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

Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

"I think any kind of strength means you have to be careful around people who don't have it. That's just being an honourable person."

A note to the publisher before I begin: The ebook formatting was horrendous. I think it needed to be tested on a couple devices to ensure formatting was legible before uploading to netgalley.

Now onto my review...

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley was a genre bending sci-fi political work of art that took me on a absolute whirlwind of journey. This book, to me, is the most political out of her portfolio to date. It was an interesting reflection on the world we know today existing in the future. There are so many parallels to be dissected about strength, privilege and gender, and how there is a give and take necessary to enact positive change, as well as remaining hopeful. It's a book that had me on the cusp of uncomfortable, but in a way that encouraged self reflection. That being said, TMH had the same tone that all of Natasha's books have, grounded by her own research with a seasoning of magical to keep it otherworldly, so I was also still able to have a very good time with it. I mean, there's some fun mammoth interaction that is reminiscent to the beloved Katsu. I can entice the seasoned Pulley fans with that one ;)

I always say Natasha is a masterclass with her prose and the way she brings her characters to life. I think I could be given an unlabeled book and be able to detect her work. This book was no different. Additionally, the use of footnotes as a vehicle to further understand the world on Mars, and gather more of January's perspective, was done so very well. I need her to include footnotes in all her books at this point!

Our main characters January and Gale were phenomenal from the get go. Though they follow the general shape Natasha Pulley tends to have with her main characters, it didn't make either of them less of a character worthy of getting to know. January was lovable, a man stripped of his success and trying to find his footing again from the ground up. He had such a poignant sense of humor that had me genuinely laughing aloud. The way he was a vessel of knowledge for Gale, our out of touch and initial antagonist, was executed very well. Gale was an interesting character from the start, as I originally saw them as someone to dislike (much like Jan), but grew to adore them in the way only Natasha knows how convince. They acted as a good advocate for January, poised and unwavering, but still desperate to do what's right even if it's going against what they were groomed to believe. January and Gale have an enemies to lovers, forced proximity dynamic, and I love what they bring to the table for each other
Sidenote: Gale is Lan Wangji from The Untamed but on Mars, you can't convince me otherwise.

As with a traditional Pulley novel, our secondary characters are strong in supplement for what they bring out in each of our main characters. They offered some comedic relief, clues as to possible twists (and I mean it was a GREAT twist!!), etc. I genuinely loved them. The use of technology was also an impeccable way to highlight our own society's dependency on it, and that these things we often refer to as "innovative" can really be detrimental if we rely too heavily on it.

There's a lot to be said about gender and privilege in TMH, and I found their place in this novel crucial and thought provoking. Pulley handled it with grace, in her 'I've researched everything to a meticulous degree' way, and I love how her books encourages me to ask questions that make me want to pick up another book, or look up information to make my own judgement.

With all this said, I rate it 5 stars!! All of Pulley's work is it's own category for me, and TMH is no different. It might not have been my absolute favorite of her works, but by and large it excelled too well to be ignored.

This is my first book from the author. It was enjoyable in parts. I couldn't get past most if the foot notes. I really don't like that they are in-between chapters and some are a whole page. The book was good world building was good I did enjoy the main character. Over all I will pick up more work from Natasha again.

Very innovative and poetic. I think people who have enjoyed Natasha Pulley's writing in the past, or lovers of sci fi that are new to her, will absolutely adore this book. I really felt engaged and interested in all the complex, difficult dynamics and politics. The issue of naturalization was a complex one because it involved quite literal danger, and Natasha did not simply make this an allegory for a certain type of racism, instead considering the actual consequences of something like this.

I struggled with this book because I become nauseous when I become hyper aware of my body, which naturalization discussions often called me to think of. I don't think it's fair to doc Natasha Pulley herself for this though, or say it hurts the quality of the book– it didn't. But that is honestly one of my experiences with it.

Really can't wait to see this find its audience!

i've got to be honest, i legitimately squealed when i got approved for this book on netgalley.

also? properly formatted footnotes in an ebook? i love it already.

now that I have finished reading it:

This book is so insidious. January hates how everybody thinks he is dangerous, but he also thinks he poses a danger. To him and to so many others, freedom means being put in a cage. It's mindfuckery of the highest order, and it is brilliant. The way that people who have been on Mars for generations are considered Natural, and how one can be Naturalised, holy shit that fucks with you. Natasha Pulley has twisted everything up and come out on top, I applaud her for it. The sweet irony of comparing Earthstrongers (people from Earth who are so much stronger than "Natural" people because they haven't had generations of low gravity destroying their muscles and bones) to polar bears and saying "you wouldn't just let polar bears run loose everywhere, would you?" and then guess what! There absolutely are polar bears just out and about! It's crazy.

