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The Lora Trilogy #1
Lost on Mars
Epic SF adventure in a vast and hostile landscape. For 10+, first in a trilogy.
With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, settlers on the red planet struggling to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding, surviving storms and sinister rumours of people disappearing – until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear, Lora and her family are driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find – the beautiful, dangerous City Inside.
With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, settlers on the red planet struggling to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding, surviving storms and sinister rumours of people disappearing – until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear, Lora and her family are driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find – the beautiful, dangerous City Inside.
352 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 8, 2015
Lora and her family have a harsh life on Mars. But they aren't like the townsfolk, they are heartier. With their homestead out on the prairie, growing their sustenance out of the strange Martian soil, they are true pioneers. For all the destructive forces on the inhospitable planet working against them they have each other. Even Lora's grandmother who is almost more trouble then she is worth has her place; she was part of the initial colonization of the red planet. Though something is coming, the harsh yet manageable routine of their lives is about to be upset when the disappearances start again. They've happened before, the whispers that Martians still exist and sneak into their dwellings at night and whisk people away never to be seen again. Though no one is willing to believe it is happening again. One night when Lora is staying in town she sees them. Strange creatures dancing through the streets. The next night her grandmother is taken. The small township is still unwilling to believe the truth in front of their eyes. The sheriff would like nothing better then to ignore this problem, and then his wife disappears too. Though Lora's breaking point is the disappearance of her father.
With her father gone and her mother struck down with grief that she self medicates, Lora becomes the head of her family and she decides that they are no longer safe and should head out into the wasteland to save themselves. Calling on the townspeople to join them they pick up five more travellers. Ma, Al, Hannah, Toaster, Aunt Ruby, the Adamses, Madame Lucille and her husband all put their lives in Lora's hands. It's a harsh journey with untold hardships and eventually flagging spirits. Madame Lucille's husband is the first casualty, followed by their pack animals. When they are set upon by unknown creatures and separated, Lora and her brother Al learn that there is a secret City Inside. The complex city with all it's decorum makes Lora long for the simplicity of her family's homestead. Though the City Inside is now their home. A home full of secrets and dangers that might prove more deadly then anything they faced while trekking across the red planet. But their might also be hope there as well.
The wonderful thing about Paul's books is that they will never be what you expect. Some people might not like this, but personally I think that a great story surprises you and takes you to new lands and shows you new experiences that you would never have had if not for the words between the covers. To be surprised and delighted by the narrative voice is something that every true reader longs for. And Paul's voice is so unique, with each book he has written being it's own voice but somehow all part of him. When Megan from Firefly Press contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing Lost on Mars I jumped on this opportunity. The promotional material gave me an interesting if eventually narrow view of what to expect. Seeing as Paul and I have previously discussed our love of Laura Ingalls Wilder, me being practically raised on the books what with being born in the same state as her, I was picturing Lost on Mars very much as Little House on the Martian Prairie. But, being Paul, he turned all my expectations on its head and gave me an odyssey that is Little House on the Prairie meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert, with Roald Dahl and The Wizard of Oz and maybe even some Mad Max thrown in for good measure but all somehow something only Paul could have written.
Lost on Mars has two very distinct halves. There's the first half which is a pioneer tale of trying to survive the Martian wastelands and then there is the second half with the City Inside which is a Jules Verne Victorian epic that raises the book up to a new level that makes you extremely sad to part ways at the end while you keep your fingers crossed that the next installment won't be too far in your future. At first I was wary of this abrupt change in the story. The two worlds couldn't seem more apart yet somehow it was a natural transition. If not for this transition I don't think the book would have worked. By the time Lora and her compatriots are captured I had tired of their journey and the relentlessness of their life and bickering. The Martian abductors were a little too much like the Ninnies for me, and while I do like how the worlds of Paul's books are permeable and have a fluidity between them, the love I have for The Ninnies is so strong that I want them to remain their own thing. Therefore this switch up made the book click. It also added a level of mystery that Martians abducting people for dinner lacked. Plus the possibilities inherent in this new city are literally endless, which again makes me impatient for the next installment.
