I received this book from Netgalley/st Martins Press, in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book, I've been heavily into sci fi type books lately so this one was a nice change of pace from the other ones I've been reading, there wasn't much ships and scientific things and exploding war stuff like most books tend to have, war with alien races. This one was about a man name Mickey who is an expendable, which basically means he's sent out on suicide missions, if he dies then he is brought back as a clone, I like the idea of expendables and dying it was definitely a change of pace and makes this book a little bit different than most of the books I've been reading lately. Theres a lot of filler passages in between the current story, flashbacks of different colonies and history, at first I wasn't really thrilled with it, but I get why it had to happen and how things evolved to the current events, and after a while it was a little nice to have the extra world building of other colonies.

Good worldbuilding, kept me interested. Thanks for letting me read!

Being a clone is a lousy existence. You get all the crummy tasks, people don't really care about you except for your ability to spare them the aforementioned dirty work, and when you die, another version of you is cranked out promptly to take on your role.

Mickey7 is an Expendable on a remote colony trying to scratch out a living on an ice planet. The local monsters aren't taking well to this plan, and even basic ecology and biology isn't working out so well. The food generation facilities aren't working to their usual standard, and people are starting to look pretty thin.

Mickey7 "dies" on an outing, but manages to save himself, somehow ingratiating himself with the local creeper monsters, one of whom picks him up and carries him to a tunnel portal near the colony, instead of following the normal protocol of "kill all humans." Mickey7 trudges back, only to discover that Mickey8 has already been generated, and this is going to be a problem. The colony rules forbid having 2 clones of the same individual active, and no one wants an extra eater.

Mickey7's communications with other colonists and clones are in a unique format that is tedious to read, so I just skim through that. Fortunately most of the book is written in standard English, or I wouldn't have bothered to continue.

Mickey7 is interesting, and postulates some unique ideas, plus the ethics of cloning and treatment of created people.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins press for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic tale of first contact and what it means to be human when dying just means a new version of you is created soon after.

I loved the setting and the world building of why humans are sending out exploratory colonies to new planets. The concept of an Expendable isnt particularly new but Ashton takes it to new places and spins a great tale of how they are used to explore new worlds.

The middle third of the book lags a little bit but the story picks up in the last third and definitely has a satisfying ending that both wraps things up and leaves plenty of places to go to explore things further.

I hope this is not the last we see of of Mickey7 and his adventures!

Received an art for an honest opinion.
Oh wow I totally loved this book! It had such fun characters, and more importantly it had a lot of humor. I just love Mickey he's hilarious, and I wonder if this is going to be a series because I would love to hear more from him. I wasn't sure how this was going to end, but it had a good ending so it was all good.
If you are a fan of humor and science fiction, read this book!

Somewhat interesting. Somewhat irritating. More irritating than interesting.

The narrator, several centuries in the future, and having been born and raised on a different planet, talks like a snarky 1990s mashup of the guys in _Friends_. Anachronistic, implausible, and tiresome.

And there's a chapter missing. We wait through 90% of the book for a thorough physical description of the creepers. We're given hints that they're sentient and even have advanced technology. Then Mickey meets the Prime One face-to-face... and we jump to the next chapter, where we get a few reticent bits from Mickey about who and what the Creepers are..

Mickey7

[Blurb goes here]

This is a great story, something original for those who love sci-fi. While you are into the story, the characters goes on to reveal factoids about failed colonies. He's not perfect, though. He blames some of his mistakes on other people, but I got past that since the adventure kept me glued to the story.

Thank you for the free copy!

I absolutely loved this book! I received an advanced reader’s copy and was hoping that, as a debut novel, it wasn’t going to be a real stinker! I was very pleasantly surprised! This is probably the best sci-fi I have read since Hugh Howey’s Wool.

Mickey is a down and out man who joins an interstellar colonizing expedition as an Expendable meaning just that. He will do all the potentially major life threatening or clearly lethal work on board the interstellar ship and the new planet, meaning he will surely die… multiple times. There is a reason he chooses to do this crazy thing which you find out about early on. The upside is that should he and when he dies he can be replaced by an identical iteration of himself as they have all his genetic information saved, memories included, as long as he can upload them before he dies. (He has an implanted ocular that records all he does.) As the book opens he has died 6 times and is currently Mickey7. Things go a bit awry at this point. The planet doesn’t seem as habitable as they thought and contains native lifeforms that appear extremely dangerous. What happens after that is well…crazy!

