I wanted to love The Mars House so badly but I think it was ultimately trying to do too much. The worldbuilding was also a little confusing at times for me personally, but I think that a lot of people will love the complexity of it. The Mars House might not have been for me, but I can see a lot of people loving it.

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley was an incredible read which comes to no surprise since Pulley is an amazing author. I loved this queer sci-fi novel and I cannot wait for everyone else to dive into it as well. I couldn't put it down. It's a well-written story with incredible characters.

Oh man. I think Pulley is such a strong writer, but this book is all over the place. There’s almost too much going on: climate refugees, mistaken identity, political marriage, talking woolly mammoths on mars… at some point bigger is not better. The book felt overstuffed, and then unable to adequately interrogate all the issues it raised. My favorite parts were the interludes about language development.

I really hope gays in space are becoming a new sub-genre because I could definitely get behind that. I loved the bones of this story and found the politics to be incredibly relevant. This book was too slow for me, though. It took me three days to get through the first 30% and one day to finish it. Once I got past that first third, I could just plow right through, but the first part was dull and repetitive.

I also had a major issue with footnotes. I find this is a problem a lot when you're using an e-reader. Several times the footnote wouldn't continue until pages later, often with red text just interrupting the flow of the story. Also, the footnotes weren't at the bottom or top of the page, but either randomly in the middle of pages or at the end of chapters. I know this isn't an author issue, but a publisher problem. It was still incredibly annoying.

The main part of the story is like West Side Story. January, the immigrant, is trying to make the best of a bad situation. He's expected to not only be grateful to live in a literal body-cage most of the time but also know at least three different languages while living at the bottom of society. Of course, he has anger towards the naturalized citizens of Mars. These naturalized citizens are often people whose families have lived on Mars for generations, and as such, their bodies have better adjusted to the low gravity, and they've developed their own language, a sort of modified Mandarin.

After a political snafu lands January in prison and then in an arranged marriage with the very Senator he managed to offend. And the last consort of this particular Senator "ran away". January is sucked into a world of unimaginable wealth and also ignorance of how the Earth strong population lives. The dichotomy of January and Gale was one of my favorite parts of this book. It's not often we see the strong, white, male be the refugee. The political plot of this book is honestly what kept me reading.

There are some twists and turns that make this an interesting read, but the slow start and somewhat obvious plot points made it drag for me.

Thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for this ARC.

When I first started this book, I was wondering if my initial lack of enjoy was due to actual problems I was having, or just because I don't read much sci-fi novels (generally because I almost never enjoy them, which is weird since I LOVE sci-fi films). However, the longer this book dragged on, the more it became apparent that the issue was not sorely in my tastes.

I was initially so excited to read this. Political intrigue, a marriage of convenience, semi-rivals to lovers - what wasn't there to be excited about? However, the rivals to lovers went away almost immediately. As soon as Gale proposed to January, the dislike between them went away very quickly, taking away a lot of the tension from their romantic subplot. January suddenly becomes weirdly good a politics - which, I get he was a dancer and all and was used to the spotlight, but that's very different. And the romance I was promised is almost non-existent. A few looks here and there, one kiss, and very tentative shoulder-touching. While I usually don't care much if a book has romance or not, the fact that the first line in the description reads that this is a "compulsively queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee."

Which brings me to my next point - the worldbuilding. I had no idea what the heck was going on with all the Mars terraforming and that, and as somebody who needs heavy worldbuilding and explanation of every facet of the system, that was sorely disappointing. It took over 300 pages to finally explain how there was oxygen on Mars without it being whisked away by the solar winds. It was utterly infuriating how long my worldbuilding questions went without being answered.

So, there you go. Do what you will with this review, but I think I'm just ranting at this point. If my feedback ratio wasn't so low, I might have DNF'd this.

"A compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.

In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London's Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January's life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger-a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January's job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.

