Who will be the first to set foot on Mars? And what will they say?
Mars One by Jonathan Maberry
The colonization of new worlds has always been an exciting concept to me, and Mars is a promising option. Not everyone believes interplanetary expansion is a good idea, though. Mars One pits the adventurous and exploratory spirit of the Mars One astronauts against an extremist group that believes Earth should be our only home. How far are they willing to go to prevent the colonization of Mars? As far as it takes, whatever the cost.
I enjoyed this book for several reasons. The crew understands the colonization of Mars is a one-way ticket. They will be leaving everything behind. Jonathan Maberry explores the relationship dynamics of this situation in an interesting way. There are also a bunch of interesting technical problems that need to be solved in the death trap that is space. It was fun to see the crew come together to find ways to solve these problems and keep everyone alive.
I also liked how we could see the perspective of the opposing group. You can see the “bad guy” coming from a mile away but the crew is oblivious to the collision course. It’s like when you can see two cars speeding toward each other and you know they will crash but there is nothing you can do about it. The only difference in this situation is that one of the drivers wants to crash. Yikes!