This is a very well written debut novel with engaging characters and plot, sharp dialogue and witty moments that make you laugh out loud. There is also a lot of scientific information dispersed throughout the novel as well as historical background on the Diaspora as Mickey is somewhat of a lay expert in history. Ethical and moral questions are raised throughout the book as well as the usual questions surrounding immortality and individuality.
I loved the nod to Norse mythology and also Alice in Wonderland. Is it all a dream? Lol! I can’t wait for Ashton’s next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin’s Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. There are few typographical errors in the text and the need for further editing is minimal in my opinion.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley
In a future time, mankind has developed the technology to travel to far-flung planets to establish colonies and has moved out into the universe. Once long-range reconnaissance determines the habitability of a planet, a single ship . . . a beachhead colony mission . . . departs on its mission.

On this mission, colonists will travel aboard the “Drakkar” from Midgard to the planet where they will establish the colony of Niflheim. But when they reach the planet, instead of a habitable world, they discover an ice planet with an atmosphere unsuitable for humans. Their food supply is steadily shrinking, terraforming isn’t too successful, and the planet’s native species, creepers, are a fearsome lot.

Mickey is the member of the crew who’s assigned all the difficult, deadly dangerous tasks. He’s the disposable crew member, an Expendable who has died and been regenerated six times. Currently, he is Mickey7.

On a routine planetary scouting mission outside the colonists’ habitable dome, Mickey tumbles down a deep hole; stranded and unable to climb out, he finds himself some three meters below the surface . . . too deep for his companions to safely mount a rescue mission.

When Mickey comes across a creeper-like creature in one of the tunnels, he expects to die; instead, he finds himself transported through a series of tunnels and returned to the surface of the planet. Mickey returns to the dome to discover that he’s been presumed to have been killed and a new iteration . . . Mickey8 . . . has been created.

Two duplicates cannot be allowed to exist simultaneously, food is strictly rationed, and neither Mickey wants to die. How long will they be able to keep the existence of two Mickeys a secret? And how long can the colony exist on a hostile world?

=========

Strong worldbuilding highlights this intriguing tale that asks what it means to be human. Imaginative and compelling, the unfolding narrative pulls the reader into the story and keeps the pages turning.

Well-drawn characters, a strong plot, and a fast-moving plot combine to make this narrative eminently readable. Flashbacks provide the necessary backstory to explain the how and why of the off-world colonization efforts and give the story depth as do the aspects of dealing with ethical quandaries.

Told from Mickey’s point of view, his somewhat snarky nature is an asset to the telling of the tale and, although the story reaches a satisfactory denouement, readers are likely to want to know more about what happens to Mickey and the Niflheim colony.

The only downside here is the annoying, unnecessary use of an offensive expletive that many readers will find off-putting.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley
#Mickey7 #NetGalley

This book was quite enjoyable, with good writing, good pacing, and interesting world building. Comparisons to The Martian are apt, and thankfully the narrator Mickey's sass and sarcasm never felt forced or obnoxious. My only complaint was I actually wanted to see a little more action outside the perimeter, and get more information and story around the Niflheim native species. I felt a little cooped up within the ship and habitat, although I suppose in that sense I was able to identify with Mickey a little more. Definitely recommended as a fun read.

Mickey7

I was really excited to get an ARC of this book. It’s been awhile (and by that I mean a couple years) since I’ve read any space based sci-fi. I was not disappointed.

It has a little bit of everything and enough comedic relief to balance out some of the more serious tones of the story. As a history nerd myself, I really enjoyed the colony histories that the author highlighted. They really brought the whole story together and gave insight to how Mickey was feeling. I felt that it was a well formed story and flowed very nicely. It was one book I didn’t want to put down.

4/5 Stars

What a wonderfully original sci-fi novel!

A thousand years from now, mankind will possess the technology to take years-long journeys to the farthest reaches of the universe to colonize planets deemed habitable by long-range reconnaissance. Colonization begins with a “beachhead mission” comprised of several hundred colonists, the embryos needed to build a society, and an “expendable” person to undertake any mission posing a significant risk of death. Of course, it’s no big deal if the expendable dies. Mankind has developed the technology to fully replicate human beings.