I was legitimately coming up with theories non stop reading this book. Normally, I just go along for the ride but no, not this time. I would puzzle over every little thing when I wasn't reading and when I was reading I was desperate for clues. And then it all tied together beautifully and perfectly and was everything I ever wanted. From my notes: (and kind of major spoilers)<spoiler>"The consul is Up To Something (so many moving parts)" and "is aubrey actually river????" and "there is so obviously someone invisible being nefarious!!!!</spoiler>

I love books that are mostly character studies, and oh boy did this deliver. January, my sweet baby, you are a wonder and a delight. He is honest and clever and quirky (complementary). Gale is just the best kind of Little Shit (even if he is ridiculously tall) and I always admire that in a character.

This book ends so hopefully but also clearly with so much more work that needs to be done, and I cannot wait to hopefully see it all happen in future books. Natasha Pulley, you are a genius and I would give you my firstborn child.

And now for some general things that just Made Me Happy:
- <spoiler>The references to octopuses and also Keita Mori made my heart so happy.</spoiler>
- the footnotes were such a joy. They were silly and sarcastic and informative and basically the best kinds of funny, over and over. Absolute perfection. One of the footnotes has it's own footnote and I have literally never seen anything better
- the mammoths. I wish I could eat pine cones like it was popcorn!!!

One final note: There was some sort of issue in my arc where it looks like words that were meant to be changed to american english (i got my arc from bloomsbury) instead got partially replaced by other words? for example: aturaliza instead of memorising in chapter 33 and aturalizingng for naturalising in chapter 32. it's letters that are missing and occasionally just the wrong word and i could figure it out from context 99% of the time but it was still annoying. i hope this gets fixed in the final version! i emailed bloomsbury about it but nobody has gotten back to me so hopefully they are aware. BUT I love The Mars House and it will invade my soul for the forseeable future no matter what lols

I am beginning to think that Natasha Pulley just isn't the author for me - while I have adored her short stories I've found in various anthologies, her novels have always left me cold. "The Mars House" was no different. As someone who works in the aerospace industry, I've always been intrigued by the creativity the science fiction genre shows when dealing with the eventual colonization of the red planet. Pulley's writing is gorgeously intricate and beautiful as always; however, I found some of her overtones in this one troubling. It came across as nuanced, yes - she is not afraid of complexity, and I disagree with some reviewers who would land her solidly as anti-immigrant, pro alt-right with this one - but nonetheless the sympathy with which the anti-immigrant politician Gale was painted left me uncomfortable. Those who read this for a romance of arranged marriage will not find the swoony love story they wanted, and those that read this for the political maneuverings will likely not be satisfied by the convoluted world building that takes over once the primary action moves to London.

Overall, I was left admiring Pulley as a writer, but wasn't drawn in by the story itself. The whole thing was too long after a great opening 30%, and I just couldn't get invested in the love story despite liking January (the main character) quite a bit. Alas.

This is my first Natasha Pulley novel, and it's likely that Random House is ultimately going to try to steer this as a more "literary" book, but honestly, this is a fantastic blend of the political arranged marriage plot with actual politics that might come about as part of a corporation-led human migration to Mars. I was scared for a while that Earthstrong was going to be a lazy shorthand for racism in the setting, but Pulley actually leans into thinking through all the consequences of her world building, which I always admire in an author. January is a fantastic lead character (ex ballet dancer forced to migrate to Mars and can only get menial focused jobs), and while this book tends to use flashback chapters perhaps a bit more than strictly necessary to explain things, it ends up coming in extremely good use for the ultimate twist of the murder mystery aspect of this novel, which was also nicely played against the arranged romance for the cameras aspect. Also, our main characters are incredibly well done as individuals and as a couple. Also, unexpected mammoths. I ended up mainlining most of this on Christmas Eve, and I am highly recommending this when it comes out.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC!!!

Overall 'The Mars House' was a very poignant representation of the convoluted politics going on in our world. The story is a great example of what the world will look once climate change brings about the new world order. The story also goes over innate prejudices, the sheep mentality of the public, technology dependence & withdraw and just a general commentary on how the world could be change for the better and still end up with problems. There were some truly wonderful descriptions in the book. Not to mention putting to words something native English speakers understand but could never describe:

"English [...] is made up of four languages: German, French, Latin and Greek, in ascending order of register. German words usually sound simple and earthy, sometimes poetic. French and Latin are formal, which is why it sounds like a politician lying. Greek is scientific".

