Girlfriend on Mars (SF) - Deborah Willis ****

This was a science fiction novel that was crying out to be written, inspired by the failed attempted by the now collapsed Mars One to combine reality TV with a mission to Mars. In Deborah Willis's novel, the company becomes MarsNow, but the concept is exactly the same: two 'marsonauts' chosen in reality TV knockout style are going to be sent on a one-way trip to Mars.

The two central characters, Amber (the would-be space traveller) and her boyfriend Kevin seem designed to reflect the opening line of the Larkin poem This Be The Verse - they both are seriously damaged by their parents (as is Amber's other love interest and reality show competitor, Adam). The book is divided into alternating chapters, swapping between a first person account from Kevin and a third person account of what Amber is doing.

This approach broadly works well as their lives diverge, with Kevin left behind in Vancouver and Amber taking part in rounds of the reality show that are located across the world. Kevin, arguably, is the book's weak point as he has no redeeming features. His life primarily consists of sitting on his couch and smoking weed. You can see why Amber got together with him initially as they both escaped their parental homes - but it's hard to believe she would have stayed with him so long. Even before entering the show, Amber was bringing in the money while Kevin did... nothing much.

What the book does really well is explore the dark side of social media and reality TV as they distort the truth and manipulate their audiences. It also throw in a dubious tech billionaire behind MarsNow, whose big picture posturing is shown to simply a cover for making more and more money.

On the whole, Willis is also good at presenting the scientific reality of the difficulty of getting to Mars and surviving there. The only big error is that she thinks that constellations would be different on Mars - the distance from Earth is so much smaller than the distance to the stars that there would be no visible difference.

As we see Amber's relationship with Adam changing during the rounds of the reality show, it's hard not to see a bit of an Adam and Eve theme going on, especially given Amber's evangelical upbringing.

As a high concept novel and as far as the Amber segments go, this is a solidly five star book - but Kevin spends far too much time sitting on the couch, stoned, indulging in dull introspection, which makes the middle of the book sag a little. Nonetheless it's one of the high points of 2023.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here

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