Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. Unfortunately The Mars House was a miss for me, I found it to be misguided and disrespectful.

This book is a captivating and immersive read that hooks you from the first page. The writing is beautifully crafted, with vivid descriptions and strong character development that makes the story come alive. The plot is well-paced, balancing moments of tension with quieter, reflective scenes that allow the characters to grow. The themes explored are deep and thought-provoking, resonating long after the final page. Whether it's the emotional depth, the twists and turns of the plot, or the unforgettable characters, this book is a must-read for anyone who enjoys rich, engaging stories. Highly recommended

Absolutely incredible, this will be one of my top reads of the year. Pulley's ability to blend together themes like colonialism, power, immigration, xenophobia, and so much more blew me away. This is what Science Fiction is meant to be.

An absolutely gorgeous and mind- and heart-melting story, set in just far enough of a future that it's unfamiliar even as it rings true. One of my favorite science fiction books of the year.

I couldn't get past the basic premise. This makes me sad because although Natasha Pulley has her problems, I generally enjoy reading her whimsical, strange, tragic work.

I was waiting to connect with January, a London ballet dancer who becomes a refugee after the city floods. He ends up taking a transport to Mars because it's a chance at something.

Mars has been colonized for some time and the people who are native to Mars are accustomed to lighter gravity. They're fragile and the idea is that Earth people, used to a much stronger gravity, won't know their own strength here and can damage the Martians unless the Earthers are put into exoskeleton cages to keep them from using their full strength.

What.

This makes no sense. The first thing I thought was "There are rocks on Mars. There is steel on Mars. A Martian is far more likely to encounter rocks or a steel wall than an Earth person bumping against them. " How do these fictitious Martians deal with ice in their drinks? Punching a button on a solid screen? Sitting down on a solid surface? I can't.

Maybe the Martians should have been in cages instead since they're so breakable.

As with all of Pulley's book, or as I like to call it, the Pulley Cinematic Universe, The Mars House was an incredible read. It's incredibly well-written with a strong plot and fleshed out characters. Also, talking woolly mammoths!! I I cannot wait for everyone else to dive into it as well. I couldn't put it down.

As a long time fan of Pulley's work 'The Mars House' was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and it didn't disappoint. The prose has all of Pulley's signature Britishisms and wit and the story is equal parts thrilling and touching. I do think that given the somewhat controversial nature of the topic you need to go in with a true trust-the-process mindset as not all is as it seems. That being said, there are elements of the story and thematic elements I felt could have been handled with a bit more nuance and delved in more deeply. Pulley's understanding of gender in society is tenuous at times, and while the fully non-binary society makes for an interesting backdrop it felt difficult to suspend my disbelief that a society would actually develop this way. The idea that this societies solutions to sexism and discrimination was to abolish gender felt like an oversimplification of what gender means to people's sense of self. I also felt that the parallels between gender and earthstrong/naturalized people felt tenuous at best and didn't feel necessary to understand the earthstrong conflict. While these issues didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story I do see how it might be a major sticking point for others.

In The Mars House we follow January, a Royal Ballet dancer who has to flee the earth for the colony on Mars when London - as well as many other places on earth - sinks into the sea. Pulley does an amazing job describing the effects of lower gravity on Mars, the various inventions that make life possible there, etc. I do not know how scientifically plausible her explanations are but they definitely seemed believable and made sense.

In terms of the plot, there is a political intrigue at the core of the book: two opposing political camps on Mars debate the issue of whether this now seven generations old colony (and greatly modified/adapted to the new environment human beings) deserves to be independent or stay as a colony to Earth and thus potentially face extinction. Newcomers from Earth literally pose a threat to the "Naturals" of Mars because people from Earth are much stronger and can accidentally kill a Natural. Our main character January inadvertently finds himself in the middle of media attention and ends up married to one of the Senators leading the political debate.

Another interesting aspect in this novel is that gender has been abolished on Mars. The biological "sex" is something very private and is only between the person and their doctor. No one identifies as male or female or anything else. They are referred to as "they" and only the new arrivals from earth exhibit gender traits and identify by gender.

I did greatly enjoy this novel and I am looking forward to Pulley's next book!

Pulley intriguingly embraces an entirely new direction with her latest novel, The Mars House, a futuristic blend of science fiction and romance that uses its alien setting to explore all too familiar topics that resonate with our contemporary moment, like climate change, immigration, gender ideology, and political corruption. The end result is something strange and wonderful, an utterly unique and gently beautiful love story rooted in a complicated exploration of our need for connection and a place to call home.