"This is...why English has two or three words for everything. You get yourself a drink, but a flight attendant offers you a beverage menu. Drink is German, but beverage is French; more formal. Half of English comes in pairs or triples with the same meaning but different levels of formality".

"Some people didn't get a person. It wasn't a right, it was a gift".

Now for the feedback:
The ebook (arc) has atrocious formatting. I do not recommend putting the footnotes mid-text. Especially when the footnotes are an entire page long and derail the story.

The book could have been 150-200 pages less. Given the complexities of life on Mars, the political landscape, gender dynamics, romantic relationships on Mars, and the Mandarin grammar lessons: CUT everything extraneous. It's a waste of the readers time. It takes a while to care about the political landscape, but the prison scene helps to commit a reader. Don't lose them with an extra 200 pages of jargon that don't add to the plot.

What is with all the modified words? Several words were a weird hybrid and yet this had no footnote to explain the word. Other times it looks like a misspelling, but it repeats on different pages (ecognized).

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bloomsbury publishing for allowing me to read one of my most anticipated books of 2024!

Having written some of my favorite books of all time, Natasha Pulley is an instant-read author for me. The Mars House is completely different from anything she has written before but it does not disappoint. What we love from her past complex characters--their selfishness, selflessness, and enormous capacity for love--is still present in the characters here. January was an interesting and compassionate voice to experience a Martian colony through. I particularly loved that all Martians use they/them pronouns, because of course a futuristic society would.

While sometimes, especially in the early world-building, it was evident that this was Pulley's first foray into science fiction. But the world and characters she created were so interesting that it was easy to fall into the world and the story.

I was a little disappointed with this one. It had an interesting premise and found the first section to be the most interesting, I would have taken an entire novel set in the apocalyptic-like London of the opening pages. The details about the city were fascinating and was really interested in the way the characters had to survive the rising waters. When the setting changed to Mars, I just felt overwhelmed by continual world building, There seemed to be so much justification and detail that the plot just didn’t move quickly, January is a great character who has some stuff he has to deal with and the contrived enemies to lovers (?) plot point didn’t work. Gale didn’t have any redeemable qualities. The native vs immigrant undertones were clear but didn’t quite work within the Martian world. The constant need for Gale to prove his political prowess overshadowed what I thought could have been a complex character. It took more than half of the novel to start and find a little redemption in the characters. The scientific details were interesting, but again, they bogged down the writing and the plot.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I've loved Natasha Pulley for years now and this was both an exciting new direction and endearingly familiar. I would read her write about animals and lonely souls getting adopted into found families forever. She's consistently delved into tangled international politics and this is no exception. I found the thorniness compelling and the characters absolutely heart wrenching. I'm already trying to get one of my fellow booksellers to read it as soon as possible!

This book is really hard for me to rate. We follow our protagonist January (Jan for short) as he becomes a refugee from the newly drowned London to the 7 generation old colony on Mars. Martian society has evolved to become heavily distinct from Earthen, adaptations which are both cultural and physical, as the reduced gravity on Mars has led to people evolving to be significantly weaker than their Earth counterparts. Those who have newly come from Earth (the Earthstrong) must, whenever in public, wear body-cages that simulate Earthen gravity to prevent them from accidentally maiming those who have adapted to Mars (Naturals or Naturalized people). There is a large political movement for the Earthstrong to be forced to Naturalize, in other words undergo a dangerous and always detrimental medical procedure to force their bodies to adapt to Mars’ gravity, so they are no longer a ‘threat’ to the other naturalized. When January openly criticizes the politician spearheading this movement, and is subsequently jailed for it, that same politician comes to him with a surprising offer. A marriage of convenience will help January, who is no longer eligible to work with a felony conviction, and will help their campaign since the move was largely seen as an overreaction. January accepts, and we are thrown into a story of political turmoil as January begins to question whether the demagog he hates is truly who he thinks.

