Mickey Barnes, once an expendable, is now just another colonist on the remote world of Niflheim. The colony commander, Marshall, believes that creepy neighbors are currently holding on to one of their own antimatter bombs and Mickey, with his odd and unique ability to communicate with the creepers, is the only one keeping them from blowing the planet to pieces.

But winter is coming on and the colony is slowly running out of provisions. One of the biggest needs will be heat and Commander Marshall is planning to drain the energy from the antimatter bomb to use as a heat source. But the bomb is in enemy hands. Mickey is offered his freedom from service once and for all, but first he has to retrieve that bomb before the Creepers blow Niflheim to pieces. There's a problem though ... the Creepers don't have it any more. They gave it to their enemies.

The Humans on Niflhem are wary of the Creepers, at best, scared of them often. Now Barnes must walk into the home of the creatures that scare the Creepers and ask them to please give the newcomers - the Humans - their bomb back. Yeah, this should be easy, right?

When I read this I wasn't aware that this was the second book in a series, and I did feel that there was some information that was missing very early on in the book, but nothing so serious that I couldn't enjoy this book. I do, however, want to get a copy of the first book because I'm quite curious to know more about Mickey and the planet Niflheim.

The book is a straight-up, single-story, part action, part military scifi space opera. Some very alien aliens (although, to be fair, on this world the humans are the aliens) have something that a) they don't know what it is, and b) don't know how dangerous it is, and c) don't know how to use it, which means d) could trigger it quite accidentally.

There's been a very tenuous détente between the Creepers and the humans and if the Creepers were to blow themselves up with the human bomb, well, it could ruin their Cold War-like relationship.

Mickey's personality is somewhat perversely morose, but his morality is such that he doesn't give up and he's willing to bear the weight and responsibility for getting the bomb back to the colony. It is this morality which drives the story and keeps the reader interested. Other than being able to communicate with the aliens (which is the one thing that may have come out of the first novel) and feeling morally responsible, there isn't much about Barnes that makes him special in any.

There aren't any sub-plots or side stories or even other POVs. This is straight up one-person action. There's a hint at something with one of the women in the military outfit he 'commands' but it's so minor it didn't really need to be in there (but perhaps it will come into play in the next book?).

Author Edward Ashton's writing is slick and the story moves along nicely. This was an easy and often exciting read. The question mark of 'What's going to happen next?' really kept me turning the pages.

I appreciated that this world was extremely alien and that the humans and native life forms weren't either already at war or buddy-buddy friends. Even the Barnes/Speaker1 relationship is challenging at best and both individuals learn to adapt and trust in some untrustworthy circumstances.

I look forward to more books in this series.

Looking for a good book? Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton is a military space opera full of energy and action and is a fun read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This second Mickey7 novel, a sequel to the original Mickey7, picks up where the first novel ends. The colony's situation has become more dire and Mickey7 must step up to save it. Complications ensue as the situation increasingly becomes more complex and the resolution more difficult. I found the first half of this book to progress slowly and I had a difficult time maintaining my interest. It seemed to lack the novelty of the first book and felt flat. However, the pace then quickly picks up and the plot becomes more interesting and tense. Overall I did find the book to be a good overall read despite its slow start and to be well worth the time invested in the early stages.

"Mickey7" was likely my most recommended book of this past year, so I was interested and excited to see a follow-up book. The first book introduced the reader to Mickey7, an expendable on a mission to assist with the colonizing of a planet. As an expendable, he was put in deadly situations and if he died, he was recreated from a backup. This lead the first novel to explore the philosophical and ethical implications of this process in the midst of an adventure with the local sentient species as well as having Mickey8, his replacement, around by accident. It was a fun and fast paced book.

"Antimatter Blues" picks up about two years after the events of the first novel. Mickey7 has retired from his role as expendable and is a laborer on the colony. That is, until he has to negotiate between rival sentients in an effort to retrieve an item necessary for the colony's survival. There is very little of the philosophical/ethical exploration of the existence of expendables in this novel, and I would definitely recommend reading "Mickey7" first to get a foundation for the character and the set-up for this world. That said, this book focuses on the action of working with and against the local species in another fast-paced novel. It combines action, suspense, and a little humor and humanity. A great follow up novel.

