Jane Killick kicks off Aconyte Books’ range of novels based on the Terraforming Mars board game with In the Shadow of Deimos, a tale of the red planet that’s equal parts mystery and adventure. When Luka Schäfer arrives on Mars as an immigrant worker from Earth, keen to forget his past and lose himself in work, the last thing he expects is to watch an asteroid flatten a research station and kill a technician. All his plans are swept away when he’s recruited to replace the dead man and convinced to put his old skills to use, only to find himself drawn into the mystery of what his predecessor had been doing before his death. Meanwhile Julie Outerbridge, head of the United Nations Mars Initiative (UNMI), is maneuvered into leading an investigation into the crash in an attempt to understand what went wrong.
It’s a fantastic central concept, taking the inherent tension at the heart of Terraforming Mars – ruthless corporations competing for opportunities as they scramble to stake their claim on Mars’ resources, while a supposedly neutral organisation (UNMI) gets caught in the middle with little actual power – and ramping up the awesomeness by focusing on the most bombastic of terraforming methods…crashing asteroids into the surface of Mars! Add in Luka’s painful personal history, sinister secrets within the corporation he’s employed by, sacrifices made by both main characters, lashings of corporate corruption, a politically-driven investigation led by a deeply principled woman, not to mention the many and varied dangers of life on Mars, and you’ve got the recipe for a pacy, entertaining read.
While Luka’s arc has arguably the greater weight, the narrative alternates between his and Julie’s points of view, the two of them proving to be interestingly different characters – in terms of background, agency and awareness of the big picture on Mars – but with a similar inability to let a mystery go. As the two plot strands gradually converge they cover lots of ground, exploring a little of what everyday life is like for both migrant workers and more privileged corporate staff, and taking Luka and Julie across the surface of Mars both in and out of human habitations, and in and out of danger too. It’s all relatively light touch, always emphasising character and mystery over the science and technology – there’s a bit of interesting space-related science but it’s there in the background and doesn’t dominate – and avoiding going too dark in terms of tone.
While this might be a long way from a dark, hard-sci-fi book, it’s still a serious story with some serious themes. The generally light tone and the breezy pace of the plot nicely suit this sort of mystery/adventure story, but there’s plenty to think about in the exploration of how corporate greed comes into conflict with good old-fashioned human endeavour – whether you’re familiar with Terraforming Mars or just a sci-fi fan in general. At times a few of the key moments do speed past a bit too quickly and lose a little impact, especially towards the end as the pace really picks up, and a touch of narrative convenience creeps in now and then, but the plot and the characters are all sufficiently well thought-out and delivered that the entertainment never falls away. For anyone interested in a pacy, enjoyable mystery set to the backdrop of corporate competition for the red planet, this is well worth a look.
Many thanks to Aconyte Books and Jane Killick for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review – In the Shadow of Deimos is out now as a global ebook and US paperback, with the UK paperback following in November.
See also: my interview with Jane Killick talking about In the Shadow of Deimos.
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