Mickey7

Ashton channels a great mix of the ???fool??? protagonist, and the underdog story that pulls some pretty complex schemes to get the upper hand in some sticky situations. It goes in thinking, ???Let???s not just use a crash test dummy for experimentation, lets make the dummy into a character that can be cloned, completely expendable, and see how his relationships develop in an isolated space station!??? Mickey 7 was such a fun and light read. It was a mix of the fantastic Sam Rockwell film ???Moon??? and the Paul Rudd Netflix show ???Living with Yourself???. It leans more to the classic Scalzi side of humor and wit with a more modern Andy Weir kind of feel (with less science). I felt like Mickey had the perfect personality of being a schlubby pushover when it came to doing his duty, but evolves to be the mastermind of his own destiny as the book proceeds.

“At this point, you may be wondering what i did to get myself designated as an Expendable. Must have been something awful, right? Murdered a puppy, maybe? Pushed an old lady down a staircase?”

The story wrestles with the conflict of what makes you ???You??? if you were to be duplicated with all your previous memories. It asks ???are you really the same person????. When you???re brought face to face with yourself in a life or death situation, what would you do? Would you fight to live even though there???s another ???you??? already out there? Some of those questions I found pretty interesting and I think the book handled them really well. It???s about understanding yourself as well as understanding others. There???s also a layer of the believers in a fictional religion who declares clones as ???abominations???. Which puts another hurdle into Mickey???s ability to develop some relationships within the crew,

“Here???s a thought experiment for you: Imagine you found out that when you goto sleep at night, you don???t just go to sleep. You die. You die, and someone else wakes up in your place the next morning. He???s got all your memories. He???s got all your hopes and dreams and fears and wishes???
Ask yourself??? Would it make any practical difference in your life? Is there any way that you could even tell?”


The ???creepers??? in this story initially feel like the monstrous ???shoot first ??? they just want to eat us??? type and it takes the untrained naivete of a nobody like Mickey to haphazardly understand these creatures. I enjoyed how that concept evolved through the book as well. The supporting cast was also a great mix of personalities and every scene with the Marshall left my sides hurting with laughter. The audio narration for Marshall was fantastic ??? very ???Full Metal Jacket drill Sgt.??? and the moments in the book where there is dialog through his ocular, the audio transforms that into a walkie-talkie radio transmission, and he doesn???t identify the call signs every time which I thought was a nice touch and really helps it flow.

Mickey7 pulls off the impossible by flawlessly weaving gallows humor in a blanket of optimism and empathy. Ashton has found his voice and earns my ???Top Reads??? spotlight. I hope he continues to explore these kind of tropes and sprinkle in his authentic brand of humor.

Quick, silly two day read during a bout with Covid. About what my brain could handle. In better hands, the idea could have been really well done. As is, it passed the time

Pros: great premise, interesting characters

Cons:

Mickey Barnes is the expendable for the Niflheim beachhead colony, which means if there's a dangerous job, he's the one doing it. So it's not surprising that when his seventh iteration falls into a deep hole he's left for dead. Unfortunately when he makes it back to base a new copy of himself is sleeping in his bed. Multiples are the biggest taboo, so the Mickeys must hide what they are even as trouble is brewing with the planet's indigenous lifeforms.

This book was a lot of fun to read. It's quick paced and engaging, with Mickey7 including important incidents from his past while narrating the events of the present.

I went from thinking of Mickey7 as a decent guy, then kind of a jerk, then back to being a decent guy. Some of his history paints him in a bad light though it seems dying multiple times has improved his character somewhat. I really liked Nasha and thought their relationship was great.

The book poses some interesting ethical questions without delving too deeply into them or dwelling on them for long. It's mostly a lighthearted read.

The world-building was great. There was a lot more explanation about the larger universe than I expected, with Mickey explaining things about life on his homeworld, Midgard, and some of the other colonies (successful & failed).

The ending ties together all the various narratives Mickey throws at you. I especially loved how his study of history gave him insight into how to think of the native species.

If you like easygoing, sometimes humorous, sometimes serious SF, give this a go.