Antimatter Blues is the sequel to Ashton's Mickey7 (which I am a HUGE fan of), and dare I say I loved it even more than Mickey7? I do believe I shall dare.

Antimatter Blues is packed with action, loveable characters (I would lay down my life for Speaker), and Ashton's trademark wit. Sometimes I'm wary of science fiction and fantasy because of the amount of material you need to slog through just to understand how the world works, but Ashton never makes me feel that way and still manages to build a world that is thrilling to explore. Antimatter Blues is pure fun to read, and I recommend it whether or not you're normally a sci-fi fan.

Huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing a digital copy of Antimatter Blues in exchange for an honest review. Antimatter Blues hits shelves March 14, 2023, which means you have time to grab a copy of Mickey7 and read it before you scoop up the sequel!

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

A very good read, this second-in-series book continues to consider the implications of the availability of resurrection as a mechanism to support space exploration. In a rather lighthearted way. This book picks up a couple of years after the first book ended, with our protagonist at loose ends until he is called upon to once again save the colony. Most of the conflicts from the first book continue in this one, but this time with much more interaction with the rock-worm species that is native to the world the humans are attempting to colonize. The ending of this book leaves me wondering whether or not the series will continue, but if he writes it I will read.

Loved this one just as much as the last one, Mickey7! I loved the relationship between Mickey and Speaker! I always want books to make me feel something. But for a book to make me feel something for a creepy gross alien species, even better. It's quite a task, but Edward Ashton did it well.

2.5 stars, DNF @ 50%

What made the first book a 4/5 from me is gone here: the worldbuilding flashbacks, and exploring the great premise of a disposable crew member who keeps being regenerated.

What remains are things that just don't work for me: An action-heavy fetch quest plot with lots of snarky dialog.

The second continuation from book one Mickey 7. Book one was a slow and hard to keep with book but I wanted to give book 2 a chance. It has growth to it from book one and at times fascinating but at times also hard to keep track with the science fiction aspect. I enjoyed the audio narrator from book one and I think I would have enjoyed book 2 more if I was able to use the audio version to keep my attention. I would definitely recommend this series to reader fans of Andy Weir and enjoy the science fiction genre in general.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. I got confused at one point about which group Mickey was attacking--a bit of clarity would help.

Sorry. I know many will argue about my giving 4 stars, but darn it, I really like Mickey, Nasha, and Berto, and the story is fun and entertaining, develops at a good pace, and has some interesting twists. The story has evolved well from book 1. Science fiction fans should give this series a shot.

This book is the second in a series, you should definitely read the first book before starting this one. Since this is a second in a series I will keep the synopsis vague to avoid any spoilers. This book is a great continuation of the first one and I so enjoyed revisiting all of the characters.
The Mickey7 series is perfect for fans of Andy Weir; filled with excitement, good characters, and excellent world building. This book is a quick read filled with humor and snarky characters, making reading sci-fi so much fun.

Mostly boring and unenjoyable, just like the first one.

I was mildly disappointed in Mickey7 when I read it earlier this year. But first books in series' tend to be on the slower side. There's a lot to unpack and introduce. The concept, however, I thought was fantastic and I had hoped the story would improve as the series continued. I hate leaving bad reviews, but when one has an obligation to do a review, one must.

The characters are incredibly uninteresting and the dialogue is silly. Remember, the only reason Mickey has to exist is to the job he signed up to do. But apparently, the powers that be are fine with him bumming around the colony because he "quit." Really, if they wanted to, they could arrange an accident for Mickey and clone another one who might not be such a useless, whiney, pain in the ass.

Needless to say, 2 books is enough for me in this series. If you read it, I do hope you enjoy it more than I did, but I won't recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this title.

