Audiobook Review: Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Macmillan Audio (February 15, 2022)
Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrators: John Pirhalla, Katharine Chin
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton is light-hearted sci-fi romp, with space colonization, alien first contact, and even cloning themes to boot. Nothing really too new or deep to see here, but it’s undeniably entertaining!
The story follows Mickey Barnes, or the seventh iteration of him, to be more precise. He is an Expendable, the one job nobody wants but that every expedition needs, especially when you’re looking to colonize an inhospitable ice planet like Niflheim. Mickey’s job title is exactly what it sounds like—every time there’s a mission too dangerous, they send him in, and if he dies, they’ll simply regenerate a new clone of him, with his memories mostly intact. The reason he’s in this position is because the original Mickey had gotten himself in a bit of trouble on his home planet, and needed a reason to get off-world fast. A history major, he had few marketable skills and the only opening available on the Niflheim expedition was Expendable, a job one only takes willingly if they are crazy or desperate. Mickey was the latter.
But that original Mickey is long gone. The current iteration is Mickey7, which means he’s experienced six deaths—most of them of a violent or gruesome nature. By now he’s well aware of what it means to be Expendable, and how that might influence the way the rest of the crew perceives him. So, he shouldn’t have been surprised when he is left for dead after falling down a deep tunnel during a scouting mission on the planet surface. Only, he manages to survive, but by the time he makes his way back to the colony base, Mickey8 had already been created.
This leads to a predicament. The rules for Expendables are very clear—there can only ever be one version of Mickey in existence; any duplicates must be destroyed. Protocol would require either Mickey7 or Mickey8 to be disposed of in the recycler, but when the time comes, neither could bring himself or make the other go through with it. Risking it all, they decide to carry on in secret. They can continue their duties and social obligations, as long as one of them always remains hidden. However, as the two clones soon find out, pulling this off in a tiny colony isn’t going to be easy, especially when resource usage is carefully monitored and each person’s food intake is individually rationed and tracked.
Long story short, nothing turns out the way they’re supposed to, and Mickey7 ends up being his own best friend and foil. The humor and light-hearted tone of this book was easy to get into and the conversations between the Mickeys were a highlight, as you can imagine. Most colonization sci-fi stories tend to fall on the darker and grimmer side, and though there are parts of Mickey7 that are certainly very brutal and bleak, on the whole I would class this one more as a comedy, but not one that’s overly silly. Needless to say, it was quite the breath of fresh air, to have a book about human settlers on a faraway planet, but the main conflict isn’t at all what you’d expect.
Sure, there’s no great character or plot development, but the premise was fascinating and fun to read about. It even touches upon philosophical themes relating to death and immortality, though never heavy-handedly, keeping it humorous and light. The world-building was intriguing as well, especially the parts surrounding the concept of Expendables and cloning, including technology, history, and religion. And of course, this being a colonization sci-fi novel, it’s about survival. I enjoyed the ice world setting and the challenges it posed for our colonists. Admittedly, I would love to have seen more of Niflheim, but there are still plenty of secrets lurking beneath the planet’s surface that are eventually revealed.
I also had a great time with the audio edition, which I received for review. Narrated by John Pirhalla and Katharine Chin, the story was brilliantly performed and the personalities of the characters came through in the voicework. I would strongly recommend this book!
The BiblioSanctum 
I love this book’s theme, and it somehow reminds me of the beautiful movie “Moon”, whose story ran on a slightly similar premise: the fact that Mickey7 seems to offer some humor besides the drama makes it even more intriguing. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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I definitely think the humor makes all the difference!
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That seems a real winner and especially when the narration is so good!
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So true, especially with humorous books, you really need a reader who can pull that off!
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This is one of my poor orphan February books, I hope I can squeeze it in this month! It sounds so good😁
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Oh, I know all about those “orphan books” – hope you can fit it in!
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I’ve been hoping to hear good things about this one as based on the description it’s one I want to try. Very glad to hear it has a sense of humor. Adding to my audiobook wish list.
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Awesome! Yeah, it’s hard to go wrong with that mix 🙂
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Great review! I’ll have to pick up a copy of this soon.
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Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy it 😀
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Glad you liked it!! I’ll admit I was a little worried after you told me you picked this up based on my say-so. But I’m happy it worked for you! Also I’d argue that that… um one sex scene shows quite a lot of character development 😅
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LOL! I think everyone had contemplated that scenario in their mind when they first saw the premise…the author went, ” hey, I’m going for it!” 😀
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So interesting to see humour/comedy in these kinds of stories. As you’ve mentioned, they often tend to be darker from cover to cover! Glad to see how much you enjoyed this one, Mogsy! Great review! 😀
P.S. I also wanted to make a quick mention that I will be moving on to my own blog going forward (temporarily cross-posting content to warn readers on Bookidote) and that I’d love for us to remain connected over on my new blog (roarsandechoes.com). Don’t feel obligated to do so though! Stay safe!
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Onto the wishlist it goes! I saw this one when I was compiling my March releases post but I didn’t get chance to really look into it as it wasn’t a March release and I was doing a lot in a short span of time, so was glad to find your review! 😀
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I will definitely keep this one in mind. The fact that the humour works so well is a definite plus.
Lynn 😀
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