When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January's life is thrown into chaos, but Gale's political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January's future without naturalization and ensure Gale's political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They're kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay-and January may be the only person standing in the way.

Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley's new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir."

It's also perfect for readers of Natasha Pulley. Seriously, everyone should be a fan of hers.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

Natasha Pulley is my favorite author so I had extremely high expectations for the Mars House. Even they were exceeded! The Mars House is at heart a love story in the purest sense. The love and trust that can grow between two people, between groups of people united for a common goal of survival, and what really makes a family. January Stirling, principal dancer, must flee London when it floods and becomes unlivable for good. The only place willing to offer a place to live is a settlement on Mars. But Mars is not some glowing paradise either. The residents of Mars have been genetically altered to live in the lower gravity of Mars and regard humans straight from earth as dangerous because of their greater strength. On Mars, Earthstrong humans must wear cages to keep from accidentally hurting their lighter-gravity counterparts and are very much second-class citizens. Unless of course they’re willing to undergo experimental surgery and other treatments designed to naturalize them to Mars. This has many drawbacks, including loss of mobility that may be permanent, and one big benefit: citizenship and healthcare and universal basic income. One of the loudest voices for making naturalization mandatory is Senator Aubrey Gale, who was injured in a protest that turned into chaos and a riot by, you guessed it, an Earthstrong person. So when they and their publicity department tour the plant that January must do manual labor in just to survive, an off-hand remark January is goaded into saying leads to him being imprisoned for hate speech and when he’s finally freed his choices are bleak. Senator Gale’s political opponent from a rival House points out that they casually destroyed a man’s life for a sound bite and they’ve had no idea and given him not a second thought. Aubrey’s solution is literally the last thing anyone would expect. They propose a marriage of convenience to January for the next five years, and at the end of it, January will be free and wealthy, and not need to naturalize and give up the ability to dance. The catch? His entire life will be broadcast constantly to all of Mars. The Senator is terrified of all Earthstrong people. Oh, and the last fiancé went missing along with the Senator’s twin. What could possibly go wrong? Just about everything, and that’s just the beginning. But along the way, can Audrey and January forge a friendship and true partnership out of their sham marriage? And yes, if you’ve been reading Natasha’s social media, I can confirm that there are in fact mammoths. Along with a giant husky named Kasha. Please read this wonderful story!

Another brilliant story by Natasha Pulley! From the very start I was pulled in by January -- he goes from being a ballet dancer on Earth to a refugee and factory worker on Mars, living in grim conditions and facing a bleak future. January's arranged, political marriage to Senator Gale puts him under constant scrutiny. With no one to trust and his life in the balance, January makes the best of a bad lot while trying to cautiously unravel the truth behind Gale's flawless, intimidating facade. Gale is everything that January should hate -- a rich and powerful politician who wants to force refugees from Earth to naturalize to Martian gravity -- and yet he can't ignore the goodness he sees in his new spouse.

From start to finish I was charmed by January and wanted to give him a big hug. Gale is the ultimate enigma and I loved digging into their character. January and Gale's story is a slow blooming one filled with secrets, intrigue, and the solidarity that comes from facing known and unknown dangers together. The world building is fascinating - from the flooded city of London to the stately aesthetics and technology-drenched colony of Tharsis. Terraformed Mars is a stunning setting with enormous mountains, devastating dust storms, engineered megafauna, frigid temperatures, and cities that rely on massive solar farms. The society, politics, and human evolution/engineering in Tharsis is endlessly fascinating, especially as seen through January's eyes. All in all, I found everything about this book captivating and I could hardly put it down!

This was wildly complicated in a way that was fascinating, unnecessary, slow and painful, thought-provoking, and incomprehensible all at once. For the entire book. From the very beginning, I couldn’t tell if I actually enjoyed the book, if I was just curious, or if I was completely delusional for not giving up.

