Antimatter Blues

A Mickey7 Novel

by Edward Ashton

312 pages

English language

Published Dec. 2, 2023 by St. Martin's Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-27505-9

(12 reviews)

Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive―that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony’s creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who’s keeping them from using it. Mickey’s just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It’s not a bad life.

It’s not going to last.

It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. If Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he’ll be giving up the only thing that’s kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony. Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they’re not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return. Once again, Mickey finds the fate of two species resting in his hands. If something goes wrong this time, though, he won’t be coming back.

5 editions

Alex Cabe reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Fun but Inessential

3 stars

Antimatter Blues was fun and delivered the same kind of enjoyment as Mickey 7, but was entirely inessential. This book isn't important to understanding the characters or the world, and the author told the complete story of his big idea in the first book. This is not a continuation that demanded to be written, but a sequel that asks "Well, the first one was successful, what other stories can we tell in this world?"

This felt kind of like Haldeman's "Forever Free", except not horrible.

Also, it still didn't explore anything interesting about Cat.

tivasyk reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton (Mickey7, #2)

not as good as «mickey 7»

3 stars

while this second book in the series retains the same light humouristic style and introduces an interesting development to the first book's story… in literary sense it is bland: repetitious to the point of being boring, and light-hearted to the point of being shallow. it's as if tge author had to make a sequel instead of wanting to write it?

anyways, i was bored half of it. sorry.

Alex reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

The beginning of a better story

4 stars

This book was a lot better than the previous, where the "protagonist" just kept messing around and picking fights. The guy is still an ass and the banter is still fun too, but now there was actually a story with a purpose, complete with a heroic journey and self sacrifices. Even the aliens got a lot more character and a justified purpose.

I also appreciated how the overall tone was less depressing, with less brooding about death and failed colonies. There's still some of that left of course but things are finally starting to look better for this little colony!

Eric Wagoner 📚 reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Well-done sequel for Mickey7

4 stars

This sequel could easily have gone sideways -- the first book came close to overstaying its welcome and more of the same would not have been welcome.

So, where the first one focused on Mickey finding his place in the world, the second was more about the world with Mickey in it. Mickey is still the main character, but we see more of the world and personalities around him. We learn a great deal more about the greater human society that created expendables, we learn more about the history of galactic colonization, and we learn bits about times humanity found other sentient life. None of this is dry world-building, as it's fed to us in bits as it relates directly to the events at hand.

I enjoyed reading this as much as I did the first, and it was in many ways more satisfying. There is still plenty of story …

This sequel could easily have gone sideways -- the first book came close to overstaying its welcome and more of the same would not have been welcome.

I enjoyed reading this as much as I did the first, and it was in many ways more satisfying. There is still plenty of story that could be told in this setting, and I hope Edward writes more.