Mickey7 - Edward Ashton
Years ago I was still going to the library when I could, and I was desperately in a cyberpunk mood but had difficulty finding a cyberpunk book. Some might not want to read this next part, but I literally prayed that I could find one before it was time to go. Well, whether or not you believe in God doesn't change the fact that I found that book: Three Days in April by Edward Ashton. Its warning sign cover screamed “maybe cyberpunk” to me, and sure enough, the back of the book didn't just confirm that genre, but the comedy genre as well. Borrowed it, almost loved it. Easy 9/10 for me. But I had difficulty finding his other books.
Years later, I look through a list of upcoming movies and find one called “Mickey 17.” The name was familiar, and I was already famiiar with the director attached to it: South Korean genius Bong-Joon Ho of Parasite fame. But when I clicked the article, the name “Edward Ashton” was all it took for me to want to get to a book store. And this was just after I already used up a fifty dollar gift card for Barnes and Noble on two Stephen Kings and one Gaiman (and a pistachio latte). But I got another birthday gift card, and my family finally had the opportunity to reach a Barnes & Noble. I got Mickey7 and its sequel, Antimatter Blues. After getting through some older goals and cataloguing them here, I finally got around to Mickey7.
I finished the entire thing in one day. Lightly speedreading it, I was able to get through 30 pages in ten minutes and finished the book in roughly two hours while listening to some new albums released in the last two weeks. My final consensus is simple: as much as I like Three Days in April, this book blew it out of the water in all respects.
This is a story about an Expendable named Mickey working on colonizing a dead planet, and gaining a new cloned body every time he dies. Except, this time, he was only presumed dead before a new Mickey was created. Both Mickey's operate as separate characters very well, and perfectly natural within the context of how two clones would act if they were used to the very idea as "perfectly plausible" and "part of normal life." Ashton captures the idea of bouncing characters beautifully, especially in the context of worrying about discovery. In fact, for a while the leading threat is his strict and religious boss, who largely does things by the book but can't deny that his religious beliefs play a part in his decisions. Watching Mickey dodge his antics and screw him over is a real treat, one that makes you wanna hi-five Mickey right in the soul.
And the twists? Well, any real off-world future tale with a hint of dystopia needs that, and we get more than our fair share off these. In fact, the story's strongest aspect is how well Ashton develops his world and narrates it as a perfectly natural world to live on. Every bit of future-world exploration is driven by the kind of "cheap-ass powers above giving you crap to live on" that you'd find in other sci-fi stories, like the ration cards, or even the gruel with more scientific terms like "cycler paste." It might be the future, but there will always be people living in crap just to make a living to begin with. Excellent work there.
I knew I'd like Mickey7 a lot if it was easily better than Three Days in April, I didn't think I'd like Mickey7 this much! It gives me pretty much everything I ask for in a great novel: excellent world-development, twisty plotting, personality and a natural feel. I can honestly day that I consider this a perfect novel. Ashton has proven his genius with this one. Glad I read it all in one day. It was one hell of a ride.
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