Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton is a continuation of his previous book, Mickey7, which I enjoyed. I enjoyed this one as well. It was fast-paced with a lot of action and characters that you just love! If you read Mickey7, definitely check out this one!

I AM A VERY BAD MAN. I read this book in November 2022, made some notes on a document last computer, and...brain being its usual saboteur self...filed it as "done and dusted" thus forgetting to write an actual review.

Thank all those useless gods I never delete documents.

This is textbook idiotry. Guard against this carelessness, all y'all, and you will maintain your good standing with the review aggregators. Perfectionism is Public Enemy #1 for book reviewers, that is if they want to have their pick of the goodest of the good stuff to read. I am super lucky in that I do get a lot of excellent reads, but a chunk of disappointing turndowns too.

But enough about me, let's discuss Author Ashton's second Mickey7 novel. Well...this is Blogger so no one can talk to me here so I'm more or less soliloquizing. Still.

I hope you've read Mickey7 and seen Mickey 17 by now. If not I strongly urge you to do so; the latter in a theater. I'll say that the film deserves a sequel mostly because Niflheim is such a great visual experience, and seeing that cast (as necessarily amended) perform this story would be a major hoot. Robert Pattinson's endearing turn as an Expendable reformed many many times...eighteen to be precise...was pitch-perfect. This idea of slave labor made palatable to bourgeois sensibilities by being done by not-quite humans is one I've enjoyed since encountering it in Doctor Who's Eleventh Doctor episode "The Almost People" in 2011. I'm quite sure the earlier written versions, eg Cordwainer Smith's Scanners or the opposite end of the social scale of Richard K. Morgan's "Meths,", provided some inspiration for the Expendables and are due a lot of credit, but for me seeing the embodiment of the slave class as people-but-not-quite created by technology was a key a-ha moment.

Mickey7, now back to being Mickey Barnes after the events of the first book, is no longer considered an Expendable. He is also now the only person on Niflheim who can communicate with the planet's aboriginal inhabitants, the creepers. Interspecies harmony is, as always seems to be the case when equals share territory, conditional and intermittent. As this story opens, things are about to bust into open conflict because the creepers have The Bomb, just as the colonists need to use it for the fuel they'll need to survive a Niflheim winter. (Funny how it's always okay for the colonizers to have The Bomb but never the aboriginals.)

As he can communicate with them after a fashion, he's privy to a fact...the creepers seem to have another enemy besides the colonists...that could bring about a more secure peace as well as get The Bomb's fissile material back before winter comes to freeze the colonists into personcicles. Nothing like ganging up on a common enemy to create a warm glow of camaraderie, is there.

Shorter and lighter than Mickey7, this read was from the off one I'd hold to a lower standard. It's truly as fun a read as the first was, it's a solidly executed plot, and it has the great good fortune of lifting a lighter psychic load than its older sibling. Most of the hardest to explain stuff is already explained. We're more about learning Mickey7's mannerisms and exploring his human limitations. I think it was a lot less substantive (not always a bad thing), and as stated above, would greatly enjoy a film of it. Not very likely as Director Bong's not a maven for sequels.

The ethical considerations of colonialism are less weighty than those of slavery to my mind. That makes this story a very easy-to-enjoy diversion.

I think I enjoyed the first book better, but this was still an action-packed time! There was some great wit, and I enjoy the characters a lot, but the pacing wasn't for me.

I love this author so much. I had so much fun reading this. Truly one of the most creative scifi I've come across. I think I liked Mickey 7 just a bit more but not by much.

Edward Ashton is a treasure, and his Mickey novels have all been uniformly excellent. I’m a huge fan of the characters and the ideas he explores here. Buy this book!

Antimatter Blues (Mickey7 #2) continues the saga of Mickey Barnes, our lackadaisical savior. Ashton sticks to his guns with the humor that invested us in Mickey7 and turns the world-building up to 11 here in the sequel, providing more thrills and action planet-side. Highly recommended for those that enjoy sci-fi on the lighter side with fast-paced, witty prose and a good dose of silliness.

I really just didn't like this one. I don't think a book two was necessary for this world and it did not improve on the story or the characters. The characters still feel overly cliche and only there to move the story forward in whatever direction the author wanted rather than being fleshed out characters with interesting personalities. I wasn't really keen on the first one, but I hoped that maybe book two would be better.

A fine sequel. This is a well written, fast paced, engaging book. It has some fine lines, amusing mild snark, a generally amiable tone, and a few well-conceived set pieces. It's also good, sometimes pointed, fun. I would encourage inquisitive readers who like playing with sci-fi genre conventions to give the book a try.

3,5 stars.
This is an okay sequel to a great first book. What I enjoyed the most in Antimatter Blues is the fun adventure plot and the expansion of the world. I loved meeting the new character who part of a complex and weird alien species and its interactions with the crew. However, there is not much character development and thus some emotional bits fell flat for me.

