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Mickey 7 (review)

 


A couple of years ago I remember seeing the book Mickey 7 (by Edward Ashton) on bookshelves in the library, in bookstores, and other places. It seemed to be popular. I remember seeing it, but it didn’t generate any interest in me. Maybe I associated it with baseball. Mickey Mantle was the most prominent baseball player when I was growing up. I never really liked baseball. Or, maybe I associated it with the Toni Basil song “Mickey.” I never really liked that song. Maybe it was the cover? Whatever the reason, I never picked it up or even sought to see what it was about.

Then I heard someone talking about it, and thought I would give it a try. Okay, I liked it. The Mickey of the title is in a group of colonists trying to scratch out a living on a cold barren planet. Mickey has an unusual job. He has the job the no one should want. He is an “expendable.” His body and brain patterns have been fully recorded, and should he die (he definitely will die, and that is not a spoiler) a new body will be printed and his memories implanted and a new Mickey will emerge. Thus, expendables (there is only one on this colony) are given all the most dangerous jobs, the suicide missions. As you may have now guessed from the title, the Mickey we meet is the seventh iteration, or incarnation, or, edition and by now he has realized that this being an expendable business is no fun. Not only is there the dying over and over in gruesome ways, but the other members of the crew tend to give him a wide berth. Most of them consider him “other,” maybe not quite human. Does he even have a soul? There are religious factions that consider him an abomination, a useful abomination, but still an abomination.

He does have two friends that make it bearable, his friend Berto and his girlfriend Nasha. Berto is a bit of a scoundrel, but Nasha loves Mickey unconditionally, even if he is the seventh version of himself. When the crisis comes (and you know it will) Berto may not be much help, but we are confident that Nasha will stand by him.

When the idea of becoming an expendable is first pitched to him the image of immortality is presented to him. But is it immortality if you die and your memories are put into a new body?  If your consciousness comes to an end, what is that thing in the next body? Food for thought.

It is a decent story, but what I love most is the dark humor. It reminded me a bit of The Martian by Andy Weir and maybe even some hints of John Scalzi’s Redshirts. However much he is disrespected, Mickey seems an indominable spirit. He bends but doesn’t break. I see that Edward Ashton has written a sequel to Mickey 7. Bring it on.

Star Liner

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