Reminded me a bit of what I loved in Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. Great mix of political tensions, queer identity, and romance.

Here’s the thing, I’ve loved some of Pulley’s previous work (The Kingdoms) and while I think the writing was warm and easy to sink into, there are some problematic ideas with this story. Other reviews have gone into more detail about that, and after reading those critiques, I couldn’t ‘unsee’ it. However, every reader should decide for themselves how valid those critiques are, and if you’re a fan of Pulley’s writing, you should still pick up this book. If a person is new to this author, I recommend starting elsewhere. 2.5 stars.

4.5/5

Compelling and clever, this dystopian novel/sci-fi love story explores themes relevant to today's world. As bit too long, in my opinion, at over 450 pages, I was still immersed in the fascinating world-building and love story. January is a character who you'll be drawn to from the start. Also, the world created by author Pulley is, sadly, not too hard to imagine as a future of today's reality.

A dancer for the Royal Academy in London, January Sterling is displaced from his country by flooding, civil unrest, and a war between Russia and America. To pursue a life where he's not threatened at every turn, he travels to Mars as a refugee.

"Earthstrongers" are people on Mars who've come from Earth. They're as strong as polar bears and need to wear metal cages, so they don't unintentionally harm native Mars residents, who are taller and more delicate. Mars is an interesting place. Gender has been outlawed, residents' appearances can be altered based on the internet-capable contacts people wear, and the Martian government is intent on forcing every refugee to "naturalize." This intensely physical process guarantees that the subject will be permanently disabled from the change. Yet, if the refugee undergoes the procedure, they're guaranteed universal income, free healthcare, and unlimited electric and water. If you choose not to be naturalized, you must work a menial job with little pay, most of which January uses for sparse electric and food.

All this political and societal intrigue revolves around an effecting love story. After an accident at a protest, January becomes involved with the powerful, naturalization-proponent Senator Aubrey Gale. To mitigate the damage, January enters into a fake marriage with Gale. As these two grow closer and start to "see" the realities of each's life, preconceptions, beliefs, and emotions are altered. I loved how Pulley grounded the futuristic and sci-fi aspects of this story with this very real romance. It was a wonderful way to show how, as with all political and societal constructs, love is the agent of understanding, true meaning, and the possibility for positive change.

I did lose interest at certain parts and felt that the book was absolutely too long. Yet the story still stuck with me, especially the stellar world-building and romance.

If you're into science fiction/dystopian novels--especially those that are, at heart, a love story--give this novel a try. It's one I won't soon forget.

It's in vogue to make outlandish media comparisons in book blurbs these days… but honestly, this felt like a mashup of the film Arrival, Winter’s Orbit, and the short story ‘Harrison Bergeron’. Although I liked two of those three, this book largely failed to meet my expectations, and my experience was something less than enjoyment. Admittedly, I’m not usually a romance reader, and this book fits in easily with the current trend of ‘forced marriage’ and ‘enemies-to-lovers’ tropes, and the entire discussion of trope-targeting trends in publishing that makes me gag. Still, it promised sci-fi, Mars, and it was Natasha Pulley—whom I have not read yet, but whose penchant for casually posting about linguistics and the quirks of ancient Greek verbs made me adore her instantly. I’m still going to give her debut and other novels a shot, but this one just wasn’t it.

The protagonist, January Sterling, and his partner in the forced marriage, Aubrey Gale, are both ridiculous characters. Similar to Winter’s Orbit (hereafter the book that shall not be mentioned, for how terrible it was), both characters are supposed to be in their 30s and 40s, and yet read like they could be teenagers. Gale seemingly was also coded as an autistic character, though this was never explicit, and perhaps the idea here was going for normalization rather than pathology, which is fine.

Their personalities felt like cardboard cutouts rather than real people; Pulley certainly makes an attempt to flesh them out, unlike the book that shall not be mentioned, which read like a fanfiction and therefore had zero characterization or development. Pulley at least gives some backstory, but it didn’t feel convincingly real. The character development and subsequent romance also was more telling than showing, and the result was a rather disappointing attempt of fleshing out characters. I found myself largely not caring for them, mostly being annoyed at January acting incompetently, and of course at the classic trope of countless misunderstandings from a lack of common-sense communication.

