'Mars is the new frontier for humanity, as we launch an epic saga of inspiring planetary exploration set in the award-winning Terraforming Mars boardgame
'Mars, 2316. The recently created Terraforming Committee arbitrates the dramatic development of Mars by powerful rival corporations. When a rogue asteroid crashes into a research center and kills its lone technician, the fragile balance between corporations is shattered. The World Government’s investigation into the accident reveals a multitude of motives, while a corporation insider stumbles on a dark conspiracy. Two Martians with very different agendas must navigate a trail of destruction and treachery to uncover the truth and expose those responsible, before Mars falls to Earth’s corruption. As lines blur between progress and humanity, Mars itself remains the biggest adversary of all.'
Whilst I've been familiar with a number of the franchises that Aconyte Books have been producing novels for Terraforming Mars is a game that I've never played before, and knew next to nothing about going into this book. As such, I got to experience this new novel not as a fan of the game, but someone coming to it completely fresh; and as a science fiction mystery it absolutely rocks.
The story of Terraforming Mars: In The Shadow of Deimos takes place in a future where the Earth isn't doing well. Thanks to an increasing population, ever expanding global pollution, and rampant corporate corruption life on Earth is harder than it's ever been. It has also led to the move to try to change Mars into a planet capable of supporting human life in large numbers. As such, several corporations have come to Mars, with various plans and techniques, to try and make the planet liveable.
One of these corporations is ThorGate, a group who are working to construct a brand new city and research centre where they will try to grow specially adapted plants to try to increase the amount of oxygen on the planet. Luka is one of the new indentured workers for ThorGate, having travelled to Mars to help construct the new city and escape the demons of his past. Shortly after arriving on Mars, however, the research station is hit by a falling asteroid.
The asteroid was no mere chance impact, however, as it was being smashed into the surface of the planet by a rival corporation. However, instead of landing at the designated coordinates it appears that the asteroid split in two, with one of the pieces hitting the research station, killing a ThorGate employee. With people demanding answers, Julie Outerbridge the head of the United Nations Mars Initiative, is assigned to find out how the accident happened. With Julie looking into the mystery, and Luka delving into the life of his dead coworker, the two of them stumble upon a plot involving multiple corporations that could forever change the face of Mars.
As I said earlier, I've not played Terraforming Mars, and as such have no idea how the game is played, or what the general goals of the game are. However, assuming that players take on the roles of the different mega corporations trying to convert Mars I was a little surprised to see that the book didn't really focus so much on the various methods and sciences of how these groups go about doing this, but what soon becomes a murder mystery set in space. However, I do think this approach is the much better idea, allowing new people such as myself an easy way into the universe and the complex mythology without feeling like you're being overwhelmed.
It also helps that the cast of characters are really well written, and feel like nice, relatable people for the most part; especially Luka and Julie. The two of them are our main windows into this world, we follow them as they investigate what has happened, and it's via them that we get a sense of what this universe is like. Despite coming from the book from very different places the two of them both have a keen determination for justice to prevail, something that seems to be of short supply on a planet with no real laws and no way to enforce said laws. There's no police or investigators to look into what could be an accident, but could be an elaborate murder, and the people who do wield power are high up corporate workers who have little to no care about the people under them.
Much of the plot of the book feels like a ball of tangled string, with the plots weaving in and out of each other, intersecting at different points, wrapping around each other, and so entangled that to begin with you can't see a clear path. But Jane Killick does an excellent job at leading you through this tangle, at showing you small snippets of the path that allow you to begin to figure things out. This is especially done well as we discover information with Luka that sheds light onto Julie's investigation, but as the two characters have not spoken to each other and revealed their findings yet we get to feel like we're figuring it out before they do.
Mars itself also gets to play a big part in the story, becoming something of a character in its own right. The planet feels dangerous and hostile, and there are moments where you're genuinely worried about the survival of the characters as they're put into some frightening conflict with the remote, deadly planet. But it also feels strangely beautiful and wonderful as well as dangerous, and Killick manages to make it feel like a place you'd want to visit if you were able. She manages to create an otherworldly beauty to the descriptions of the place that help you to understand why someone would be willing to leave everything behind, to never be able to return home to Earth, just for a chance to walk on this other world.
Terraforming Mars: In The Shadow of Deimos is a book that took me in some unexpected directions, that not only introduced me to a whole new game universe, but made me deeply intrigued about it. I came away from this book wanting to learn more, to discover more about the kinds of people that would make their homes on Mars, the corporations that would try to alter it and the science they use, and to spend more time on this strangely beautiful world. I can't wait to see what else gets made in this franchise.
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