Today, we will be reviewing the second book in the Mickey7 series, Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton. The novel continues Mickey7’s life in Niflheim and the repercussions of Mickey’s plans at the end of the first novel. Keep reading to see what we thought of the novel as well as if you should add this to your reading list!
Antimatter Blues Summary
Mickey Barnes has retired as an expendable and has been living a normal life on Nilfheim. But when Mickey sees a clone of him, he gets suspicious. After digging around Mickey learns that the antimatter that fuels the colony is running low and if they don’t get more fuel, the colony won’t survive the upcoming winter.
Commander Marshall wants Mickey to retrieve the antimatter bomb that the creepers are allegedly holding onto. Mickey hid it as a source of leverage so Marshall wouldn’t kill Mickey. But now, Mickey has to decide to return the antimatter bomb or of this is a trick by Marshall to get rid of him.
Mickey grapples with this difficult situation and when he returns to the place where he buried the antimatter bomb, he finds that it isn’t there anymore. It is up to Mickey and his friends to retrieve the bomb from whoever has it or all of Nilfheim will perish away when Winter does arrive.
Commentary
The novel continues where the first one left off. Ashford says that he continued writing after completing the first novel and that helps this book keep the pacing that worked well in the first book. The characters feel a bit more mature, the stakes are higher, and the fallout from the first novel make this a great sequel.
“My goal in writing Mickey7 was to produce a fun stand-alone novel that would be one-hundred-percent complete if there were never any other related stories, while also leaving an opening to do more with the story if the vagaries of the publishing world permitted it. So, I left the seed of Antimatter Blues at the end of Mickey7, knowing that it might or might not ever be permitted to grow,” said Ashford when asked about the sequel.
“I never have all the details of a book down until I’ve actually finished it, but I had the basic plot for Antimatter Blues laid out even before I’d completed the first draft of Mickey7. In the same way, the seed of the next book is there at the end of Antimatter Blues. Will that one ever see the light? Who knows? Ask me again this time next year.”
Conclusion
This feels like a great sequel that continues where the first novel left off. If you did enjoy Mickey7, then this is a must read. The world of Niflheim gets bigger as the characters explore newer parts of the planet and meeting new lifeforms. Happy reading!