The plot was slightly more compelling, though not by much. There are a series of disasters and catastrophes for our characters to undergo together, thereby strengthening their bond, presumably; but the stakes never felt that dire. The interactions between the characters was also slightly cartoonish. The final reveal was altogether not very surprising, and more or less along the lines of what I was anticipating, anyway. And of course, everything wraps up rather conveniently by the end. The pacing could also slow down at times; the first part of the book was a bit of a slog to get through, but once we got to the mammoths, things started to pick up.

Yes, mammoths—this book is set on a terraformed Mars, one in which, for some unfathomable reason, ‘scientists’ decided to test out mammoths in the frozen environment… and then just let them roam free after the fact, for some reason. As silly as that is, I actually found the mammoths somewhat endearing. Pulley reminds me of Arrival and similar works here, invoking the concept of a mammoth linguistics; without getting too much into spoiler territory, suffice it to say I actually enjoyed this part and would have loved to read more of this, instead of… whatever the rest of the novel is supposed to be. I could read Pulley nerding out about linguistics anytime.

Pulley’s narration style was rather enjoyable, content notwithstanding. She is supposedly known for her footnotes, which were much remarked upon in her debut; I do enjoy the copious amounts of footnotes and the little tidbits about the world that Pulley drops into it. However, it sometimes veered on the absurd, as we would get a detail, and then a seemingly non sequitur of a footnote telling us what January thought about that specific topic or idea, even though we had little reason in-story to have access to such a thought in terms of logical narrative flow. Still, I can’t fault it entirely, and the novel was mostly an easy read, though the descriptions could go on at times, and occasionally the chapters dropped the reader in a completely random narrative point, treading water briefly until connecting the thread with the rest of the book.

This is nominally sci-fi, but the environs didn’t really convince me. The terraforming is given brief context, but it doesn’t feel as enmeshed in science as, say, The Martian did. There are also some fancy high-tech gadgets that are almost inconceivable, especially when highlighted against the fact that, for some reason, January has a smartphone. Yes, a freaking smartphone from several centuries ago, which is supposedly a precious family heirloom that he is just carrying around, because his family was too poor to afford the latest and greatest. I don’t know about you, but… that isn’t how smartphones work, and that isn’t how most people treat family heirlooms (certainly not to the point of accidentally breaking their fragile screens!).

I get not being able to afford the latest tech (in this case, lens implants that are connected only wirelessly, of course). But the solution is not to make January seem like he was plucked out of 2020s England. Moreover, the language at times veered on the Twitter-esque at times, too, which was awfully immersion-breaking (not that I was that immersed to begin with). There are some attempts at constructing a futuristic society—like how everyone Tharsis, the Mars colony, speaks Mandarin natively and thus has no concept of gender. (In the book, calling someone he/she is akin to calling a human being ‘it’; something reserved for animals and objects… though they make exceptions for the Earth migrants, of course.) I mean, I know Sapir-Whorf is popular in the popular consciousness, but really, shouldn’t Pulley know better?

Finally, before I get carried away much further in this rant review, I want to address some of the underlying themes of the novel, and how they were executed poorly. Given the premise—January being forced to move to Mars due to climate disasters on Earth—there is ample parallel between this and the current migration crisis. Moreover, because ‘Earthstrongers’ have the benefit of growing up in greater gravity, they are naturally stronger than those who have only lived on Mars. This creates a power imbalance of sort, and naturally results in the kind of fearmongering that we see even in our own world against migrants. This is one of the core issues of the novel—Gale is a politician whose platform is to naturalize, or essentially bioengineer, Earth-born people, almost certainly crippling them and January is an Earthstronger whose instincts rail against exactly that.

As you can tell, whenever people use speculative fiction as allegories to contemporary social issues, it can get… dicey. For one, the comparative message here is that migrants who come to a new residence must not only be forcefully integrated, but they must cripple themselves and be subservient to the whimsical feelings of the ‘native’ Martians (who, may I add, were also all from Earth at some point). It’s classic Harrison Bergeron, but with the exact opposite ending. Moreover, January, who is initially adamant about refusing such treatment, becomes startingly compliant by the end. I don’t know if this is really the kind of message Pulley ought to be sending, unless you have some seriously outdated ideas about the migrant crisis. For one—the statistics, as presented in the book and in real life, emphasize that migrants (or immigrants, if we want to speak broadly) commit fewer crimes than the native-born population.

