Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audiobook.

I loved this! The main character was great- funny, snarky, all to human. World building was very interesting, and it went at a good pace overall. Narrator(s) did great.

Completely devoured this fun and snarky sci-Fi. Perfectly plotted and I loved the main character. Highly recommend.

This is a story about the ship of Theseus personified.

This was a funny, unexpectedly philosophical sci fi adventure. I found myself trying to figure out if I believed Mickey 7 is still Mickey- he has all his memories? He has his face? But he’s the 7th in a line of potentially infinite reiterations of an “expendable” human. The possible uses for a person who could be copied are endless- medical testing? Radiation? Dangerous alien interactions? Anything you wouldn’t do to a person whose death would actually matter, would suddenly be an option… what a fascinating and horrifying idea. Towards the end it was a bit odd (even by sci fi standards) but overall an enjoyable ride.

Thank you so much netgalley macmillan audio & St. Martin’s press for the ALC & eARC. The narration & in story sound effects are great, so I would highly recommend listening in addition to reading.

I actually really liked this book. The idea of colonizing another planet is always entertaining but how do we figure out if its safe? This book answers that question. Plus more.

I liked how they were still human with human needs and emotions and betrayals. But that he was also different.

I also liked how it was light and humorous.

I received a digital advance copy of the audiobook of Mickey7 through NetGalley. Mickey7 is scheduled for release on February 15, 2022.

Mickey7 is an interesting book about the seventh Mickey who is an expendable--the first six Mickeys lost their lives doing the deadly work required of their kind in the colony. The crackling static of the coms made this futuristic story more realistic. Mickey7 is left for dead and since he is an expendable Mickey8 gets put into service. Unfortunately the doubles are not allowed so they try to come to an agreement to share their rack, their food and even their love interest. We follow Mickey7 as he navigates being a double and does his best to survive and not be discovered. This was an easy listen and we definitely root for Mickey7 to come out on top.

tl;dr - I enjoyed this book. It was a quick, light, fun(ny at times) read and while it didn't quite give me what I expected I still loved the expendable theme and some of the history of Ashton's universe. From the Readers Q&A it appears as thuogh there may be at least one more Mickey story, and I will certainly be reading it. I'd recommend Mickey7 to fans of John Scalzi and Murderbot.

Mickey7 follow the story of an Expendable: a man, in this case, who's sole purpose upon joining the Niflheim mission is to be available to die. Repeatedly. Typically in ways so that tech (robots/drones) and non-expendables (normal humans) don't have to be sacrificed to fix a anti-matter field or to test local flora and fauna on a newly established world. Due to resource limitations (and a lot of negative feelings towards Multiples), yada yada, only one Mickey can be around at a time and for 7 iterations this process works out fine...and then it doesn't due to a mishap with Mickey "best friend". That's more or less where the book starts off. Over the next 300-some pages, we follow Mickey 7 as he goes on a couple of missions, argues with the folks in charge, tries to keep his accidently created double (Mickey8) from a) killing him and b) getting caught. And that's more or less the story.

Mickey 7 had some serious Murderbot vibes. He completes most of his missions less than enthusiastically and is really just here because he didn't have another option. He's snarky, relatively quick witted and seems to be fairly loyal. Unfortunately though, whereas Murderbot shows a significant amount of growth (granted, that's over the 5 novellas and 1 novel currently published) Mickey 7 felt a little flat, which I think worked to an extent because of future Mikey novels, but I would have liked to see more character development.

On top of that, Mickey is seemingly intent on giving readers the backstory on the diaspora of humankind from earth frequently cutting back for entire chapters to explain something that's about to become relevant. I'm convinced that these cuts into the narrative probably make up 1/4 of the story. As an epic fantasy reader, I don't mind lore dumps - but these break into the narrative and immediately pulled me out of the story every time. The shame of the matter here is they're mostly pretty interesting. I enjoyed reading about the history of the expendables and failed settlements.

Finally - there were so many threads here that the author could have pulled, and so many ways that those threads could have unraveled that I almost felt cheated by where the story went. We know that foods a problem. We know that energy is a problem. We know that the creepers are a problem. We know that the climate is a problem. What we ended up focusing on, how that problem was ultimately resolved (and how several the other problems were resolved in a matter of pages as what felt like an after thought) was disappointing.

As I received the audiobook version of Mickey7, I would be remiss if I didn't praise the narrators John Pirhalla and Katharine Chin for this production. They brought the characters to life and the way that the radio communication was handled in the audiobook was pretty cool!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing a review copy of the audiobook via NetGalley.

