me. I heard Mickey compared to The Martian's Mark Watney, which is true except that Mickey is marginally more likeable while Mark is more interesting to read for a puzzler like me. Otherwise, they're definitely both guys who put "I love sarcasm and dark humor" in their Tinder bios...
On top of Mickey's narration leaning cringy/tryhard more often than not, the pacing of this book wasn't very consistent. Felt like the resolution blew in out of nowhere, to say nothing ofMarshall just... changing his mind overnight? It just felt jarring. The premise was so good, but this is one of those books that feels like it would've been more compelling if it had a different point of view. It's not strictly bad—quick, light read with a few "ohh" moments and even a couple actually good jokes. But if you're looking for more of the hard science or psychological drama of The Martian, this may miss the mark.
Instead, we got Mickey8 spending what felt like 50 pages asleep or hungry interspersed with commentary on profound topics like genocide, cloning, and identity... but because Mickey is just a guy, his ideas didn't break any new ground for me. I heard Mickey compared to The Martian's Mark Watney, which is true except that Mickey is marginally more likeable while Mark is more interesting to read for a puzzler like me. Otherwise, they're definitely both guys who put "I love sarcasm and dark humor" in their Tinder bios...
On top of Mickey's narration leaning cringy/tryhard more often than not, the pacing of this book wasn't very consistent. Felt like the resolution blew in out of nowhere, to say nothing of
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Genocide, Sexual content, Colonisation, and War
prynne31's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Genocide, Colonisation, and War