Migrants work harder, get fewer state benefits, and are often harsher against crime in their own communities; this is all reflected in the novel, too. However, the main takeaway from this seems antithetical to common-sense. In The Mars House, wearing a cage is simply the natural response to not hurt the native-borns, and you’ll grow to like it, too! The solution to the migrant crisis is not only to welcome migrants, Pulley shows us, but also to come with enforcement as backup to make sure they comply to your rigid standards. (Even though, as I’m guessing is likely, the Martians are part of the reason why Earth has gone to shit in the first place—how many more lives could have been saved if, instead of spending money on terraforming, they spent it on carbon capture technology? And yes, I know carbon capture has its own host of issues, but that is merely one example.) There are some relevant plot-specific turns too, which I don’t want to spoil, but I didn’t find their development quite natural, and it also didn’t help my unease at how these topics were handled.

Natasha Pulley, I respect you and your love of ancient Greek verbs and mammoths, but please stick to a book about linguistics nerdery without setting yourself a needlessly high task of dealing with so many complex issues all under one title. Unfortunately, I can’t with good conscience recommend this book, though maybe if you are the type of reader who just cares about tropes and not much else of substance, you may have a good time. I’m rather sorry that I didn’t.

Disclaimer: I received this book through NetGalley and the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing. Thank you to both for providing an advanced copy, and thank you to the author, Natasha Pulley. My review reflects only my honest opinions.

This was one of the rare books that I just could not finish. If the author's footnotes (in a fiction book???) showing off how she studied Mandarin for a few months don't annoy you, then the rampant far-right politics will put you off. The plot hinges around an immigrant forced into in an arranged marriage with a politician who thinks immigrants are BIOLOGICALLY INFERIOR. There is no redeeming that.

Oof.

While tempting to leave this one star review at a single word, I feel compelled to expand it. The Mars House was my first Natasha Pulley novel and it will be my last. I picked this up because I was promised an emotional relationship with captivating political intrigue, and while this novel did indeed make a (clumsy, literal-wince-inducing) series of political statements, it came out swinging with a variety of with transphobic, xenophobic, racist, sinophobic, and anti-immigration rhetoric in its very thinly veiled allegory for very relevant political topics today.

To understand the critique that will follow, here’s as bare bones a summary as I can give. Protagonist January, once a principal star of the ballet back in London, is forced in a rapid-fire series of glossed-over events to flee an Earth ravaged by climate change for the stable and ‘civilized’ colony on Mars. The only problem is that, due to growing up in Earth’s stronger gravity, January (and any other person born and raised on Earth, henceforth referred to as Earthstrong in the novel’s parlance) is super strong. Like. Smashing Martians to smithereens with a careless thought. Earthstrong are essentially outcasts in society, forbidden citizenship or rights in all but the most select cases. They also have to wear cages by law that restrict their movement to prevent injury to Martians.

Literal cages. You read right. The metaphors are about as subtle as a hand grenade.

Enter Aubrey Gale, noted politician of Mars’ ‘genderless’ (more on this later) society, who—after one chance encounter with January in the dangerous factory he and other Earthstrong are forced to work in—decides they need to marry him for political clout to show they can live in harmony with the big bad Earthstrong after all. This is part of a larger (fascist) agenda to force ALL Earthstrong to go through a horribly invasive medical procedure to be ‘safe’ on Mars, a procedure which at best disables those who undergo it and at worst kills them. Somehow, this oppressor-oppressed relationship is supposed to be perceived as romantic and takes off along those lines.

Other reviewers have covered the xenophobic and racist elements more articulately and robustly than I am able to, so please go through and see other reviews for a more in-depth look at these topics.

For my review, I want to focus on the baffling gender choices made in this novel. In 2024, it’s certainly a take to flip the script on a current real-world political crisis and make one’s fictional nonbinary/agender society a bunch of fascist oppressors. With things like having the Earthstrong protagonist protest their right to be called ‘he’ or ‘she’, Earthstrong being referred to as gender extremists, and repeated commentary about how ‘gendered traits’ were ‘edited out’ of Martian DNA, this reads like stunningly bad satire attacking the current trans rights movement. Who knows, maybe it is!

What I do know is that these choices display stunning insensitivity and ignorance. There’s absolutely the possibility to have interesting conversations about gender through speculative fiction, and then there’s… whatever The Mars House is doing. There wasn’t a talking mammoth to tell the protagonists that transphobia and gender essentialism is bad, but hey, at least there was one to sort of do that for racism!

