Before Mars

Another great entry in the "Planetfall" series of standalone novels by Emma Newman. Where "Planetfall" was a science fiction drama gradually turning into psychological thriller and "After Atlas" was dystopian detective noir, "Before Mars" somewhere in the middle. This novel's protagonist (the book is told in first person the way the other two were) struggles with trauma and depression like the one in "Planetfall", but of a different (and less severe) kind. She is also, as the story progresses, trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious conspiracy, like the one in "After Atlas", but unlike him, it is not her job to do so.

I'm impressed by Newman's ability to make each of these novels utterly self-contained and yet enriched by each show more other's widening and deepening of the universe they take place in (they literally each occur on different planets, albeit in a roughly equivalent time frame). Whichever of the three novels you read first, the later ones will benefit from the added context you now can bring to casual mentions of shared backstory and societal concepts.

I also quite like how she is able to write easy, gripping narratives where the reader is very gradually realising what is actually going on. In all three of these books, the final few chapters are quite different from the rest, as the reader (and often the protagonist) at that point finally knows what the book has been about this whole time. And yet, there's none of the directionless feeling in the earlier chapters that such a structure might make me expect. I'm entertained throughout, a testament to Newman's ability to place me in the head of her (always troubled, if in different ways) protagonists.

My sole note, perhaps, after three novels, is how all the protagonists have conveniently agreed with the reader's intuitive dislike of many of the dystopian future's facets that everyone around them seem so fine with. It would perhaps be more interesting at this point to see a protagonist who is actually happy to live in this world, rather than quietly resisting it, and as well-adjusted as many of the secondary characters do seem to be. Certainly, it would be more challenging for me as a reader to see a protagonist be so used to concepts that to me are horrid and upsetting, rather than read about the odd ducks who still have antiquated notions of privacy, freedom, self-reliance, distrust of AIs, etc.

But this is a terribly minor thing, and really only something I considered once all three books had been read and this pattern started seeming apparent. I'm very pleased with these books, and eagerly looking forward to the fourth one. And will no doubt be thoroughly entertained by that one, too, even if the protagonist there yet again turn out to be a secret luddite of some shape or form. show less

Content warnings: child abuse, domestic violence, gore, gaslighting, birth control sabotage, reproductive coercion, misogyny, specifically motherhood-related misogyny, nonconsensual drug use, computer chips in brains, indentured servitude/slavery, surveillance state, memory wiping, suicide attempt, nuclear holocaust

Before Mars is about a geologist and artist, Anna Kubrin, who is sent to the Mars outpost to, well, do geology and art. Except when she arrives, something seems off. People are acting strangely, the AI that runs the base is behaving oddly, and she finds several objects that make no sense at all.

The book is creepy and unsettling from the start as Anna slowly unravels the mystery of what is happening on Mars, all while show more questioning her own sanity as she vividly recalls the psychotic break her father had when she was a child.

I think this is my favorite of the three Planetfall books, though I like all of them. I thought it was going to be a trilogy; now I’m hoping there’s going to be a fourth book, because this one leaves things wide open in ways I didn’t anticipate. I also thought this book took place before After Atlas, but it actually takes place concurrently, which makes some events from the previous book shocking and horrifying all over again.

While I really like this series and genuinely recommend it, I also recommend looking at the content warnings if reading about characters with mental health issues would be a concern for you. The first book deals heavily with anxiety and hoarding; the second book deals with PTSD, including trauma related to child abuse, and also I believe OCD, though it’s not explicit; and the third book deals heavily with gaslighting. show less

This is the third of Newman’s Planetfall quartet, and after reading the second book, After Atlas, I decided not to bother with the rest of the series, not liking its corporatised slavery oligarchic setting… But then Before Mars, the third book, popped up cheap as an ebook, and knowing it was a hard sf (ish) novel set on Mars, I decided to give it a go. The corporate slavery is still there, and partly drives the plot, but it’s a minor element of the story. Geologist (areologist, surely?) and artist Anna, the narrator, is sent to Mars, but finds herself embroiled in a mystery. There’s only one settlement on Mars, occupied by a four-person team, and Anna has been sent by the owner of the corporation that runs the settlement to show more paint Marscapes. The Mars station doesn’t seem to do much, other than broadcast a regular reality “mersive” (VR enabled by a chip everyone has in their heads). Anna is suspicious of the other members of the station, and of the AI which runs everything, and soon finds evidence there is another, top secret, Mars station run by the corporation. It’s all very cleverly done, links back to the previous books in the series, and the whole thing knits together quite cunningly. Too much description of the plot would be a spoiler. However, Anna’s back-story is mostly a red herring, and Newman perhaps relies on it overmuch as motivation for her; but it mostly describes things about the world of the book that are obvious to the reader. I’m impressed Newman has managed to present a future that’s really quite horrible, and with a straight face, and still managed to keep readers sympathetic with the characters who live in it and accept it. Before Mars was definitely a step up from the previous book, and I will at some point almost certainly read the final book, Atlas Alone. show less

Sometimes it's quite hard reviewing books for which you KNOW are rather groundbreaking but do so in a quiet manner and stretch the quality across a span of books.

