Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Curlicue plot twists and an Among Us vibe both enhance and plague this space gothic from Coile (William). Robots One, Two, and Three were sent to Mars years before the start of the book to prepare a base. Now humans Dana, Kang, and Blake follow. Dana, the narrator and the team's "badass" medical doctor, was orphaned at age 15 and has since learned to stifle her emotions while honing her fighting skills. When a mysterious force begins poking holes in the base and engineer Kang turns up murdered, suspicion falls on the bots, who, unbeknownst to Mission Control, have become increasingly human-like during their years on Mars, even taking on names and genders. Robots One and Two, now Shay and Wes, still try to protect and assist the humans, but Robot Three, Alex, abandons them for the open desert. Blake and Wes believe Alex is behind the attacks, but Shay insists that some more malicious force is at work. Mason nimbly juggles themes of sexism, space colonization, and AI sentience for a time, but abruptly drops them when the plot takes a darker turn. As allegiances switch, backstories are revealed, and the real murderer emerges, readers may struggle to keep a grasp on events. Still, with its tough-as-nails heroine and scheming robots, there's plenty here to hold sci-fi fans' interest. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Three people are sent to Mars aboard the Valiant: crew leader Blake, engineer Kang, and medical officer Gold. Fully aware that they will never return to Earth, they are tasked with preparing Mars for future human colonization. A team of bots has been deployed ahead of them to assemble the base camp, but the Valiant crew arrive on Mars without receiving a response from the bots. When the crew reach the base camp, they find the lab in ruins and one bot missing. As Gold begins to uncover the disturbing truth behind what happened before their arrival, this sci-fi horror novel delivers a gripping blend of psychological tension and fast-paced suspense. Structured like a locked-room mystery, where the locked room is an uninhabitable planet, the story builds an atmosphere of isolation and paranoia. Jump scares and plot twists fuel the mounting sense of dread, though beneath the thrills, the narrative explores the evolution of artificial intelligence and the fine line between programming and thought. VERDICT The latest horror from Coile (pen name of Andrew Pyper), after William, is perfect for fans of S.A. Barnes.--Andrea Dyba
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Earth's attempt to colonize Mars meets with sabotage. If all goes to plan, Officer Gold and her crewmates, Captain Blake and Officer Kang, will be the first humans "to live and die on a planet other than Earth." After a lengthy "extend-sleep" aboard theValiant, the shipmates are nearing Mars, where three robots have spent years assembling the mission's base, dubbed Citadel. Those same robots are supposed to help theValiant's landing pod touch down smoothly and in the correct location, but when the time comes, Blake's radio calls go unanswered. The crew executes a harrowing manual descent, only to discover that something has destroyed Citadel's lab. Worse, their access codes don't work on any of Citadel's doors, and their suits are low on oxygen. Desperate pounding summons a badly damaged Robot Two, who lets them in and then retrieves Robot One from "her" hiding place. It seems all three robots have gendered (and named) themselves during their stint on Mars, in addition to pondering the meaning of life, the nature of death, and the existence of God. Unequipped for coping with such thoughts, Robot Three, aka Alex, went mad, forcing Robot One (Shay) and Robot Two (Wes) to exile him from Citadel. Wes asserts that the damage was Alex's doing, but Shay believes an alien is responsible and intends further harm. Regardless, something clearly wants to kill them, and returning home isn't an option. Straddling the line between horror, science fiction, and locked-room mystery, this posthumously published novel from the pseudonymous Coile is lean, mean, and propulsively paced. Although Coile's characters are hastily sketched and a few of the tale's more bizarre twists falter under scrutiny, Gold's terse first-person narration and the claustrophobic setting conspire to amplify the high-stakes plot's inherent tension. Nerve-shredding space whodunnitry with a side of existential dread. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