In trouble on his own homeworld, Mickey Barnes volunteers to be the expendable for the mission to colonize Niflheim, a planet that long-range scans find habitable, but which turns out to be a snow-and-ice-bound hell with a barely breathable atmosphere and gigantic, hostile, metal-eating creatures living below the surface. Over the course of the mission, Mickey has died and been recreated six times, which is why he’s now called Mickey7. When Mickey7 falls into a tunnel inhabited by the creatures, he is presumed to have been killed and Mickey8 is created. But Mickey7 is not dead and there’s a strict prohibition against two duplicates living at the same time. Both being fully human, neither Mickey7 nor Mickey8 is willing to die. But in a cramped outpost where food is strictly rationed, how, and for how long, will they keep their secret?

Author Edward Ashton has done a wonderful job imagining and building the world of Niflheim and its fledgling human colony. He’s populated that colony with terrific characters, especially Mickey7, who narrates the tail with a charmingly cynical kind of gallows humor. Ashton’s descriptions are clear and evocative. His dialogue is realistic and engaging. And while he’s telling his very good story filled with risk and adventure, not to mention romantic entanglements, Ashton also manages to impart several messages about humanity’s foibles without being preachy or hitting readers over the head.

Mickey7 wins on two counts: originality and an engrossing story. For me, the mark of a memorable book is if I get annoyed when I’m forced to stop reading due to silly demands such as work or housecleaning. This novel drew me in within the first 25 pages or so and kept me engrossed until the very end with a mild but satisfying twist I didn’t see coming.

The originality is reality. While the novel takes place in a far, far future, it remains grounded in physical laws rather than positing FTL drives or wormholes or warping from galaxy to galaxy. Humanity has spread to many planetary systems during the gap from our time to the novel’s setting. The diaspora, as the narrator/protagonist calls it, was due to a scary event on Earth that figures into the story toward the very end. It wasn't nor is it now, an easy journey.

A good deal of the reality sense I got throughout the book was due to the narrator’s storytelling ability when he relates some of the history of the diaspora’s colonization some of which had less than stellar outcomes. Unlike other duplication novels I’ve read, this one does go into the psychological effects of such a technology should it ever exist as well as the ancient riddle about the Ship of Theseus.

There is an overuse of the now grown tedious F-bomb. Yes, authors, you can use it and still be published. Now that the point’s been made, how about exercising your creativity and finding some substitutes to this boring repetition? There is also some implied but not graphic sexual behavior.

This is a complete book rather than the lead in to a series. Even so, the author has created a fertile universe that I’d enjoy visiting again. In sum, I find the novelty of reality in a science fiction book set in the far future enticing.

Mickey is an Expendable. His job description literally is to be expendable. I love the idea of this and the reasoning behind it. There are some jobs machines just can't do as well as humans, but these jobs could be potentially dangerous for said humans…so, what do you do?

I liked Mickey as the narrator of the story. He's a bit quirky, funny, and a loyal friend. My only question is what happens next? I love a good standalone, but I really want to know what happens to Mickey and the colony on Niflheim.

I love that this book is set so many years in the future after so many advances in science and technology, but the basis is just humans doing what humans do best…Hostile takeovers, killing anything that they don't find useful, and destroying beautiful worlds to fit their own agenda. It's humanity.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A different kind of SciFi book. The characters were interesting and the story was intriguing.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #Danielle Steel, and #Random house for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received a targeted ad from NetGalley describing this book as "The Martian meets Dark Matter". Hard to resist that description. While it's not as devour-able as either of those books it was still a good read.

My favorite sections were the flashbacks, which served as world-building devices to show how humanity got to this point and give little glimpses at other colony missions, both successes and failures.

I also enjoyed the relationship among the four main characters. At one point I was sure it would go in an annoying Young Adult romance direction, but it instead developed in a more realistic and mature way.

Mickey7 is that interesting cross between “hard science” fiction and space opera that has become popular with books like “The Martian”. The titular character is an “expendable” on a new colony of humans seeking to build a city on a planet they can Nelflheim. As an “Expendable” Mickey’s consciousness, experiences, and memories are uploaded to a central system, ready for download into a newly printed body when he is terminated. In practice, this simply means that Mickey is assigned to tasks which can easily be turned into a situation where he dies easily.
What is really interesting about the story, is how the author managed to blend the dangers of space exploration and colonization of other planets with underlying social commentary about religion, colonization in general, and what we define as sentience and intelligence. There is also some subtle commentary aimed at those in the military who often try to turn grey area situations into black and white solutions. Highly recommended to fans of Andy Weir’s books.