Speaking of gender, there are also no women of note in this novel. Apparently, this is a theme in Pulley’s novels so perhaps readers of her other work would not be as annoyed or surprised as I was, but I’m extra appalled with the double whammy of misogyny on top of the weird demonizing-gender-abolition takes.

On top of the piping hot train wreck that was any and every political statement this novel tried to make, the central protagonists did not appeal to me in any way, shape, or form. January is a complete wet blanket who capitulates to any and every demand of Gale, which again, COULD say something interesting about people experiencing oppression and how it is often systemically impossible to have any real agency in such situations, but is instead framed as a ‘from opposite sides’ political romance worth aspiring to. January also spends the entire novel fat-shaming some barely-there side character who is mentioned once, which was the cherry on top of all this hot mess.

As for Gale… I am all for rooting for villains. I love morally complicated or bankrupt fictional characters as it gives us an avenue to explore challenging parts of the human experience. Unfortunately, Gale had little to no redeeming qualities; it takes more than a talking mammoth to make a redemption arc for a flagrant eugenicist. A flagrant anti-immigration, xenophobic eugenicist who we are supposed to root for and romanticize? All because they almost died one time thanks to an uncaged Earthstrong so now they want to shove all of them in cages forever? No thank you. Miss me with that garbage.

To say it flatly: I don’t think The Mars House is a story the author was ready and/or qualified to tell. But again, maybe this is exactly the story Pulley wanted to tell. Who’s to say for sure? Certainly not me.

What I can say is that if you’re going to engage with the themes this novel addresses, they should be used as more than a prop for an ill-considered ‘star-crossed’ romance from across the political divide, especially if you’re drawing heavily upon themes and subject that heavily impact multiple communities your readers may be a part of. If you’re looking for politically engaging, complex, queer science fiction, you can do much, much better than The Mars House.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reps: achillean MC, Asian-coded agender love interest, agender-normative world


REVIEW

Natasha Pulley did it again. From haunted Tokyo to remote Peru to alternate French-colony-England to a Russian nuclear plant, and now a colony on Mars, you can always expect Pulley to deliver on this front—settings that are not only infused with clever, well-researched details, but also a breath of fresh air, something not unlike a touch of magic that is at once realistic and whimsical. Pulley's Mars and sunken London are utterly bizzare and peculiar and yet so eerily... real. Reading about how everyone is agender and evolved to be unusually tall and that the first language in Mars is now Mandarin, and mammoths! Those just put a smile on my face. I also absolutely loved the footnotes, and I say this as someone who started off as a footnote-hater. Here, it's a fun way to add depths to the worldbuilding without being so obnoxiously telling-instead-of-showing, in ways that make you feel like someone with a decent level of intelligence.

That's another thing I really like about Pulley. From her previous works, I can tell she's a clever author with tons of ideas and creativity, and while her plots could get convoluted at some points, I like that she trusts her reader enough to figure it out by themselves along the journey. Her writing is elegantly precise, peppered with dry humour and graceful lines even when she was talking about the more science-y stuff.

The plot here is more dominant compared to her previous works. Even though we started off with a marriage of convenience, I feel like the romance here is more subtle, and is definitely a subplot rather than something that drives the whole story. The plot, though, is amazing. I absolutely loved how Pulley had interwoven everything—the characterisations, the worldbuilding, and even details that seemed trivial—to play an integral part to the whole story. There were conversations that made me laugh, mysteries to keep me entertained, conflicts that kept me at the edge of my seat, and moments that made my jaw drop, which are more than I could ask for in a sci-fi book.

I especially really like Gale as a person, and I really enjoy the characters' dynamic. They're the typical lonely, devoted love interest written by Pulley, but I would've liked more to see from their perspective, and I really hope Pulley will write a sequel just to see more of January/Gale. The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is completely subjective on my part, because I just didn't feel as unhinged about January/Gale as I did about Thaniel/Mori or Raphael/Merrick or even Joe/Kite. The plot and political manoeuvres are simply more powerful than the romance here, and that's definitely not a bad thing, it's just a matter of preference. I just tend to like finding new queer yearning that is so heart-wrenchingly romantic to obsess over, and probably because I think Gale and January are not such oblivious fools in love like Pulley's other characters were. That is not to say that they don't have their shining moments, though, because there were still parts that shattered me, parts where the sad, lonely character just gives all of them.