The number one issue I had with it was that it tried to do too much at once. We had to introduce the Earth situation, then the Mars situation, then the situation for people from Earth on Mars, then the politics on Mars, then the politics on Earth, then the political position of Mars relative to Earth and vice versa… and THEN we could actually kick off the plot. Which kind of felt like the horrible Stockholm Syndrome of DOCILE without the kinky sex (or any sexual or romantic entanglements at all, actually).

And the two major twists were telegraphed so far in advance that at a certain point I was like “please can we stop sounding smart for about 50 pages and just do the reveal now? I already know what it’s going to be.” But then when we do get the reveals, we get these horrible, jarring little infodump flashbacks (when the entire book up to this point has been from January’s POV exclusively).

And January was such an exhausting main character. At least he chews himself out for being nonsensical by the end but like… come on. Also there’s absolutely no way he’d still have dancing muscles after two years of not doing dance-specific training. His knees alone would be totally hosed.

I'm on the fence with this one. I struggled with this and had to put it down a few times. I am glad that I finished it though.

Scifi set on Mars that grapples with catastrophic climate change on Earth, folds in a gorgeous amount of linguistics and the beauty and violence of translation, and makes the reader see the humanity in every type of Other. Also, mammoths.

This was an excellent, beautiful book that made me think carefully about how tightly we hold our convictions, the universality of love, and the myriad ways that power manifests fear. Characters had depth and very human flaws, the story reeled me in and unwrapped at exactly the right pace. I loved it.

This is my third Natasha Pulley book. Lots of authors specialize in a setting or at least a genre and then populate it with different characters. Pulley is the first author I’ve read who seems to write about the same two characters but in completely different settings and even genres. I happen to really love these characters and would read about them in pretty much any setting. This setting just happened to be particularly interesting.

I was super impressed with the world building here. This is, as far as I can tell, Pulley’s first true science fiction book, and it takes place in a colony on Mars. There’s politics and a super interesting discussion about power and marginalization. There are also just truly unique sci-fi details that I haven’t read before, and I’ve read more than my share of sci-fi over my lifetime.

I enjoyed every minute of this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury!

I went into this expecting romance and got a lot of political intrigue. It was still an enjoyable read, but it wasn't what I expected. I commend Pulley for the world she's created, the vision of a post-apocalyptic Earth and the unique culture of a Mars colony. And the characters she's written are very real, with flaws and quirks that make them jump off the page. I just wish there had been more romancing between January and Gale -- it felt forced toward the end, as there hadn't been enough courting moments between them to lead to their final coming together. That said, it was still a good read with a lot of great humorous asides.

A novel that follows the main character, January, from a climate destroyed London to planet Mars. This book has some intriguing ideas but it goes in one too many different directions for my taste. Between the politics, climate change, Mandarin, gender stuff, world building, and romance I didn’t know where to focus my attention. It was more confusing than it needed to be but I think there’s a great idea buried in here.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
As a fan of some of Natasha Pulley's previous works, I was excited to dive right into this one. I am also a huge fan of Sci-Fi, and much of the premise seemed to echo the world-building of the Expanse series. (Earth-Mars relations, physiological differences between earth-born and space-born humans, etc.) However this book really lost me in multiple facets. Pulley's tone of writing really seems disjointed with the plot and characters. There is a lot of silly footnotes that add very little, and the humor seems very forced. Also, the formatting in the eBook edition on kindle was pretty all over the place, which should be looked at before publishing.
There is also a lot to unpack in this book gender-wise. A gender neutral society on Mars sounds very intriguing, but it has been developed out of a fundamentally incorrect understanding of Chinese language and culture? It feels very Orientalist, as defined by Edward Said. And biologically removing gender markers feels very.... unnecessary? Maybe Fascist? I feel like the racism/xenophobia metaphor is very lost when the Earthstrongers are literally capable of chaos, destruction and murder with a slight touch.
As someone who has studied Middle East history, speaks Arabic, and in general knows the history of Israel/Palestine, I was pretty upset to see a throwaway line mentioning Bethlehem in Israel. As we know, this is a historic city located in the Gaza Strip of Israeli-occupied Palestine. What information are we supposed to draw from this line? It really adds little to nothing to the plot. Why would the author include this in her future version of the Earth, unless she is 1) uneducated about this region, or 2) supports a future in which Israel has taken over and completely colonized this land. Given the current state of affairs in the world, this line really felt very pointed. I would Highly suggest a sensitivity read in the future. I probably wouldn't write a sci-fi book set hundreds of years from now and then mention the city Kyiv being in Russia...