Literature is inherently political, but this book is more political than most. The central plot hinges around a refugee crisis, and two people on opposite sides of it. This refugee crisis is not a subtle reference to those we see into today’s real world. January faces many of the same problems that refugees face today: increasingly hostile governments, a lack of safe access to legitimate jobs, housing, and ressources, a deep fear of government agencies and deportation, difficulty functioning in a foreign society, constant racism and judgment based on his status. We see Pulley taking on internalized prejudice, the pop-culturization of the political process, and the way that politicians are never really speaking honestly. Most impactfully to me, we see the way that both sides of the refugee argument, from a political standpoint, are using it as a tool for their own ends. When it comes down to it, neither those who want to welcome the refugees or those who want to turn them away are doing it because of the refugees themselves. Both parties are using the crisis as a political lever to advance their own interests. All of this was done so well it hurt.

Here’s where a problem could very easily have arisen (and for a good chunk of the book I thought it had). This book was walking a VERY thin line which exists when using fantastical elements as a metaphor for real world xenophobia: the Earthstrong are legitimately dangerous. They can, and do, legitimately do a lot of damage to the Naturals by accident. If this had not been addressed by the text, it could very easily have read as a conservative take wherein we see that there is a real reason to keep refugees out. My interpretation of this, and I will gladly listen to those with more experience in this arena than I have, was that this was being used as a way to show that simply opening the borders indiscriminately to everyone can be a dangerous approach. You cannot innately trust that nobody coming into a country might have ulterior motives. This book’s sympathies definitely rest with the refugees, but I will be honest, I don’t think it was handled perfectly. In the end, this book had a very ‘reach across the aisle’ approach which worked because of the utopian nature of fiction, but I think doesn’t serve as a perfect metaphor for the real life crisis. It presumes that there are people in power acting in good faith, and that the populace is prepared to outgrow prejudice.

Which brings me to our love interest, Gale. I genuinely love Gale as a character. They are a very good person and the love story between them and January is touching and sweet. However therein lies the problem. This book positions our Far Right extremist politician as a good person with only bad choices, who is leaning on an anti-refugee policy because it is the only way they can see out of a plot to colonize their country. They do begin the book with prejudices (grounded in experience), but are fully open to listen and change their opinions based on rational argument and facts. And when it comes down to the wire, they make the right choices. This is lovely. And unrealistic. This book feels like wish fulfillment for the political machine; a lovely glimpse into what it could look like if the multi-billionaire political powerhouse actually cared and was willing to listen to rational arguments, and decades of pain and suffering and prejudice could be expunged and people could all choose to do the right thing together.

This book is hard. It asks us to consider the motives, humanity, and perspective of those on the other side of the political divide (whichever one we land on). In the end, its stance leans heavily left, however we spend the majority of the book falling in love with a right-wing politician. I truly do appreciate the message that people are people, and that the only way to truly make things work is for both sides to lay down arms and work together, especially when everybody is faced with bad conditions out of our control. The book also does a very good job of highlighting how no political issue is black and white, and it is nearly impossible to make any move that isn't doing harm to somebody.

eARC provided by bloomsbury publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

It was extremely exposition heavy and I didn’t find myself interested. I’m not quite sure who the target audience is for this one, as it’s sort of gritty but also not, and if that doesn’t make sense, well, it didn’t to me, either. Nuclear reactors and ballet… No idea what to make of it. It’s definitely unique. Leaving five stars since I’m not sure what to make of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

Natasha Pulley is a must-read author for me, and her new book — a brilliant leap from the magical realism and time travel of her previous novels into full-on sci-fi — was a thrill ride from beginning to end. She is a master at world-building, and/but beyond vividly rendering place and time, she populates her spaces with characters that routinely break my heart and put it back together again. It was easy to fall in love with our hero January and his extraordinary circumstances; the surprise was how much I cared for the prickly, verbally smooth, painfully ambitious Gale. They reveal depths of character — and plot surprises — that kept me on an emotional edge and somehow had me rooting for their happiness. I don't want to give away any of the delightful plot twists, but will say this: I did not have mammoths on my bingo card, and it was a gleeful pleasure to find them there. I can't wait to read this again, and that's the highest praise I can give a novel.

This book will be featured on my podcast 'The Library of Lost Time' (https://strongsenseofplace.com/library) on 22 March 2024.

It is surprisingly rare for a science fiction book to take the science very seriously, including cultural implications, while still focusing on the characters and the plot. I love it when an author can pull that off, and Natasha Pulley has done it here.

The most recent similar books I can think of is Ian McDonald's moon trilogy, starting with [book:New Moon|23848027]. Those are very different than this, but take the moon as seriously as this takes Mars.