Mickey Barnes is an *Expendable! Now in his 7th iteration, living and dying among fellow colonists on the near-uninhabitable ice world of Niflheim. A mission goes wrong and Mickey7 is left for dead. He returns to base and meets Mickey8. Neither willing to be recycled and both knowing that if they are caught there will never be a Mickey9.

*Expendable- n. a human clone utilized for dangerous work on space exploration missions. Their personality and memories may be transferred intact to a new body if and when then current host dies.

I throughly enjoyed this book and the concept hooked me from the start. This story made me wonder of what life would be like knowing that your consciousness can essentially live forever. All the issues and expectations that this would create. The way the author was able to connect me to the main character even though I knew I should be attached was great! I honestly think that anyone who loves sci-fi and a quick read would enjoy this.

4 star read for me. I really enjoyed the humor and philosophy in this book. The world building that was done throughout the book leaves open a possibility of future books in this universe for which I would be happy to read.

Much appreciation to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me a chance to read this early.

After finding out about Bong Joon-ho’s announcement for his next film, a sci-fi thriller starring Robert Pattinson, an adaption of Mickey7, I immediately sought out the source story. There are some unfortunate issues with the pacing, but the story was original and understandably easy to adapt to the screen.

My only gripe with the flow of the book were the chapters dedicated to various flashback, including a few info dumps ones. There were many times where I was itching to zero in on certain characters/situations and the following chapter broke away from the tension to reveal a second hand in the story. Bits and pieces that felt unnecessary to me. By the end of the book, I’ve found myself detached from the experience.

What I actually thought was interesting outside of these chapters was the author’s prose. He did a great job showing rather than telling through the POV’s internal dialog. Worldbuilding in a sci-fi relies on storytelling with this technique.

Overall, with its rough edges, Mickey7 was pretty decent. Perhaps the book would have been better off as a short story, but I can see what people would love about it.


On a second note, regarding the audiobook:
The Mickey7 audiobook has two narrators, <b>John Pirhalla and Katharine Chin</b>, who were both excellent narrators, but the book rarely gave spotlight to Katharine. I believe she had 10 or so lines, which is strangely baffling. I’m always excited to see woman succeed and was looking forward to hearing more from her in this story. This wouldn’t have been something of an issue if there was a single narrator, which leads me to believe the duel casting was created as a gimmick more than anything else. Just my two cents.

Mickey7 features a lot of the things that makes some of the best modern sci-fi click. It's has a lot of Moon, Interstellar, and the works of Andy Weir all mixed up into it. The story itself is stronger than it's execution, but it's blockbuster novel storytelling at it's finest. I got the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version, and found the narrator to be fun and the production to be of the utmost quality. I was entertained throughout the brisk runtime of the audiobook (especially at 2x speed) and didn't want to stop listening. Bong Joon-ho, Oscar winning filmmaker, is set to adapt the novel into a film. Though he's not known for sticking to the source material, there is enough here to see why this project would appeal to him. The way food and fuel is a resource that is waning reminds me of Okja. I'm interested to see what he wants to talk about when it comes to ideas of colonization and cloning. This is a great novel and I'm thrilled to hear a sequel is already on the way. 5 stars.

I am certain that any Andy Weir fan will LOVE this book! I was so absolutely captivated. Humans are now working on colonizing other planets and they realize it’s dangerous….so they create expendables who certainly will die (many times) but they can upload their personalities and memories into a reprint of their body. But are they immortal?

I loved how we got to learn so much of the history of humanity that lead them to all the colonization. I loved how I was never lost during all of the science stuff. I loved the philosophical questions we pondered from the perspective of one of these expendables.

This book knocked it out of the park! I will be recommending it to everyone I know! I especially loved the audiobook. The narrator did phenomenal with different voices but I also loved the effects and second narrator for some of the ping exchanges! I feel listening on audio completely elevated this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook! I have already recommended it to multiple people! The narrator could have been a little more lively during the few action scenes, but other than that, he was the perfect narrator for the main character.

I went into this book super excited with high expectations for a good time. I did (mostly) enjoy Mickey and I had a good time in about half the story. It started out great, I was having a fun time. Then the flashbacks/side stories started. At first they made sense in the context of the story, then they just began to feel like a thing. As soon as interesting things started to happen we would get a side story that may or may not be related to the events and I felt like that really slowed down the story. There were also several times where we got a side story in place of the continuation of the exciting moment. There were also small things that just did not make sense. Like Mickey is supposed to be a historian, according to him, but there were several discussions about things in history where he had no idea what the other person was talking about. There was also a really weird scene later in the book that I just did not see the point of. I don't know, I didn't hated it, but I was disappointed. I can however see where other people would really enjoy this book, it just was not for me.