Overall, despite these issues I had with the book, I did enjoy the characters from time to time, and the enemies-to-lovers dynamic between January and Gale was fine. As an enjoyer of Pulley's previous works, I'm going to be a little forgiving and put this in the category of "didn't work for me."

I wanted to love this book SO badly -- on paper, it had everything I could ask for: interplanetary romance, rich & descriptive worldbuilding, MCs I was happy to root for, a quirky & easy-to-follow writing style, and even some humor thrown around here and there. That being said, I think its actual execution sort of missed the mark for me. I was mostly here for the fake-dating premise and that aspect did not disappoint, but I think I read a lot more political background than I was originally assuming to be present.

My two main gripes involve 1) the lack of gender on Mars and by extension, the erasure of any women in this story and 2) the sort of built-in racism. Earlier in the novel, it is mentioned that "extreme gender traits" were "eliminated" from the DNA of Natural people (aka those who were born on Mars). Having a science background did lead me to be curious about what exactly that entailed, but I also recognized that it ended up sounding very TERFy (in the sense of gender equaling biology). As for the 'racism', I wish the conflicts/differences between Naturals and Earthstrongers were thought out in a more nuanced way (and less fraught with major xenophobic and anti-immgrant undertones).

Listen. I tried I really did but once the light clicked on that went on this is basically the space equivalent liberal conservative romance except even more absurd and not a complex arranged marriage like Winters Orbit my brain just went no.

If you want to good quality queer Mars then go listen to Penumbra Podcast and their Juno Steel story line for actual interesting gender dynamics. For Juno Steel he is one fine lady.

I also feel like all the time I've watched Gundam or for that matter Toward the Terra brittle bone disease among space colonists has the least issue with gravity. Though to be fair to gravity Goku did have to work extra hard to train under heavier gravity

Smarter people than me in other reviews have talked about the poor and racist use Mandarin in this book. Even I could see the problem with. Gender issues in this book are also poorly handled.

I am also stuck on the truly terrible annoying use of footnotes. Footnotes are supposed to add something to the narrative. Like in Chorus of Dragons they act as thurvisar and Kihirin making comments on the events. This book it explains how the train station name change and the difference between football(as in soccer not American football) and rugby. They aren't needed they aren't interesting important tidbits for the reader.

Why are their mammoths. Why are they teaching racism is bad.

Also London flooding just felt like ponyo when she sends the giant wave

I absolutely could not put this book down. The premise is original, the characters are fascinating, and the sociopolitical allegory is poignant and rings true without feeling overwrought. Although this is being advertised as (and certainly delivers) a thoughtful slow-burn romance, I felt that the romance was actually the least interesting thing about the Mars House. I was gripped by the mystery and had the pleasant experience of not fully figuring it out ahead of the reveal. I couldn't devour this galley fast enough, and can't wait to read it again upon its release.

While I loved the unrepentant joy given towards Mandarin, unfortunately this book was still somehow impressively sinophobic and xenophobic, and randomly fucking zionist. Also I don’t think this author has a good imagination, an sufficient understanding of science, and doesn’t seem to know Chinese culture even though she speaks the language and lived there. And as a non-binary Thai-Chinese math-astro major this book is a blight upon this goddamn world on a personal level.

So… let’s go through it I guess? God I don’t want to.

