A review by wart
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

emotional mysterious tense

2.75

I don't think this book was fully cooked yet.

I love Natasha Pulley and was very excited for this latest of hers, but I wound up being pretty disappointed. I didn't hate it - in fact, there are things about it that I really love - but I feel like it wasn't as fully realized as it needed to be.

What I liked:

  • As with every Pulley book, the writing is gorgeous.
  • I loved the characters (yes, even January who I frequently wanted to shake). 
  • The setting was fascinating and I kind of wished there'd been more exploration of Mars & Tharsis and the relationship to Earth.
  • Gender becoming basically a non-entity on Mars.
  • The mammoths! I wish we'd had more mammoths!!

What I didn't like: (spoilers ahead)

  • I feel like the Earthstrong/Natural conflict wasn't fully fleshed out, particularly with regards to Gale and January's relationship. It felt like Gale's stance on Naturalization only really existed when the text needed some extra tension between them and January. This was particularly frustrating with the fact that Gale was set up to be the love interest.
  • I don't feel like Consul Song was as developed as the text thought they were. I know some of that has to do with us mainly being in January's point of view, but I still think Song could have used some more consideration.</spoiler
  • The oppression metaphors felt underdeveloped, more like set dressing than something the text actually wants to contend with in a meaningful way. This ties in a bit with my first issue re: Gale and January, but basically I feel like there needed to be some more pre-writing worldbuilding on this front.
  • I think the Aubrey-River thing was underutilized! There are so many ways Aubrey and River's swap could be developed to help with the whole January married a guy who wants him to naturalize thing (ie: he actually does marry Aubrey and River helps him out). I also feel like this was another thing that was underdeveloped. I almost feel like we needed a whole prequel novel that was focused on Mars politics, House Gale, and House Song rather than just the flashback chapters.

Overall, I'd say I did like it and I'm glad I read it, but after four straight loves from Pulley (Watchmaker, Bedlam Stacks, Pepperharrow, and Kingdoms), I'm really disappointed.

(Also I don't know if this is just my copy but I was thrown by how many typos there were? Do books not get line edits anymore?)