Great fun, highly recommend. You truly need to read Mickey 7, however, to get the full experience.

As we learned in Mickey7, on the planet of Niflheim, some of the citizens are known as "expendables".
Mickey (#7) is an Expendable - a type of person who can be regenerated with a new body and all memories that have been downloaded In the last book, 6 Mickeys have already existed when Mickey 7 is out exploring a world for his crew when he falls down a crevasse so deep he is presumed dead. He finds aliens called the Creepers and during a very active and exciting book, finds his way back to his colony and is deemed a hero (for the most part). He stays at 7, fortunately, because he was able to communicate with the Creepers and keep them from invading. He keeps it to himself that they have stopped communicating with him and he lost the bomb that was in his possession when he was last out of the colony.

In our new book, he has continued with the farce that he alone is keeping humans safe. But the colony is in dire need of power and they send Mickey7 out to communicate with the Creepers and retrieve a lost and very dangerous bomb that could power the colony. With his friends in tow, the fast talking Mickey is stuck in a position of being a hero or a coward, what will he choose? If you loved Mickey7, like a fast talking astronaut, and just love a humorous touch when talking about the future, Antimatter Blues is for you!
#STMartinsPress

Antimatter Blues is a sequel, and although you probably can read this book without reading the first, I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll get a lot more out of Antimatter Blues if you’ve read Mickey7. In the first book, one man (Mickey) is an expendable. This means his consciousness is downloaded so that when he is killed doing something dangerous, a clone can be produced and his consciousness uploaded. This is not a popular job, and by the end of book 1 Mickey has managed to retire from being an expendable. But space is a harsh place. Various people trying to inhabit various planets in both books have learned that the hard way. In Antimatter Blues, new perils and an unsympathetic commander complicate and endanger Mickey’s life.

There is a sentient, intelligent species already living on the planet that Mickey and friends are trying to colonize, and we learn a lot more about them in Antimatter Blues. I personally love meeting intelligent alien species who don’t immediately want to vaporize humans. This book was a lot of fun, and while some things were predictable, it kept me guessing. At one point I surprised myself by putting the book down for a breather when things got a little tense. There’s some humor and some romance, Mickey is a likable narrator, and the dialog is realistic and the banter snappy. Maybe it’s not treading new ground, but I like going over old ground sometimes. (That’s why I enjoy watching all the Star Trek series!)

Is there going to be another book in the series? It seems like there is plenty of room for growth with this cast of characters and their struggle to survive on a hostile planet, but Antimatter Blues also wrapped up very neatly. If there is another book in the series, I will eagerly read it.

I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley. If you are looking for something to read while waiting for the next book in the Murderbot Diaries, you might enjoy Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues. The Galesburg Public Library owns Mickey7 in print, digital, and audio and will own Antimatter Blues in the same formats when it is published in March.

Actual rating 3.75 stars

Antimatter Blues was a fun follow up to Mickey7, although it didn't quite hit the spot that the first book did. Overall, it had everything that I enjoyed about the first book in an almost direct continuation of the story (despite being set about two years after the first one ends). It's funny, adventurous, and has a lot of interesting worldbuilding to create a fun sci-fi world.
However, this story felt much more like a bonus adventure than a true sequel. Not only does it feel shorter (only taking place over a handful of days), it also is basically an extraneous wrap-up of the stuff that's left at the end of Mickey7. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable and worth a read--it is. But if you're looking for something that's really different from the first book, this isn't it.
Since I enjoyed the first book so much, though, it was nice to be back in this world with these characters and see what they've been getting up to--and how they get out of yet another mess that Mickey causes.
Besides not feeling like a true sequel, my only other main complaint is that Mickey kind of just....gets into and out of situations on a whim. Things just *happen* to him, and things just *happen* to somehow miraculously go his way every time. This doesn't make for much character development, if any at all. But again, it's still a fun story if you're looking for a bonus adventure to the first book, but not actually looking for a groundbreaking new plot or crazy character development.
In short, give this one a read if you want to see what the characters from Mickey7 have been up to, and/or just want something fun and easy to read.