<b>0. On gender and pronouns</b>
I saw another reviewer comment on the language and I wanted to reply here as a non-binary heritage Mandarin speaker (albeit a poor one). In Mandarin while we have specific gendered pronouns, that’s also a bit of a lie. In the early 1900s feminists started advocating for a women’s pronoun, leading to the invention of a new character in written Chinese, however in spoken Mandarin this never caught on. Furthermore in other Chinese languages, such as Cantonese or Teochew (shout out to gaginang), people never made that switch. Meaning the best way, to this day, to refer to a non-binary person in any Chinese language is often by the traditional pronoun. And it’s far more sensible to translate the spoken pronoun to they/them.

That being said, I do agree that it’s wild to think that the use of a gender neutral pronoun in a language would lead to an agender society. Purely because China, up until the 1900s, didn’t have gendered pronouns. In fact, to this day, most Chinese languages do not gender anything, instead titles are conferred by position in society. “Empress” Wu Zetian is actually Emperor Wu Zetian. Empress is specifically the title conferred upon a consort, Emperor is the regnant of the country, gender plays no role in this. Yet Chinese culture is far from an agender culture, historically gender’s played a big role in limiting women’s place in society. We genuinely struggle with patriarchy as a culture. And to think that would be solved by a bit of a change in language is some extreme Sapir-Worfism that is just historically untrue.

<b>1. Sinophobia</b>
While the book takes place in an ostensibly culturally Chinese mars, this book is sinophobic in the way white Americans who ‘support Taiwan’ but then blame COVID on China are sinophobic. They wish to support their limited perceptions of democracy and freedom against the big bad evil guy China! And throughout this book that opinion shines through.

The entire book treats China as horrifying military power who may ‘come back to reclaim their colony, <s>Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau</s> Mars!’ This entire plotline however just reads like red scare propaganda against Chinese people. And I say this <i>as</i> a member of the Chinese diaspora who supports a free HK. But this book crosses the line from the idea of self-determination into repeating tired old red scare propaganda about dangerous Chinese spies who are out to getcha and steal your freedom and land! Especially because on Mars all the colonies are run by giant conglomerate families, and have ‘just become successful and independent of China.’ It’s also implied throughout the book that none of the Earth governments have changed since the early 21st century despite it, once more, being set nearly 200 years in the future. So we’ve got to protect their financial freedoms and the rich families abilities from the dangerous commies yeah? Yeah absolutely.

All of that to say, this is just a return to tried, true, and classic, sinophobia that ultimately harms all Chinese people, even the ones white people love to claim to support. Because this book was just a treatise on white westerners belief that China is oh so big and scary with a military that’s always threatening to invade their colonies, even if they’re 140m miles away on avg. Which makes me, an actual Chinese American, so tired. This doesn’t help me, this hurts me, and my family left China a 100 years ago!

<b>2. Xenophobia </b>
This continues in incredibly xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric. While Pulley tries to draw back on in the final few pages of the story, she spends the rest of it having a main character espouse it, all the while trying to portray them as more and more loveable. Throughout the book one character argues that this outpost colony must be protected, because otherwise the immigrants who come in from Earth will destroy the culture and endanger all the people living there by accidentally killing them. Which is just your standard anti-immigrant drivel, and as the book goes on even the MC, January, begins to agree with them. Which means even as the author attempts to renege on it near the end, they also whisper softly to you ‘but actually I’m still kinda right.’

A different, wiser reviewer pointed out as TERF-laden ideology. Something I can’t help but agree with them on, especially as this book tries to argue something about ‘gender extremism’ which is, mind you, bullshit. You need hormones to not die, and not have bad bones. They’ve very helpful.

Now the author, I will say, is clever in her violently xenophobic rhetoric, as she makes all the refugees white Europeans (Remember, this book is set 200 years in the future and yet Europe is apparently still mostly white) to try and distract you. But I’m going to be honest with you, it’s still xenophobia. Furthermore, pitting it as ‘those evil tall alien looking Asian folks from Mars who are being xenophobic to the white Europeans refugees from Earth’ is fucking ballsy, and I’m pretty sure sinophobic and racist as well. But all of this is still xenophobia at its finest.

