Two years ago, a small colony was established on Mars, funded by a reality show, Destination Mars! Unfortunately, the show was cancelled once life on Mars turned out to be extremely boring. Even the Martian water was dull, with not a microbe nor a minibeast in sight. Fortunately, the production company continued to send supply rockets, so life goes on.
The six colonists, three men, three women, were selected for their tolerance for boredom and their desire to escape Earth. It was always meant to be a one-way trip. But now things are changing because Jenny is pregnant. Everyone's tubes were supposed to be tied before lift-off, and they weren't even supposed to be having sex: the rule book was very clear about that.
While five colonists concern themselves with whether a Martian pregnancy can produce a healthy child, another problem is brewing. Stefan, the Danish engineer, once broke the fingers of Roger the botanist and geologist, just because he wanted to and because he could. He's been following the rules since then, but he is in a bad place and increasingly sick of everyone.
Although the suggested book group questions describe this as a "novel-in-stories", and discrete chunks of it previously appeared as short stories in Analog and Asimov's, readers probably won't notice the difference, since the story of the colonists is told in more or less chronological order, albeit with extracts from the unofficial Destination Mars! handbook interleaved.
Those non-narrative sections are jokier than the rest, and although there is some wisdom there, the more the book goes on, the more they feel a bit repetitive and intrusive, a distraction from the story, and perhaps even indicative of a lack of confidence in the narrative's ability to hold the reader's interest on its own, without gimmicks. Which is a shame, because the story is a good one.
Like Big Brother at its peak, the book gets us caring about its isolated characters with remarkable efficiency. It's easy to empathise with their precarious situation, and the psychological effects upon them of the child's imminent arrival are realistic and well-drawn. The book isn't as profound, perhaps, as it is aiming to be, nor as funny, but its drama is compelling. Stephen Theaker ***
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