Anti-Matter Blues is an exciting follow-up to Mickey-7, with a few twists and enough humor to make it a thoroughly satisfying read.

This was a strong sequel to Mickey7 and strengthened the characters and world that we got to know in the first book. It was very interesting to learn more about the other beings and their ways in this book. Would definitely continue reading this author and more books in this world.

A fine sequel and coda to the first book. The ending felt a little rushed, but otherwise really enjoyed. Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC

Representation: Not much, a few BIPOC supporting characters.

Rating: 3.5/5 This is an follow up to Mickey7, so I won’t go into much detail. I thought it was an interesting sequel, considering where the last one left off. It was a mostly quiet and slow paced book, and got into the higher stakes much later in the story. I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t wowed by it.

First off, when I chose this book I didn't realize it was the second book of a series. Did I go find book one and devour both books in two days? Absolutely.

Now, Antimatter Blues takes place a little over 2 years after the end of book one (Micky7). There is so much to unpack. The colony finally settled on a planet, but the planet is already inhabited by a species that is so much more intelligent than they ever expected them to be. That's not the only problem however, the colony is running out of fuel and that intelligent species has their only fuel source... or they did.

They traded it to another primal intelligent species to stop a war from breaking out. Well guess what the humans do? You guessed it!

Who will win between an all out war between not one but two intelligent sentient beings on their home turf and the human invaders looking to build a new life? And what about that power source that the rest colony needs for survival?

Mickey has such attitude and is funny, I really enjoyed Edward Ashton's Mickey 7. A disposable clone, Mickey has what it takes to stand out and be the hero that the world needs AGAIN. But, he also has numerous obstacles to overcome to get to be the hero. I definitely thinking this is a case where reading the first book just makes book two make more sense. (That's my recommendation)

Now he has a bomb to recover, the creepers to make peace with, characters on his ship like Marshall to handle and a possible copy of himself getting into danger. What could possibly go wrong?/

I enjoyed the writing and the continuation of the first book. Mickey is a likeable guy with a witty personality, the plot moved along and left me wondering what would happen several times. Definitely enjoyed!

Science fiction is a hit or miss, but this was good. I enjoyed the first book more but a fun follow up sequel filled with clones, aliens and plenty of twists.

I loved the first book in this series. This second one is also fantastic. Mickey7 is such a fun character and the world building in this series is my favorite part. I would devour a fake history book from this universe.

4.5 stars. The only reason I’m not giving this book 5 stars is because Mickey7, the original book in the series, is a tough act to follow and it was the first installment in what I hope will be many to come. Edward Ashton has done a phenomenal job with his world-building and I was throughly engrossed by the story until the very end. His characters showed growth from the original book and we come to know much more about the inhabitants of Niflgard. I am thrilled that they have filmed a movie based on Mickey7 ‘and can’t wait to see it. The cast is first-rate!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mickey7 was one of my absolute favorites last year and I was so excited for the sequel! While I did enjoy this, it didn’t have the same fresh feeling as Mickey7 did for me. However, it was still a fun and enjoyable sci-fi novel.

This is the second book in a series, which I didn’t know when I picked it up. The clues were all there but I simply didn’t notice. It wasn’t too hard to get into the swing of things, however. I would have had a better grasp on the characters and the setting if I had read the previous book, and it would have deepened my enjoyment of the book, but I don’t feel like I was missing so much as to make Anti-Matter Blues impossible to read.

Mickey is so funny. His attitude about everything is so flippant, but he’s also quite smart. He’s not like genius level intelligent, but he’s got a practical level of smarts that makes him relatable and easy to understand. He gets the ball rolling and has a lot of good ideas. He’s also quite brash, which makes sense when you consider that he’s a clone who was basically disposable until recently. It’s hard to get over that fact even if you aren’t having duplicates made of yourself anymore. Which is honestly a perk because I imagine being killed, and remembering it, isn’t the best thing to go through time and again.

The mind of the creepers, and how they viewed humans, was fascinating to see. Each person is an independent body, which is hard for the creepers to grasp, since so many of their people are disposable. Only their prime is not expendable, but to humans, each human is a prime.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy good old fashioned space science fiction, similar to Ender’s Game in my mind, with lower stakes and less stress. It’s fun, it’s a quick read, and there’s a little bit of stress and mystery, so predicting the ending isn’t necessarily possible right from the beginning. It would definitely be good for middle grade and up. Easy to understand, with good messages regarding the sanctity of human life and what people can do to protect it, as well as reminding humans that they’re probably not all that’s out there and to think so is kind of dumb. Even if we can’t see it yet, it feels unlikely that humans are the only sentient life in the entire universe.