<b>3. The Zionism </b>
I don’t even know why this one was necessary to be honest. The others weren’t either, but they were at the very least related to the plot of the story. This one wasn’t. Because the book is set about 200 years in the future on a culturally Chinese mars, where most of the non-natives are from Europe. But for some unknown reason we’re told Bethlehem, a Palestinian village, in Palestine, is in Israel in a Christmas scene. This adds nothing and feels like a snark at the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the recent canceling of Christmas in Palestine by Palestinian Christians. We’re also given characters who we’re explicitly told are Israeli who do nothing for the story, despite the fact that the entire book is set on Mars. With almost an entire cast from Mars. Why is this needed? Why is this necessary?

Perhaps there’s something to be said about this authors clear hard on for the idea of ‘western style democracies opposing the big bad evil POC’ that I presume they subscribe to based on their apparent zionism and weird opinions toward China. But what do I know? I study physics. But oh boy howdy did this shit make me fucking uncomfortable.

<b>4. The science</b>
This one’s for my sanity. Exactly 0 of the technological innovations in this book made any sense. It’s set 150-200 years in the future yet solar panels have only improved to 50% absorption rates. High powered lightbulbs are 10W now instead of 25-40W as well. Never mind the fact that we already manufacture and use 10W lightbulbs. I don’t know if you realise this, but that’s a remarkably slow innovation rate for technology. Considering we double our technological advancement every 2 or so years, we should further along. The energy consumption rate makes no sense.

Things breaking down also often felt like it was for plot convince rather than genuine understanding of science and technology. Not even to mention the water production plant, or the lack of nuclear energy plant as any mars colony would employ as a back up power generator. Which has been a point of discussion for years. Furthermore, even if we were to forgo a nuclear generator, colonies would likely employ wind turbines at the poles at backup generators. We wouldn’t have a single generator. On top of which, why even create all your own water when you could take water from the ice caps at the poles? I suspect this is to justify the use of the solar power, because driving can be a major task, but regularly shipments of water from the poles to the equator at regular intervals would work just as well.

Another question is why are there animals? In a vegan society while pets may make sense for the ultra rich, other animals, such as, oh I don’t know, wild birds and <i>MAMMOTHS</i> have no reason to be there. We wouldn’t import useless animals to a mars colony. This is also not to speak of the fact that being an entirely vegan society would be itself somewhat useless on Mars, as raising a cow and eating that has a far lesser water and energy requirement than eating tofu.

The science in this book was genuinely so bad I had to check lightbulb wattages to make sure I hadn’t gone mad.

TLDR; this book was bad that it became outrageously bad. I’ve never seen someone fuck up sapir-worfism that badly the science was inaccurate, and it was sinophobic, racist, xenophobic, and zionist drivel. I’m so happy I didn’t pay for this shit because I still feel like I’m owed a refund.

You may remember how earlier today I mentioned Ocean’s Blood as an example of how to do enemies to lovers right. Well, honestly. This book I’d say is… the writing is gorgeous if nonsensical at times, but this is how to do it wrong while making them actual enemies. The love interest is literally a fascist whk thinks all earthlings should undergo painful surgery to make them less strong. Yep, oh dear is right. Also… the concept of gender in this novel is done so utterly weirdly, it has everyone on Mars agender because…that’s what their biology says? This does not feel very great. (side note that’s NOt how mandarin works. I used to be fluent in mandarin, I remember not too much of it anymore but one thing I do remember is that Ta (male) and Ta (female) are written quite differently. One has the person radical, and one has the woman radical (both do share the radical Ye). I’m going to average out at 3 because the writing was gorgeous but a lot of the implications were…. Not great. Thanks for the arc