The Mars House
Natasha Pulley
£20.00
Mr B's review
How to do a book of this scope and imagination justice in just a few lines? A book of Pulley’s signature charm, wit and originality that defies genre and convention, this is something entirely new that would sit perfectly at home between Becky Chambers and Ann Leckie.
January, principal dancer of the London Royal Ballet, is preparing for a performance of Swan Lake when London finally succumbs to the floodwater that has threatened to drown it for as long as he can remember. With nowhere else to go, January finds himself among the refugees on their way to Mars. There have been populations on Mars for generations now, and January and the other ‘earthstrongers’ are three times as strong as the ‘naturalised’ population, who have adjusted to Mars’ gravity and air pressure. January has always been strong, but he’s never been dangerous – only now he has to wear a cage that supresses his strength.
Earthstronger accidents are the primary cause of death for the naturalised population. Far-Right Extremist, Senator Gale, is running for election on the proposition of a ‘simple path’ to equality; force every immigrant from Earth to undergo the disabling and sometimes fatal process of forced naturalisation. For January, that would be no life at all. When Gale visits the factory January now works at to talk to Earthstrongers, a misjudged joke turned disastrous media encounter threatens Gale’s election prospects – and January’s life.
A gorgeous addition to what we’ve begun to refer to as the Pulley Extended Universe, this is a beautifully realised exploration of the direction that culture, language, technology, politics, social media and art may overlap in a future that feels rich with detail and character. It’s a story to be swept up in with all the drama and nuance we’ve come to expect from Pulley’s writing, with characteristic depth and a deliciously philosophical edge, and her compellingly morally grey characters. Oh, you love to hate them.
Affectionately referred to in the shop as ‘the one about the arranged marriage in space with the mammoth linguistics’.
Description
‘Pure Pulley’ STUART TURTON
‘Joyful and profound’ CATRIONA WARD
‘Simply unputdownable’ THOMAS D. LEE
‘A work of staggering genius’ IMRAN MAHMOOD
‘Charming and funny and perfectly paced’ TEMI OH
‘A spiritual heir to Terry Pratchett’ ROBIN STEVENS
‘Book of the year for me’ LAUREN JAMES
January Stirling was one of the principal dancers of London’s Royal Ballet. Now he’s a climate refugee bound for Tharsis, the notorious terraformed colony on Mars. It’s a utopia for the naturalised population. For January, as a dangerous Earthstronger whose body is unadjusted to the weaker Martian gravity, it’s a life sentence to hard labour and ferocious discrimination.
But he will live.
Aubrey Gale, energy trillionaire and hereditary senator, is running for election on a hardline platform to protect the native population from dangerous immigrants. The path to equality is simple, requiring all Earthstrongers who choose to come to Mars to undergo the disabling and sometimes fatal process of surgical naturalisation.
Which is no life at all.
When a disastrous media encounter plunges Aubrey and January’s lives into chaos, the solution is a five-year made-for-reality-TV marriage that could secure January’s future and ensure Aubrey’s political success . . . but it soon becomes clear that thousands of lives hang in the balance, and nothing is as it seems.
Timely and utterly unputdownable, The Mars House is an exceptional genre-blending story about privilege, strength, life, and love across class divisions – perfect for fans of Babel by R.F. Kuang, The Ferryman by Justin Cronin, and This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
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