I was crushed when the ballet dancer January Stirling was in a movement-restriction cage. It is much like Harrison Bergeron, but with entirely reasonable social justification, rather than the idiocy of Diana Moon Glampers.

While I was reading this, I started the non-fiction book [book:A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?|125084292], which takes a more pessimistic view of space settlement science, but not entirely out of step with this book's assumptions.

As she points out in the afterword, this is a departure from the historical novels she's written before. Don't be deterred, jump on this rocket to Mars.

An utterly delightful sci-fi political thriller slash romance, pitched perfectly to hit all of the necessary buttons in each category. Pulley has a blast imagining a medium-term-future (a couple hundred years down the line) and brings readers along one step at a time via audience-surrogate-main-character January -- who goes from being the principle dancer for the London ballet (in an all-too-eerie and plausible climate-ravaged future-London) to being an asylum-seeking immigrant on Mars to being the consort for an apparently xenophobic and anti-Earther Martian senator. This book does it all: fish-out-of-water scenarios, passionate debates with thoughtful responses about immigration and gender and cultural other-ing, slow-burn romance, thrillingly tense standoffs and secrets, and oh did I mention the mammoths? Just wait until you get to the part with the mammoths.
All-around enjoyable, pretty much a perfect read.

I don't know what I was expecting when I picked up The Mars House, but a political intrigue, queer slow burn romance, dystopian climate disaster, fake marriage, sci-fi refugee story was everything I didn't know I needed to read!

The book follows January, who lives in climate-ravaged London. When flooding hits and everyone must evacuate, he is faced with a decision: with Earth overwhelmed and dying, he agrees to immigrate to the terraformed Mars colony of Tharsis.

Once there, he's what's known as an "Earthstronger." Gravity on Mars makes immigrants far stronger than humans born on Mars. As a refugee, his options are limited and he faces discrimination (I love how good sci-fi can take relevant issues and tweak them to make them accessible).

To make matters worse, he's humiliated Senator Gale when cornered into an interview. Gale is campaigning to require all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a dangerous medical procedure to make them "less dangerous." January loses his job because of the interview and is now in even more dire straights. This leads to an arranged marriage to help Gale save their campaign.

What follows is a political mystery involving crooked politicians, dogs who see ghosts, and mammoths who can communicate with humans!

January was such a pure, well written character. Having survived disaster after disaster, he maintained the belief that most people are good. His self-depreciating humor and willingness to stand his ground for what is right made him true "hero" material. And Gale! Born into money and power, Gale rose to every challenge with grace and pragmaticism even if they would rather have been attending linguistics lectures or conversing with mammoths.

The author's writing style felt unique in a good way. Pulley writes descriptively, and in a way that shows she's done her research. Having a main character studying the etomology of languages was a clever way to add realness to the mixed languages spoken on Tharsis. While I tried to appreciate the use of footnotes to help explain some of this, I found it took me out of the story and would have preferred it included in the text. Maybe it would feel different with a physical copy as opposed to the ebook.

Overall, this was a fascinating read that kept me engaged. I hope it finds its audience, as it is unique and well-deserving of attention.

*****
I received this eARC from @netgalley and publisher Bloomsbury @bloomsburybooksus in exchange for an honest review.

The Mars House will be released March 19, 2024.

#NetGalley #bookreview #arcreview #themarshouse

I blazed through this! Love the science fiction take from this author. I've read two of Pulley's fantasy works so far and I was excited for this one. The combination of fanfic style with literary is comforting and the trademark slowburn romance is here. I'll be recommending this to fans of Winter's Orbit or even Starless Sea or Sea of Tranquility. Thank you for the advanced reading copy.

📚 Sometimes a novel is so intricate and so creative, that I don't feel qualified to rate it. Natasha Pulley always does that to me. She's a genius.
The Mars House is an exploration of humanity, love, strength, politics, fear, language, gender. It leaves the reader unsure who is good, who is evil, or if everyone is some combination of both. It was a joy to read this book. My main criticism is that it was soooo long. The story didn't necessarily drag, the plot kept moving forward beautifully, but I needed to take a break from it a few times.

If you haven't read anything by Pulley, DO! I just don't recommend starting with this one...it is a lot to jump into.

💊The humans who have been living on Mars for generations (and all the other animals there as well, including dogs, horses and mammoths) are much taller than Earth humans. Lower gravity environments really do lead to increases in height. According to studies by NASA, the average height of astronauts increases approximately 3% over the first three to four days of weightlessness in space.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloomsbury US for the advanced copy of this book.