Notes from the Shelf

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 296

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Buy: Bookshop.org

Book Summary

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton is a 296-page science fiction novel that follows Mickey Barnes, an Expendable on the icy, inhospitable planet of Niflheim, where colonists rely on cloned humans like him to perform the most dangerous tasks. Now on his seventh iteration, Mickey has died—and been regenerated—countless times, with his memories transferred into new bodies. But when a mission goes wrong and he’s presumed dead, Mickey survives thanks to the planet’s native species, long believed to be unintelligent.

Returning to base, he discovers something shocking: Mickey8, a new version of himself, has already been printed. Now, with two Mickeys alive—an anomaly punishable by death—they must keep their dual existence a secret. As tensions rise, secrets unravel, and Mickey’s past deaths come into question, he begins to doubt the mission, the morality of colonization, and even his own identity.

Is Mickey7 worth reading?
If you’re in it for a quick sci-fi snack with clone drama and low-stakes conflict, then sure, but it’s far from essential. For serious sci-fi lovers, it may feel shallow and underdeveloped.

My Thoughts

I read Mickey7 really fast and was overall entertaining, which I thought was a good thing until I sat down with it a bit more afterward and realized there’s no substance. The whole book I was waiting for something to happen, but it was mostly a character study, which is fine if that’s what you’re into, but I just thought it would be more high-stakes with it being a science fiction novel. The ending was absolutely anticlimactic, and I didn’t realize there’s a second book. It definitely leaves it open-ended.

Even with the ending ramping up a bit, it just never seemed like there was a real threat or conflict. Also, I found the writing overall to be juvenile. None of these people seemed like adults to me, they all seemed like teenagers throwing temper tantrums the whole time. It was like it was trying to be funny, but wasn’t pulling it off.

Even though it was very character focused, most of the characters didn’t feel fleshed out, and there also wasn’t a lot of character description in general. There were a lot of aspects to this book that I wish had been explored more, like Mickey’s love of history and there could’ve been a commentary on colonization through that.

Also, it’s never explained what happened to him six weeks prior that made him seem completely different to Mickey8, and his explanation of the ship of Theseus was just painful. He seems like a very dumb character, so maybe a lot of the complaints I have are because he can’t explain or go deeper as the narrator, but Ashton chose to narrate through Mickey instead of another character or third-person, and he also chose to make Mickey dumb.

Final Thoughts

Mickey7 could’ve been so much more, but it’s just bland and it’s a little disappointing in hindsight. If you don’t think about it too hard, it’s an entertaining read.  I am interested in seeing the movie still. I think a lot of the scenes could be shown better through cinema, and I’ve heard it doesn’t exactly follow the book, which would be good in this case.

If you’re curious to see what all the fuss is about, even if I wasn’t a fan, consider purchasing it through Bookshop.org. Supporting this link helps sustain independent bookstores and keeps this blog thriving.

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