The reason that the City Inside is so fascinating to me, besides the fact that it's basically a Dickensian Christmas on Mars, is that Paul has this ability to imbue everything with life and personality; from cities to homes to utensils. Objects get sentience and smarts. Humans have a deep seated need to bring the world around them to life. Whether it's naming your car to your house, we anthropomorphize everything. One of my favorite characters on Red Dwarf was Talkie Toaster. He was uppity, full of his own importance, was always looking for a way to bring up bread products, and held his own with characters played by real actors. Enter Paul Magrs and his cast of characters. In his Iris Wildthyme books we have Barbara who is a vending machine, as well as Art Critic Panda, but he has said that he is in no way an object so I mustn't talk of him as such. In Lost on Mars Paul imbues life into a sunbed called Toaster. Toaster is easily one of my favorite characters. Besides being living history as well as a member of the Robinson family, the thought of him running across the Martian plains like a little gangly robotic dog makes me smile. He's just as real, if not more real, then some of his "human" compatriots.
As for those humans. For a YA book Paul doesn't flinch on showing the harshness of human nature. There is no sugar coating. Everyone is in it to save themselves, as seen when the ragged band of travellers stumbles on an abandoned ghost town. The adults descend on the supplies like a pack of jackals; and like those vicious carnivores they are willing to fight off anyone interested in their kills. The darker side of human nature is fully explored from cowardice to self interest. The townspeople are willing to ignore the disappearances because they don't want their lives upset. It's for the greater good to turn a blind eye, as has happened more times then we can count in our own very human history. They follow Lora because they can't be bothered to take the responsibility or initiative themselves. What compromises will man put up with in order to maintain peace? What will man do to survive? A pack animal that is loved and cared for is nothing but food at the end of the day, even if it has learned language. This is very much mirrored by the Martians own thoughts. While humans may be their intellectual equals, with art and history, they need the food more. To see the humans actions mimicked by an alien race shows in stark detail the wrongness of our thinking.
But there was one thing above everything else that made me connect to this book and that's it's literary pedigree. The Martian landscape and the settlers lives have been shaped by literature, from books being the most prized of possessions to the naming conventions of pets and even their town, "Our Town." Even the ships they arrived on where named from literature! It's all the little asides, the little jokes slid in that reinforce the importance of literature and will hopefully spark the reading bug in anyone who picks up this book. When Lora's last name of Robinson was finally revealed, a smile spread across my face at the thought of the original Robinson family, that of The Swiss Family Robinson. But it's this lovely combining of literature and their lives that makes the world and in particular the City Inside a kind of dream state, as if you were to wake one day within your favorite book. The arrival at the City Inside with them waking within a poppy field to see the magnificent metallic green city was a frisson of Ozian joy. Not only is this a great story, it harks back to other great stories and sets itself up in the grand literary cannon of our times that is now so meta in nature.
With her father gone and her mother struck down with grief that she self medicates, Lora becomes the head of her family and she decides that they are no longer safe and should head out into the wasteland to save themselves. Calling on the townspeople to join them they pick up five more travellers. Ma, Al, Hannah, Toaster, Aunt Ruby, the Adamses, Madame Lucille and her husband all put their lives in Lora's hands. It's a harsh journey with untold hardships and eventually flagging spirits. Madame Lucille's husband is the first casualty, followed by their pack animals. When they are set upon by unknown creatures and separated, Lora and her brother Al learn that there is a secret City Inside. The complex city with all it's decorum makes Lora long for the simplicity of her family's homestead. Though the City Inside is now their home. A home full of secrets and dangers that might prove more deadly then anything they faced while trekking across the red planet. But their might also be hope there as well.