A fun and funny sequel to Mickey7. This series is great for fans of Andy Weir, and this installment in particular will probably appeal to fans of Project Hail Mary.

All of the characters from the first book are present here, along with one or two new ones. I feel like everybody had the same amount of snark, but that Nasha really needs an attitude adjustment.

I'm not aware of if there'll be any more to this series, but the ending was left open for the possibility.

Thanks to Netgalley for an eARC.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

Okay, so I didn't like Mickey in Mickey7 but either he grew on me by the time I read Antimatter Blues or this book changed my mind. Yeah...he's snarky, but he seems a little bit less selfish in this book. I liked this second book and will probably read the third if there is one. I recommend. It's a fast read and very easy to read.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and author Edward Ashton for my ARC of this book, in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

I read Mickey7 in the spring, and really enjoyed it as a light sci-fi read. Mickey 7 is an Expendable, 7th iteration. The original Mickey signed up to do hazardous jobs on a mission to colonize a new world. Every time he dies doing an awful job, he wakes up the next morning in his new identical body, memory intact. Mickey7 finds a way not to die, but leaves the pesky problem of a missing antimatter bomb hanging at the end of the first novel. That is where our action begins.

This book is my definition of a solid three star read. It is not particularly deep but I had a fun time reading it. The writing is good and I was never bored, as the action moved quickly, and it didn’t suffer from too much unnecessary silly dialogue. The plot is simple as are the characters, so that I could pick up easily where I left off in the last book. I enjoyed Mickey’s interaction with the planet’s indigenous species, the Creepers, and I’m always a willing sucker for the unsolvable situation that our protagonist solves with aplomb! There was lots of that here.

It’s good enough that the only downside in reading this is that I know it could be better. I’m not faulting the author here, because, again: solid three star read, and those need to exist. But I like Mickey enough to wish that Ashton gave us more depth, more nuance, more self-doubt that might pierce Mickey’s slightly superficial self-deprecating humour. I’d love there to be a couple of interesting side plots, and more world-building on the planet.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that I’d like the humans to be smarter when dealing with the species that already inhabit this planet they’ve colonized. I think that would be a fascinating way to take this story, because the humans are colonizers, and they’re not very mindful of that. Indeed, the only part of the book that annoyed me was colonists' antagonistic view of the other species; it was very one note. The colonists largely exhibit the problematic attitude of fearing and hating those that they don’t understand. I think Ashton has an opportunity here with his main character, because at the root of it, I like Mickey, and he has a big heart. It’s not an accident that Mickey saves the day here, because he’s the one who wants to talk to the Creepers rather than shoot first. It would be cool to see Mickey learn and grow in the next books.

I would recommend this book and this series as decent, escapist sci-fi!

I was really excited to receive an ARC of this book after reading Mickey7 because I absolutely loved it and couldn't wait to continue the story. For me, Antimatter Blues was just a little bit better than Mickey7.

I found that the story moved faster and was more engaging, with stronger world building. I loved getting to know Speaker and learning more about the life on Niflheim. I also found the story a bit more serious while still having some fun silliness to it.

The story felt like it ended well but there was still an opening for a third book if the author is ever inclined to write one.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who was a fan of the first one, and to anyone looking for a super readable and fun sci-fi story.

Thanks for much to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!

Finding out that Mickey7 had a sequel, I knew it was a no brainer that I needed to read this book. While Mickey7 was about expendable clones set on a new world, Antimatter Blues is more about the colony and the sentient beings on this new world.

This story takes place about 2 years after Mickey7 ends. The colony is having a rough go and may not be able to continue. Enter the snarky Mickey7 and his even snarkier companions to try to save the colony.

This was another fun read with some rather interesting aliens. If you’re a fan of snarky characters and science fiction, this should be right up your alley.

*Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance eGalley. Pub date is set for March 14, 2023.*