Hardcover, 304 pages
Published Feb. 15, 2022 by St. Martin's Press.
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. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein.
Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of …
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. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein.
Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply, and terraforming is going poorly. The native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, and that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.
That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.
It's a weird and grotesque idea. And the book itself was a bit dark and depressing, especially the antagonist, but I still enjoyed the story. There's some "fun" scenes, like playing rock-paper-scissors above the black hole of death or the clones having a sex party, where you end up thinking; what the fuck?
I figured going in I'd either love or hate this. The notion of being a disposable person with cloned versions of yourself waiting in tanks is familiar enough to me (such as the "troubleshooters", the player characters in the RPG Paranoia) that I've seen the possibilities for how surprisingly dull it can get.
Mickey7 did not fall into those traps. Through cleverly timed breaks for exposition and world building, mixed with just the right amount of gallows humor, I was never caught wishing the story would just move on already or felt the need to take breaks to escape the darkness.
In an interesting science fiction setting of humans trying to establish a beachhead colony on an inhospitable world, Mickey7 shows us how we can process trauma, how our past selves shape but do not define who we presently are. I see a movie is being made from it, and …
I figured going in I'd either love or hate this. The notion of being a disposable person with cloned versions of yourself waiting in tanks is familiar enough to me (such as the "troubleshooters", the player characters in the RPG Paranoia) that I've seen the possibilities for how surprisingly dull it can get.
Mickey7 did not fall into those traps. Through cleverly timed breaks for exposition and world building, mixed with just the right amount of gallows humor, I was never caught wishing the story would just move on already or felt the need to take breaks to escape the darkness.
In an interesting science fiction setting of humans trying to establish a beachhead colony on an inhospitable world, Mickey7 shows us how we can process trauma, how our past selves shape but do not define who we presently are. I see a movie is being made from it, and I fear it will lose a lot of what I love in the translation. I did pre-order the sequel book, though, and am looking forward to more of Mickey.
Audiobook.
Fun quick listen. Good setup for next book. Audio well done.
Funny! Mickey is immortal by virtue of being able to make a backup of himself that can be downloaded into new clone bodies. He has thus far died 6 times, which makes his current body Mickey7. Death is a pretty regular occurrence when you're the official Expendable on an interstellar colony ship that landed on a hostile planet. When he's assumed to have died a seventh time, and Mickey8 steps out of the cloning vats, that's when his troubles really begin, though.
This book is a fun spin on the whole "what makes you yourself?" question in SF that's also coming up when you discuss Star Trek transporters, mixed in with a good dollop of other issues, this book was a ride.
I picked up this book because I heard that Bong Joon-Ho is going to turn it into a movie.
It's a fun enough read. Thematically it reminded me of the 2009 movie Moon, but with a lot of added comedy that didn't quite hit the mark for me. If you're a fan of hard scifi, this book isn't for you. If you want a more lighthearted take on what human cloning would mean and what kind of unintended consequences it might lead to, you might as well give this one a read. Or you could just wait for the movie.
The idea of a “ship of Theseus” disposable human is engaging, but the book doesn’t do it justice. It’s a short read, not without its entertaining moments, but I don’t think I’ll be curious enough to read what’s bound to come next.
Quick, silly two day read during a bout with Covid. About what my brain could handle. In better hands, the idea could have been really well done. As is, it passed the time