Overall, definitely one of my best reads in 2023. I absolutely can't wait to devour whatever Pulley will write next.
Honorary mentions: the footnote about Mori and Daughter shop, little Yuan, the queer-couple-accidentally-adopts-a-child trope, Kasha the dog.

We start the book following January, a principal ballet dancer in London. It is the future and Most of London is underwater, and when another flood comes it it leaves January with nowhere to go. Other countries are not accepting refugees, and he is given the choice to go to Mars. But life on Mars is not all rainbows, he is an Earth stronger, someone who has not naturalized to the lower gravity and who poses a threat to those who are naturalized or born on Mars.

He lives as a second class citizen, limited oh hos job, where he lives, and where he can go. Now there is a politician, Aubrey Gale running on a very xenophobic platform, wanting to force all those coming from Earth to be forced to naturalize. They end up publicly having an argument and it turns January's life upside down and hurting Aubrey's campaign. So Aubrey proposes a fake marriage between them that will help them both. Things heat up in many aspects between them and in the political race that will leave the reader unable to put it down.

I first want to acknowledge this great review by Charlotte (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5622771203) that points out a lot of the flaws and problematic elements in this story far better than I ever could. That being said I did have a good time. I think there was a lot of good discussion of many topic in this book and although it isn't always clear, or fully thought out, I do appreciate the author did put effort into trying to explore very relevant topics. The mentions of Israel did make me feel icky. I did have a good time in this novel though, I am not a very critical reader and just read for enjoyment so without that review I linked I would have missed a lot in this book. I thought the romance was really sweet, I enjoyed the slow burn of it. Aubrey was such a nerd and I found his intelligence so fascinating. I learned a lot about linguistics and was really gripped by the explanations. The mammoths was a real highlight for me, and they way communicating with them came about was fascinating. Overall I had a great time while also acknowledging the places the author missed the mark and her intentions got misplaced.

Though I was excited to read another SciFi arranged marriage story in the same vein as Winter's Orbit, The Mars House was incredibly disappointing. The concept of an agender society on Mars with complex politics has a lot of promise. However, the oversimplifications and weak world-building result in a story that is xenophobic, zionist, and sinophobic.

The world is heavily inspired by Chinese culture and the Mandarin language. The agender society in The Mars House is built on a fundamental misunderstanding of pronouns in Mandarin. Reducing the concept of gender to pronoun use is laughably simplistic.

Immigration and in-world racism are a major focus of the plot. However, the way the book handles these topics is borderline irresponsible. The behavior of the characters and the world-building essentially justify the xenophobia and racism in the world. Any effort to have Gale question his anti-immigration opinions is weak and unserious.

The incredibly vague and sporadic world-building throughout the novel only makes these issues more pronounced. None of the technological SciFi concepts made any sense. How am I as the reader supposed to take the book seriously when it doesn't even feel like the author knows what they're talking about?

The Mars House attempts to represent incredibly complex social issues, but the complete lack of tact, research, and nuance undermines any potential the story had.

The Mars colony of Tharsis is seven generations old. It is easy to tell who is Natural, a human born on Mars, and who is Earthstrong. Naturals are taller and thinner, built to live on a planet with a third of Earth’s gravity. Genetic modifications to help cope with the extreme cold and tech implants have become another part of everyday life. Earthstrong like January Stirling, however, have to wear special full-body “cages” to keep them from accidentally launching tools, people, and themselves, because of physical and gravitational differences. Tharsis has been divided up between areas for Naturals and the Naturalized (Earthstrong who not only underwent the punishing medical procedure to acclimatize to Mars, but also survived it) and space for Earthstrong.

January isn’t enamored of the two-tier society, but he is grateful to be alive, to have a place to live and a job to pay for the necessities. Then comes Senator Gale, waltzing in for a photo-op at the factory where January is lucky to have a job. After an unfortunate altercation where Gale’s clearly anti-Earthstrong policy ideas ram up against January’s own lived-experience of forced inequality, January suddenly finds himself whisked off to prison.

Aubrey Gale isn’t exactly anti-Earthstrong. They are just staunch in their belief that anyone as powerful as an Earthstrong on Mars ought to agree to undergo the naturalization process if they intended to stay on Mars long term. With one in two hundred sixty-seven Earthstrongers accidentally committing homicide due to gravitational differences and the impact on their bodies and movements, mandatory naturalization is for everyone’s safety. That factory worker trying to argue against facts is a challenge Gale eagerly accepts and they roundly trounce the Earthstrong. Gale enjoys the verbal spar and even lets an off-color joke about murder January aims at them slide.