The wonderful thing about Paul's books is that they will never be what you expect. Some people might not like this, but personally I think that a great story surprises you and takes you to new lands and shows you new experiences that you would never have had if not for the words between the covers. To be surprised and delighted by the narrative voice is something that every true reader longs for. And Paul's voice is so unique, with each book he has written being it's own voice but somehow all part of him. When Megan from Firefly Press contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing Lost on Mars I jumped on this opportunity. The promotional material gave me an interesting if eventually narrow view of what to expect. Seeing as Paul and I have previously discussed our love of Laura Ingalls Wilder, me being practically raised on the books what with being born in the same state as her, I was picturing Lost on Mars very much as Little House on the Martian Prairie. But, being Paul, he turned all my expectations on its head and gave me an odyssey that is Little House on the Prairie meets Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert, with Roald Dahl and The Wizard of Oz and maybe even some Mad Max thrown in for good measure but all somehow something only Paul could have written.
Lost on Mars has two very distinct halves. There's the first half which is a pioneer tale of trying to survive the Martian wastelands and then there is the second half with the City Inside which is a Jules Verne Victorian epic that raises the book up to a new level that makes you extremely sad to part ways at the end while you keep your fingers crossed that the next installment won't be too far in your future. At first I was wary of this abrupt change in the story. The two worlds couldn't seem more apart yet somehow it was a natural transition. If not for this transition I don't think the book would have worked. By the time Lora and her compatriots are captured I had tired of their journey and the relentlessness of their life and bickering. The Martian abductors were a little too much like the Ninnies for me, and while I do like how the worlds of Paul's books are permeable and have a fluidity between them, the love I have for The Ninnies is so strong that I want them to remain their own thing. Therefore this switch up made the book click. It also added a level of mystery that Martians abducting people for dinner lacked. Plus the possibilities inherent in this new city are literally endless, which again makes me impatient for the next installment.
The reason that the City Inside is so fascinating to me, besides the fact that it's basically a Dickensian Christmas on Mars, is that Paul has this ability to imbue everything with life and personality; from cities to homes to utensils. Objects get sentience and smarts. Humans have a deep seated need to bring the world around them to life. Whether it's naming your car to your house, we anthropomorphize everything. One of my favorite characters on Red Dwarf was Talkie Toaster. He was uppity, full of his own importance, was always looking for a way to bring up bread products, and held his own with characters played by real actors. Enter Paul Magrs and his cast of characters. In his Iris Wildthyme books we have Barbara who is a vending machine, as well as Art Critic Panda, but he has said that he is in no way an object so I mustn't talk of him as such. In Lost on Mars Paul imbues life into a sunbed called Toaster. Toaster is easily one of my favorite characters. Besides being living history as well as a member of the Robinson family, the thought of him running across the Martian plains like a little gangly robotic dog makes me smile. He's just as real, if not more real, then some of his "human" compatriots.
As for those humans. For a YA book Paul doesn't flinch on showing the harshness of human nature. There is no sugar coating. Everyone is in it to save themselves, as seen when the ragged band of travellers stumbles on an abandoned ghost town. The adults descend on the supplies like a pack of jackals; and like those vicious carnivores they are willing to fight off anyone interested in their kills. The darker side of human nature is fully explored from cowardice to self interest. The townspeople are willing to ignore the disappearances because they don't want their lives upset. It's for the greater good to turn a blind eye, as has happened more times then we can count in our own very human history. They follow Lora because they can't be bothered to take the responsibility or initiative themselves. What compromises will man put up with in order to maintain peace? What will man do to survive? A pack animal that is loved and cared for is nothing but food at the end of the day, even if it has learned language. This is very much mirrored by the Martians own thoughts. While humans may be their intellectual equals, with art and history, they need the food more. To see the humans actions mimicked by an alien race shows in stark detail the wrongness of our thinking.