It's never just one thing. It's a whole slew of wonderful worldbuilding quirks, a dedication to deep mystery, and extremely complicated characters often riddled with mental health issues and/or very real plot complications.

In this third book, related only by its housing in the greater worldbuilding and future history shared with the others, we're given a very different kind of character. Not an engineer or a put-upon corporate slave, but an artist slipped into the corporate works on Mars. Is she lucky? Is she turned into a pawn for others?

She doesn't seem all that sure of show more herself despite being recognized as an excellent painter, but none of that really matters. She's there and a number of little things don't add up. And that's okay. We're in for a great story where the reveals are numerous, emotional, disturbing, and often made me turn against our protagonist. And that is also okay because she's complicated and sympathetic and real and often depressed.

As it turns out, she has good reasons. No spoilers, but the plot is rather cool and much bigger than the blurb implies. :)

Very solid SF. Better than most. I'm probably turning into one of those readers who will always jump on the next book no matter what she writes. She's just that good. :) show less

This is set in the same universe as a previous book which I have not read but will now. The protagonist, an artist/geologist, arrives on Mars with a mission to paint landscapes on behalf of her corporate employer, but things start out very strange from the beginning: one of the current mission members is inexplicably hostile, another inexplicably intimate; she might be experiencing psychosis from too much virtual reality; her wedding ring is wrong—oh, and there’s a note waiting for her, in her own hand, telling her not to trust the mission psychologist. As the mystery unfolds, she also engages with her past trauma (her father was abusive and her mother keeps wanting her to forgive) and her possible rejection of her marriage and her show more infant child. The characters were complex and the situation was engaging, though there is a lot of tragedy. show less

"Before Mars" is part of Emma Newman's Planetfall Novel series, something I didn't realize before I began the book (it is actually book three in the series, I think). I'm happy that I didn't let that fact discourage me from reading "Before Mars," however, because "Before Mars" turns out to be the kind of science fiction novel that I most enjoy: one that is about much more than its setting and futuristic inventions and the like.

This is the story of a four-person team located on the face of Mars to do scientific investigation for one of the richest men on planet Earth. When the man sends an artist/geologist to do paintings on Mars that he will be able to market for a fortune back on earth, the team seems to come apart at the seams. And show more Anna, the artist, becomes more and more certain that the four are conspiring against her - and that if she doesn't figure out why she is so resented, her very life may just be in danger.

"Before Mars" is combination mystery, psychological novel, and science fiction novels - and it takes the best aspects of each genre to come up with one of the best science fiction novels I've read in years. If your favorite science fiction does not require flesh-eating monsters, little green men, and flying saucers, you will like this one. "Before Mars" really is very, very good. show less

Nowhere as interesting as the previous volume, although your millage may vary. A significant chunk of the book is composed of the main character rehashing an incident in the author's background, which while obviously personally painful, is of little interest to those who aren't effected. This significantly detracts from the rest of the book, where the central story is relatively brief and obvious, but well disguised behind a clever twist. There is far more reference to events in the prior books, and unlike book 2 I wouldn't recommend this being read as a standalone - the opening two thirds will be fine, but the ending heavily relies on prior knowledge of events and characters that are otherwise not referenced. There seems to be plenty show more of scope for the series to continue yet further, although how they author will keep introducing new characters remains to be seen.

This time we follow one Anna Kubrin, who works in a small geology lab trying to secure funding to still do novel science, which relies on convincing gov-corps that there's a profit to be made. As a counterpoint she's also an artist of note. She's estranged from her Father who started acting very oddly when the family lived in a rustic almost technology free commune similar to the early Circle without the religious overtones. This upbringing left her feeling somewhat isolated and out of touch with the technology reliant populace, and hence hard to fit into a profitable work community. She forces herself to try harder, and ends up married with a young daughter whom she loves, but without a special nurturing bond. The story starts as she's accepted a 2 year commission to Mars, as part of the Gabor corporation, to paint some unique art, and perhaps edge a little science in as well. However nothing really goes well even from the arrival - she discovers a note telling her to distrust the base psychologist, with no indication of why, or who wrote it, other than that it appears to be with her own paint on her own handmade paper. This does nothing to ease her mental stability after six months of watching family 'mersives where she mostly bemoans the lack of empathy she suffers for her husband and daughter.

This sense of mental unease continues for a substantial portion of the book, and comes across as self indulgent whining., especially as neither her husband or daughter are there, and there is a lot of work to be done, the other residents of the base to get along with, and then the mystery of the AI to unravel (which isn't aided by the physiological doubt). I'm aware that it is a very real, and very under-reported issue that struggles to gain the attention it deserves in the picture perfect world of today's celebrity couples. I'm sure it was hard for the author to write and possibly cathartic too, But at the same time, it's a very discordant topic within the theme of the rest of the trilogy, and doesn't endear the narrator to anyone other than those who may have similarly suffered.

I probably will read any future works set in the this world, but I hope the interesting socio-political technological advances retain the main narrative thrust. show less