Mars Girls in Minions Read and Review

Sep 19, 2019 bex rated it really liked it

The first thing I realized about this book was that the voice is much different from most of the other things I’ve read from Apex, including the majority of shorts in the couple mixed-author collections I’ve read. Don’t open this one expecting a dark, brooding tone. Despite dealing with some serious topics, the voice is surprisingly chipper. Both main characters have a certain youthful optimism that pervades the entire story in a cheeriness I hadn’t expected after selections like Sing Me Your Sc The first thing I realized about this book was that the voice is much different from most of the other things I’ve read from Apex, including the majority of shorts in the couple mixed-author collections I’ve read. Don’t open this one expecting a dark, brooding tone. Despite dealing with some serious topics, the voice is surprisingly chipper. Both main characters have a certain youthful optimism that pervades the entire story in a cheeriness I hadn’t expected after selections like Sing Me Your Scars or The Kraken Sea.

But this vivaciousness is appealing in its own way and the tension of the plot will keep you turning pages. I am impressed by the variety and consistency of the world’s created vernacular and slang. The immediate understandability kept me rooted in the story and the word choices helped bring this future Mars colony to life.

Mars Girls has very much a YA feel to it. I don’t have kids myself, but I’d definitely be happy to read this one with my teen nieces and nephews. It’s probably a bit beyond what the 8-year-old would be ready for, but likely by the time she’s twelve. But don’t let the young protagonists turn you off as an adult reader either. The plot and worldbuilding was plenty strong enough to keep me enthralled.

Both main characters are extremely well-developed. They have strengths and weaknesses and progress and grow through their journey.

Only one thing about this book didn’t work well for me. And that’s on me, not the author. The one main character was extremely boy-fixated and I never connected well with that. I hated it as a teen girl myself and don’t love it now. But the attitudes of the second main character and alternating POVs kept it from being enough to put me off the book.

Overall I really enjoyed the writing. It kept me turning pages and kept my mind off my usual aches and pains exactly like I need books to do. I don’t have enough science background to comment on the viability of the tech, but it seemed credible to me and nothing ever felt off.

I’d definitely be interested in more stories from this world or other works by this author. That’s really the most telling thing of how good fiction is–whether the author has me eager to come back for more.

Overall I’d give it 4 stars, but the only negative here is personal taste. Don’t let my own teenage baggage keep you from checking out this adventure. And remember that the second MC is a very different character and provides an excellent counterpoint perspective.

The girls deserve for you to get to know them and their world yourself and make your own decision. Or for you to share them with a young adult reader. Hook that next generation of speculative fiction readers while you can! ...more

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Nov 15, 2017 Maverynthia rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: apex-minions

Too much Jargon plus a rape plot. I got this book from Apex via their Apex Minions program in trade for an honest review Diversity: Kapera is black as is her parents. There are a few side character that are Asian? Maybe. It's hard to tell their true culture as the author seems to have mashed this culture with that culture.The first thing that put me off to this book is the piles of jargon they dump on you. We have hab-rat, mears, cuys, kweez and a ton others. While there is some explanation for Too much Jargon plus a rape plot. I got this book from Apex via their Apex Minions program in trade for an honest review Diversity: Kapera is black as is her parents. There are a few side character that are Asian? Maybe. It's hard to tell their true culture as the author seems to have mashed this culture with that culture.The first thing that put me off to this book is the piles of jargon they dump on you. We have hab-rat, mears, cuys, kweez and a ton others. While there is some explanation for some of them, you forget it by the time the next one has come up.Another thing that majorly put me off was the rape part later on in the book. It's basically "we have to rape you to repopulate stuff". This is due to the Facer religion who have "face bindis" on their heads. Not sure if it's cultural appropriation however it made me face palm. A face bindi is a tiny face on the head that usually shows the true emotions of the wearer. So these Facers basically want to go back to Earth and start some colony or something, I was confused about where they were going but it was going to take 100 years to get there.So of course Nanoannie, one of our heroes, has to be forcibly married to someone so he can rape her and she can get pregnant. Fortunately she's married to a guy that doesn't have an interest in her as she has no interest in him. However it implies both with the men leering at the unwilling women in the church and later with just mentioning the other women, that they are raped.I should mention that Nanoannie is around 14 years old. Yeah.Next is Kapera. She has leukemia so a good portion of the book she is unconscious. The only black character with a major speaking part is devoiced for a good portion of the book. I rally can't recall why she's important to the book other than having a micro disc and her relationship to her parents who are the research scientists. She's also not "African" but the jargon term "Kiafrican" which is not explained how that came about.Overall I'm not really sure what the major plot is as the duo is kidnapped and escapes capture many times. It really isn't until the middle of the book the plot seems to appear. Given the many names and corporation name drops it's really hard to follow who is with who.What really killed any final interest in this is when Nanoannie has Kapera wrist-com and types out in bad phoneticish words. It was hard to read, and with the "hic" when she has hiccups in the cuy ball every line,I just stopped caring.It doesn't really strongly establish it's characters from the start so trying to remember what's going on is hard. It also like to borrow and mash up different cultures and has a good portion that is a rape plot. ...more

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