But there was one thing above everything else that made me connect to this book and that's it's literary pedigree. The Martian landscape and the settlers lives have been shaped by literature, from books being the most prized of possessions to the naming conventions of pets and even their town, "Our Town." Even the ships they arrived on where named from literature! It's all the little asides, the little jokes slid in that reinforce the importance of literature and will hopefully spark the reading bug in anyone who picks up this book. When Lora's last name of Robinson was finally revealed, a smile spread across my face at the thought of the original Robinson family, that of The Swiss Family Robinson. But it's this lovely combining of literature and their lives that makes the world and in particular the City Inside a kind of dream state, as if you were to wake one day within your favorite book. The arrival at the City Inside with them waking within a poppy field to see the magnificent metallic green city was a frisson of Ozian joy. Not only is this a great story, it harks back to other great stories and sets itself up in the grand literary cannon of our times that is now so meta in nature.
February 7, 2016
A strange novel that lacks reality
This book started out with great potential. I liked the plot and characters. A girl must save her family and friends from maneating martians. So they go on an exodus through the martian desert heading towards these mysterious radio signals. I liked the premise but that all changed when the narrator Lora befriends one of the aliens simply because they made eye contact and in that moment she knew this alien had no intentions of eating her. The book lost me at that point..
I am going to try not to give anything away, but there are so many random plot twists and changes based solely on "feelings" that I couldn't take it seriously. Also,Mars has been Terra formed, so I would assume all native life to the planet would have been destroyed, so how is it that these martians survived? At some point Victorian England gets thrown in, and it feels like the novel is now trying to be a steam punk story. The story ends with no explanations to back up any of the wild claims and events happening. I kept reading this because I had hope that the author would some how figure out his to explain the science and plot holes and set my suspension of disbelief at ease.
Honestly, this book is creative. The ideas were cool, but it made me think of a 12-14 year old putting together a story without any concern about reality and then deciding they just wanted to be done writing it when they realize how complicated it would be to tie up all the lose ends.
This book started out with great potential. I liked the plot and characters. A girl must save her family and friends from maneating martians. So they go on an exodus through the martian desert heading towards these mysterious radio signals. I liked the premise but that all changed when the narrator Lora befriends one of the aliens simply because they made eye contact and in that moment she knew this alien had no intentions of eating her. The book lost me at that point..
I am going to try not to give anything away, but there are so many random plot twists and changes based solely on "feelings" that I couldn't take it seriously. Also,Mars has been Terra formed, so I would assume all native life to the planet would have been destroyed, so how is it that these martians survived? At some point Victorian England gets thrown in, and it feels like the novel is now trying to be a steam punk story. The story ends with no explanations to back up any of the wild claims and events happening. I kept reading this because I had hope that the author would some how figure out his to explain the science and plot holes and set my suspension of disbelief at ease.
Honestly, this book is creative. The ideas were cool, but it made me think of a 12-14 year old putting together a story without any concern about reality and then deciding they just wanted to be done writing it when they realize how complicated it would be to tie up all the lose ends.
September 6, 2017
I'd have loved to have read this book between the ages of 11 and 13. It's a fabulous mix of SF and US 19th century Frontier story- think Little House on the Prairie in space. Thoroughly recommended.
June 19, 2015
Lost on Mars is exactly the kind of book I wish had been on the shelves when I was growing up. It's a startlingly new and different book from Paul Magrs, which is nonetheless packed with gentle celebration and acknowledgement of the works which have preceded and informed it.
So, after the Little House on the Martian Prairie opening, as Lora leads her family away from their Martian homestead, I was constantly reminded of Narnia books without the heavy-handed didactism. Particularly the apparently off-the-cuff lunacy of The Silver Chair, which I've always rather loved.
The Martian landscape itself seems to echo with more CS Lewis, with the epic scale of Out of the Silent Planet, and the haunting poetry of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (insert your own alternative title here) pervades the entire book.
The fractious relationship between Lora and Al reminded me of any number of famous literary siblings. At the start I was thinking of Maya Angelou's family in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings but towards the end of the book I was put particularly in mind of Maggie and Tom Tulliver from The Mill on the Floss.
The fact that some Martian colonists travelled to their new home on Celestial Omnibuses was just perfect.