The government, however, does not shrug off that unfortunate joke. Instead, the government sentences January to a stay in prison that, although brief, destroys his meager life on Mars. No longer employable, with no money and nowhere to go, January’s only option is to naturalize–the benefits being immediate citizenship on Mars and more. Just when January resigns to the idea of the procedure and the almost certainty that he will be maimed forever because of it, Senator Gale sweeps in with a mind boggling offer to rehabilitate both of their public images: marriage.

I won’t say “don’t bother reading this review, just buy the book,” but I will say “just buy the book.”

Pulley has crafted a stunning story that starts with a brief introduction to ballet principal, January Stirling, in a London whose normal is to be semi submerged, and who gets rescued from the sinking city by a Chinese ship that is taking climate refugees to Mars. The bulk of the story delves deep into the world, culture, languages, and norms of life in Tharsis. The Naturals are people who have been born on Mars and evolution has been assisted by medical upgrades that make life on Mars nothing like it was on Earth. They have their own government, language, culture, and customs. One big departure from life on most of Earth is the abolition of gender–hence anyone Natural or Naturalized goes by they/them pronouns. This went beyond language and extended into some genetic modifications to make physical gender traits far less distinguished.

Much of the plot is about Gale and January agreeing to enter into a mutually beneficial marriage contract of five years. The forced proximity gives them a chance not to simply appreciate the merits of each other’s pro- and anti-naturalization arguments, but to understand the experiences that led up to each of them having these opinions. Though there are arguments in the book, much of Gale and January’s differences in opinion play out right in the plot. For example, Gale suffered a devastating accident during a protest demonstration that left them gravely injured because of an Earthstrong person. Knowing this, once January moves into Gale’s home after the wedding, he offers Gale the key to his cage. The message is clear: only Gale can decide when they feel safe enough for January to be in their home not wearing the cage. Of course, there are reverse examples where Gale proves they can trust Earthstrong in return. Note: While I think it’s terrific fun that there is a “fake marriage” element to the story, I feel like it is just one nuanced facet amidst several other equally interesting and engaging aspects of the story.

The wind down at the end connected a lot of dots and I was thrilled to get the background behind the one scandal that Gale has a hard time shaking: the disappearance of their last consort. However, I just wished this part hadn’t felt quite so info-dumpy right before the big final resolution to the book (because this is one of those books where the drama keeps spinning even after the dust settles).

Overall, if you are looking for an engrossing space fantasy that intimately explores the idea of identities and power structures, class differences, not a little hurt-comfort and glimmers of unrequited love, and books that make you sneak in an extra chapter when honestly you just woke up at 2am to go to the bathroom, then I cannot recommend The Mars House highly enough.

With Earth being flooded due to climate change, humans have set up colonies on Mars as refuge. January, the principal dancer of London’s Royal ballet, seeks to escape flooded London as he faces starvation. As a means of survival, he accepts a spot at the Chinese colony on Mars called Tharsis (which brings to mind the colony being a catharsis for Earth climate refugees).

Given Mars low gravity, newcomers from Earth become prejudicially known at “Earthstrongers” by the “Natural people” born to Mars and after many generations fully acclimated to life on the low gravity planet. The new arrivals are forced to wear tight and heavy metal cages to prevent them from damaging the Natural people. As immigrants, they live in substandard housing and only have the option of low paid manual labor which keeps them impoverished. Moreover, they’re pressured to undergo a dangerous medical procedure called “naturalization” to further weaken them, which renders many unable to walk and almost guarantees nerve damage. But without undergoing the procedure the Earthstrong lack access to better jobs, food and the security that comes with citizenship.

In a chance encounter, January meets Senator Aubrey Gale who’s running a fierce anti-immigration campaign against the Earthstrong, wanting them all to be naturalized. After the encounter, January ends up being jailed in a perceived threat- diminishing all of his propects of survival on Mars without undergoing naturalization- which he resists out of both prinicipal and also as all his life he’s relied on his strong muscles and body as a dancer. Gale, who’s the elite of the elite on Mars and running to win the ruling consul position, ask January into a 5-year marriage of convenience to win more Earthstrong votes. January, without viable alternatives, accepts.

What follows is an intricate plot of political machinations, a cool look at potential advanced future tech developments, ethical debates about what makes people more powerful – strength or power, and an unexpected budding romance between January and Gale.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.