Mickey7

A Novel

By: Edward Ashton

Narrated by: John Pirhalla, Katharine Chin

*Soon to be the major motion picture Mickey17*

The Martian meets Dark Matter in Edward Ashton's high concept science fiction thriller, in which Mickey7, an "expendable," refuses to let his replacement clone Mickey8 take his place.

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.

On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein.

Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply, and terraforming is going poorly. The native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, and that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.

That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

*Soon to be the major motion picture Mickey17*

©2022 Edward Ashton (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"The audio narration for Marshall was fantastic–very ‘Full Metal Jacket drill Sgt.’"—FanFi Addict

"Narrated by John Pirhalla and Katharine Chin, the story was brilliantly performed and the personalities of the characters came through in the voicework."—The Bibliosanctum

"Mickey7 is a unique blend of thought-provoking sci-fi concepts, farcical relationship drama and exotic body horror. Edward Ashton keeps it all grounded via a protagonist who experiences the wonders of interstellar travel and alien contact while literally having the worst job in the universe. The result is alternately amusing, intriguing and horrifying, with each chapter seeming to engage a different part of your brain."—Jason Pargin, New York Times bestselling author

Loved it

Such a good listen. I can’t wait for the next book to see what happens next.

Entertaining, a little slow at times.

I liked the story and the performance was mostly good. It was a little slow and not really captivating.

Put it on to sleep and the could not

loved this story whole heartedly, i genuinely thought i was going to sleep to it. i stayed up all night laughing and listening to this.

not much

OK but not special. kind of predictable and not really thought provoking. decent time killer I guess.

great underdog story

Both the story and mc are thoughtfully optimistic, to a degree that sometimes feels a bit rose tinted, but also realistic enough to feel genuine. And a humble mc is a necessary foil for the arrogance of the story's crew and humanity in general.

Ok

I found this to be an ok sci-fi book. Mainly because it was a new idea. Narration was just ok.

Good performance, average story

The plot is not very exciting but not bad either. It felt more like a personal essay regarding existential crisis. There isn’t that much of plot and action honestly, just one incident followed by another, sequentially. Good performance though. But overall just an average sci-fi story.

Interesting premise and storyline.

Interesting premise and storyline. Amusing in places. Great narration, does an excellent job with different voices. The only downside is the characters are not well developed and not very believable. But the author is apparently writing another, so maybe he will work on that.

Decent fun (spoiler below)

The overall story is good. I like the world the author has built.
I only has one gripe, near the end of the story. It’s just impossible for me to suspend my disbelief that Mickey would still know nothing about the creepers after first conversation with Creeper Prime (during the antimatter bomb sequence) and have no further intelligent interaction with Creeper Prime besides persuading them to give up the bomb. At the end of the story, our (Mickey’s) knowledge regarding creepers remains the same beside knowing they are intelligent.
It looks to me like lazy TV season finale writing that resets most to have to zero to conveniently setup for a next season (2nd book and beyond). Only point I hate.

wishes it were the Martian

similar tone, language, disaster in space...this book is kind of like Martian fanfic. still fun, but nothing all that exciting.