Lindsay's Reviews > The Mars House

Mars has been colonized and long enough ago that there is a large population of "natural" humans there that are genetically modified and developmentally acclimated to one third gravity and a much colder average temperature than Earth. January was once the principal ballet dancer at the London Ballet, but in an era of end-stage climate emergency, he's now a refugee on Mars. He's also "Earthstrong", three times stronger than the fragile natural human population, and very much a second class citizen. Due to the huge numbers of accidental deaths caused by Earthstrongers living alongside natural humans, all Earthstrongers are required to wear resistance cages (exoskeletons designed to impede movement), and limited in terms of position in society. There's societal pressure on Earthstrong people to "naturalize", a ghastly procedure that results in varying degrees of nerve damage, drastically shortened lifespan and is sometimes fatal.

For obvious reasons, January is reluctant to naturalize, but when he encounters a politician, Aubrey Gale, who backs a policy of forced naturalization of all immigrants, January finds himself caught up in political intrigue between the great houses of Martian government.

So first off, I have to acknowledge some of the reviews of this novel by Chinese readers which strongly criticize the depiction of Asian people and cultures in this book. I am not equipped to make a judgement here and I'm far too white to be defending this element of the book. I felt that I'd learned something from the book, particularly around linguistics, but I'll keep the criticisms in mind.

In other respects, I thought the depiction of a Mars colony was really well done, assuming certain elements have come to pass because of technology that the author wisely chooses not to go into (propulsion and terraforming technology mainly, but the level of genetic engineering here is also not very believable). I think the politics of the Tharsis colony was probably the most realistic thing about this, with a pro-independence party (Gale's) and a pro-colonial party (the current Consul's party). With the Chinese government on Earth trying to re-exert control of their wayward colony and vast numbers of Earthstrong refugees incoming, this is a crisis time in local politics.

I really liked the slow-burn between the leads, with January in such a vulnerable position (despite and sometimes because of his overwhelming physical strength) and Aubrey in such a naive privileged one. The Mars colony as it is, is a genderless one, and while this is commented on throughout and is a source of friction with immigrants, it's something that I thought could have been better explored in explaining familial processes as well as more on the production of children through artificial wombs.

I though overall that it was a good read and I enjoyed it, but be careful to read the reviews from Chinese people.