Mickey7

Oh Mickey Barnes, what a character you are! Your verbalized thoughts are amusing but, usually, spot on the situation you’re in. The dilemmas you find yourself in are when your humanity comes into play and is not totally understood by others….and your intentions are good.

The whole concept of an Expendable is one brought on by necessity for a dying planet yet is a perfect solution to the problems of space travel. Visualize an Expendable as a human version of Star Trek Next Generation Commander Data, a resource to be used in unusual, meaning lethal, circumstances but able to be re-used over and over.

I really enjoyed this book as I found the plot entertaining, progress of the tale moved along promptly and didn’t ask a reader to stretch the imagination too much

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

Mickey7 has so much potential. I love the world building. I'm not one that likes for the world to be slowly revealed, almost like the setting is as much a part of the plot as the actual plot.. Mickey7 does a good job of letting you know everything you need to know about the world the characters inhabit and then tells the story. I consider that a plus. Even better were the more detailed descriptions about the universe. For me, the world building was the best part.

Another PRO: There are so many ethical dilemmas brought up and I really enjoyed how the book worked through them. For example, the religious objection (I wont go into details to preserve the plot) was dealt with in a unique way that did not caricature modern religious readers. That's a big deal for me as a religious man. Too many books criticize modern religion, especially Christianity, with thinly veiled caricatures and straw man arguments. This is not a religious book in the least and it presents a believable, consistent, and unique belief system to bounce the moral and ethical problems off of. The discussion on the ethical ramifications of the plot is good, not great, but still good.

Con: The book just ends. I thought the plot was really developing and there was so much potential but then the plot just abruptly ends. The first 2/3 of the book were a 4 star, maybe even 5 star book. But the last 1/3 of the book and the way everything ended made the book a 3 star. You should still read the book though! It's a fulfilling, if not completely satisfying conclusion. It seemed like the author got tired of writing and just wrapped it up as fast as they could. I would have loved to see how the story unfolded after some revelations. I wanted to see the same level of detail and world building put into the universe be put into the conclusion and resolution of the plot. I would like to see a sequel but with how the book ended, I imagine they would have to retcon some things. Who knows?

I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed Mickey 7, which I read in one sitting. Good pacing, good dialogue, a well defined main character(s), good love story, and classic SF problem story. It certainly uses traditional SF tropes - recorded consciousness, cloning, colonization - but inventively. I liked the world building, for example, the explanation for the prejudice against “multiples”. The narrative is initially tricky as you sort out Mickeys but proceeds smoothly and compellingly. The flaws for me were a two-dimensional villain and too pat an ending, but not enough to detract from my strong positive reaction.

I’ve been in the mood for some good new science fiction and this book fit the bill perfectly. It’s a hip, fresh and fun space adventure with just the right balance of action, science and humorous touches. Very entertaining production.
So, meet Mickey7…the seventh reiteration of the same person, but no mere clone, he retains all the memories of his previous forms, he just gets reprinted, over and over again. Because he gets dead over and over again. Because he signed up for a crazy mission and now that’s his life.
Mickey is an Expendable on a colonization mission to a distant planet, in a distant future where colonization efforts are all the rage. This particular planet isn’t especially habitable, but has a lot of potential, and it’s up to a team of nearly 200 people to categorize and optimize this potential, so that it can be seeded with all the embryos they brought with them.
Mickey’s crucial to the mission, a sort of royal tester, in space. Mickey’s also the only one mad enough to volunteer for this position. Some of the colonists, the Natalists, including the mission’s commander, don’t even consider him a real person anymore, but are still aware of his inherent worth. The thing they don’t want, though, the thing no one really wants, including Mickey himself, are two Mickeys, and yet, following a mission snafu, that’s exactly what occurs. Mickey7, written off for dead, survives and comes back to find a freshly printed Mickey8 in his bunk. Shenanigans ensue…
The book is really too elaborate to describe as a mere clone comedy, though it did remind me of that recent blink and miss it Paul Rudd tv show where he also found himself sharing life with a clone, after a snafu. That production wouldn’t even be saved by Paul Rudd’s considerable (and doubled charm), but this one works and works well. It hits all the right notes in all the right respects, follows its internal logistics tightly and spins a fascinating and compelling narrative of wildly imaginative, well crafted future. Very respectable world building, very fun, dynamic writing. There’s so much to like here. I enjoyed reading this book very much. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.