‘Mickey 7’ – Edward Ashton (Solaris)

These days, my taste in science fiction tends to run down the road of tie-in fiction; ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Warhammer 40K’, ‘Predator’ and ‘Alien’ novels for preference. Not that I’ve got anything against ‘non tie-in’ works, they’re just not giving me what I need from a book to get me through the day. If you offer me the choice between concept and entertaining plot, I’m going for the entertaining plot every time. That’s just who I am right now.

And then Youtube decided to throw the trailer for ‘Mickey 17’ at me, more or less repeatedly some days, and you know what? I have to say I was intrigued, intrigued enough to go and find the book and read that first. I haven’t seen the film yet (still very much the wrong side of payday) but if the book is anything to go by, I’ll be in for a treat. ‘Mickey 7’ is very much about exploring its concept but it’s about so much more as well, all at the same time.

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal— the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. Mickey signed on to escape from both bad debts and boredom on Midgard.

After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.

When he goes missing and is presumed dead at the hands of deadly indigenous creatures, Mickey8 reports for duty, and their troubles really begin.

I’m still not a hundred percent sure what I was expecting from ‘Mickey 7’ but what I certainly wasn’t expecting was to wake up on Saturday morning and get straight into finishing the book off after a day and a bit of reading. That’s just what happened though, ‘Mickey 7’ just has this happy knack of hitting every single target that it aims for and is just incredibly readable as a result.

‘Mickey 7’ is concept driven but in a good way. This is a book that knows it’s here to tell a story so doesn’t get bogged down in clever its idea is. What we have here is a concept that really drives the plot and the underlying world-building (or universe building, I’m not sure what its called when it’s sci-fi) as well, giving the reader so much more to chew on in terms of context and ideas.

And it doesn’t hurt that the plot is both urgent and all about the high stakes tension. A lot seems to hang on everything and that’s a large part of what kept me going. What really had me hooked though was Mickey Barnes himself, the best example ever of what can happen when you make a life changing decision without really stopping to consider the fact that it will literally change your life. And we’re all guilty of that, aren’t we?

Mickey is something special though, someone can really does see each day as the first day of the rest of his life. He’s a victim of circumstances but also determined to prove that he he is no victim and that makes him a character where it’s so easy to cheer him on. I certainly did :o)

And if all of that wasn’t enough for you, Ashton employs a deft brushstroke of humour covering the kind of situations that you can only get when two identical clones are trying their hardest to make everyone else think that there’s only one of them. It’s not quite Wodehouse but close enough to provide a welcome counterpoint to the urgency and make this reader chuckle a fair bit.

‘Mickey 7’ is a superb read then and a timely reminder that maybe I should be taking a chance on more science fiction that isn’t tie-in. Now, lets see if the film lives up to the book :o)