This was an entertaining sci fi novel that plays with the idea that employers so often treat their employees as disposable. The tone of the book was fairly light, but it still managed to be smart and witty. I often struggle with "funny books" but the humor in this one was on point. I found it funny without completely losing the serious themes of the novel.

Overall I really enjoyed this one. I think this will appeal to fans of John Scalzi and Dennos E Taylor. I would recommend this one to anyone looking for an accessible sci fi novel with humorous moments.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book via the Netgalley audiobook review program.

“Stupidest death ever.”

I read this book in one sitting. The narrator is great. I loved this book!

Mickey is the “expendable” in a terraforming colony, the job description is: immortal. Mickey has died 6 times.

There are strict laws, there can never be two Mickey’s alive at the same time. What would happen if there were accidentally two? Well, let the fun begin as there can be only one.

Add a GF, a wannabe GF, an uptight commander who thinks M7 is an abomination, a BFF who lies, giant murderous worms and you’ve got just the right mix for a captivating read.

There is heavier subtext, what makes a man a man? Etc. but you can ignore it & just go for the wonderful fluffy good time!

This was a fun book!! I’d read a book two!! Well written. Will make you smile. Thank you MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book. It was fantastic! Just what I needed!

6 stars!

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This never gets more interesting than the summary. The characters are bland. The backstories are dull. I also don't like the way the audiobook was read. There is nothing special about this one.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the review copy!

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Narrated by John Pirhalla; Katharine Chin

Far into the future we meet Mickey. Mickey7, to be exact. The original Mickey, and those that followed him, are dead. You see, Mickey became an Expendable, back when the original Mickey made a really unwise bet and had to leave his planet immediately. Being a history major, in a day and age where everyone has ready access to any history information they need, did not prepare Mickey for any type space mission related job. Sure, there are openings available on the space flight to Niflheim but Mickey isn't qualified for most of them. There is an opening for the lone Expendable though and no one has applied for that job. Despite the recruiter trying to talk Mickey from taking the Expendable job, due to the horrifying job description, Mickey takes it. How bad can it be?

It's bad! Expendables are expected to handle all the deadly missions. There is being a lab experiment, there is repairing things in a radioactive environment, no one wants to be your friend because you are going to die, everyone thinks you must have been an convict on death row and been drafted for the job because who would volunteer to suffer long, slow, agonizing deaths, over and over and over. Thanks to the ability to regenerate original Mickey's body every time a Mickey dies, a new Mickey is made and the past Mickeys' memories are uploaded to the new incarnation. Being "immortal" is no fun when you have to go through painful deaths into infinity.

But there's another problem. Due to Mickey7's best "friend" reporting him dead when he was just kind of lost, Mickey8 is already up and alive. That's not allowed and one of the Mickey's has to go into the recycler pronto. Instead the Mickey's settle on trying to both stay alive without being found out. Not only is Mickey not good at anything but useless history nonsense, he's also not good at being two Mickey's at once. Here's some advice for people in the future...learn a useful skill, don't be a Mickey! The audio version allows us to listen to Mickey vs Mickey spats, life and death is no fun when your worst enemy is you.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

A fun scifi story, but I feel it suffered by spending too long focused on the interpersonal relationships between the characters before shifting to the worldbuilding (which, when it finally got going, was pretty good). I wish there had been more focus on the threat of the Creepers and the history of how the colonies came to be before the third act, when all that information became pretty important. I also greatly enjoyed the narrator(s), and the fact that radio communications came complete with sound effects to add to the atmosphere of the story.

This was a romp. The blurb described the story as being a good fit for fans of Blake Crouch and and Weir, two of my favorite authors, and while I don't think I hit those high benchmarks it was a truly fun and compelling read that any sci-fi fan could tear into.

For my own tastes I would have liked a little more focus on the philosophical and moral issues that come from this unique situation (the Ship of Theseus analogy is about as close as we get) but looking back on it I think the author might have focusing on a more fun, light story which I think they really nailed.

This story didn't overstay it's welcome by any means and felt like a much shorter book than it was. I was finished I was left wanting more. I will be looking for more stories by this author, whether they feature a Mickey or two or not.

4.5 stars rounded up.