“I’m Not Crazy!” A Space Story

4 out of 5 stars

This one took me a little longer to get into than I expected it to.  I think I started it too close to another book that I absolutely loved this year.  I started this very close to when I finished Obscura by Joe Hart and it had this feeling that it was going to be a similar story.  While it was, I thought that Newman was able to write a poignant story that covered a lot of topics.

The character of Anna was different than your average female protagonist and in a really good way.  She’s flawed and in ways that a lot of people can’t understand or follow.  I won’t get into the reason that Newman gives her but I respect the heck out of it.  I know that not all woman reacts to things in the same way and I liked that she covered a couple different stigmas around women.  (This feels a little cryptic but I don’t like to give away spoilers when I can avoid them).

The story itself was something that I ended up really getting into the deeper I got into Before Mars.  Newman painted a world that felt flawed in some way.  A way that Anna couldn’t really understand either but I wanted to figure it out with her.  The last hour or so of the book I was totally enthralled.  The reveal and ending really surprised me – I wasn’t sure what was coming but I couldn’t predict it.

Overall, I found myself enjoying Before Mars quite a bit.  It wasn’t a perfect book by any means – but the topics it discussed and the way in which it made me as a reader feel as confused and concerned as Anna was pretty cool.

I did not read any of the other Planetfall books and I don’t think that I needed to.  I can’t tell exactly what would be in them but I’m intrigued by the world that Newman wrote in Before Mars – so I imagine those others books are similar.

Add in the narration by the author and it’s an enjoyable book with a sprint to the finish.

Book Description:

Before Mars by Emma Newman
Narrator: Emma Newman
Length: 12 hrs
Series: Planetfall #3
Published by Tantor Audio on April 17th 2018
Genres: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction
Also by this author: Atlas Alone
Also in this series: Atlas Alone
Brian
Latest posts by Brian (see all)

Related Posts

Leave a Reply