But Lost On Mars is at its absolute best when breaking new ground, as bedraggled refugees make their way across the planet's surface, breaking into drag shows, accompanied by a sentient sunbed. The enemies that they face are genuinely chilling in their mannerisms, and even their allies are decidedly shifty.
This is of course the first part of a longer series, though Magrs has found the perfect place to pause his narrative, and I can't wait to read the next chapter!
So, after the Little House on the Martian Prairie opening, as Lora leads her family away from their Martian homestead, I was constantly reminded of Narnia books without the heavy-handed didactism. Particularly the apparently off-the-cuff lunacy of The Silver Chair, which I've always rather loved.
The Martian landscape itself seems to echo with more CS Lewis, with the epic scale of Out of the Silent Planet, and the haunting poetry of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles (insert your own alternative title here) pervades the entire book.
The fractious relationship between Lora and Al reminded me of any number of famous literary siblings. At the start I was thinking of Maya Angelou's family in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings but towards the end of the book I was put particularly in mind of Maggie and Tom Tulliver from The Mill on the Floss.
The fact that some Martian colonists travelled to their new home on Celestial Omnibuses was just perfect.
But Lost On Mars is at its absolute best when breaking new ground, as bedraggled refugees make their way across the planet's surface, breaking into drag shows, accompanied by a sentient sunbed. The enemies that they face are genuinely chilling in their mannerisms, and even their allies are decidedly shifty.
This is of course the first part of a longer series, though Magrs has found the perfect place to pause his narrative, and I can't wait to read the next chapter!
May 10, 2015
First things first - this really is NOT a review, but just a personal response. I really don't know SF as a genre, so can't comment on how this fits in, reflects, is more original than other SF. Putting that to one side, I really enjoyed this novel about a family on Mars. I loved the pioneer spirit, I loved how what I was expecting of the martians was turned on its head, I loved some of the reflections prompted on what it means to be human. I'll definitely be looking out for the next in the trilogy. I'd recommend this for 10-12+ who like frontier stories (I couldn't help but think of Laura Ingalls as I read this book) and / or steampunk.
April 6, 2019
Oh my goodness! I’m not a sci-fi reader and I really don’t like journey stories but this book combined then both and somehow made it amazing! I would definitely recommend this book to everyone! I am tempted to pick up the next book ASAP but I have uni stuff to read sadly, otherwise I would! 💕
“This is the only way forward. Mutual trust, forgiveness and friendship.”
“This is the only way forward. Mutual trust, forgiveness and friendship.”
December 17, 2020
If you're going to attempt a science fiction novel, you need to have the first clue about science. Sadly, this author doesn't.
The concept of earthshine infuriated me throughout. A few seconds on Google would bring up a picture of the Earth taken from Mars, clearly showing that our little blue dot would produce nearly zero earthshine in the exact same way we do not experience marsshine or venusshine. Also, while I'm fine with teraforming as a concept, as this would increase the destiny of the Martian atmosphere by a factor of a few hundred, it would probably kill everything already on the planet, not to mention the complete change of atmospheric composition. Oh, and why on earth would Martian evolution produce wings when their atmosphere (pre-teraforming) would not be dense enough to allow them to fly?
I know it sounds like I'm being a pedant, and maybe I am, but the author's lack of research really shows. I'm slightly horrified to read that the author teaches an MA in creative writing. I'd expect better. But then, I have a low opinion of those courses anyway. Maybe they consider this good.
On the plus point, the plot was halfway decent, even though the boring characters with their lack of intrigue let it down a fair bit.
This was first book by this author. Can't imagine I'll be reading a second.
The concept of earthshine infuriated me throughout. A few seconds on Google would bring up a picture of the Earth taken from Mars, clearly showing that our little blue dot would produce nearly zero earthshine in the exact same way we do not experience marsshine or venusshine. Also, while I'm fine with teraforming as a concept, as this would increase the destiny of the Martian atmosphere by a factor of a few hundred, it would probably kill everything already on the planet, not to mention the complete change of atmospheric composition. Oh, and why on earth would Martian evolution produce wings when their atmosphere (pre-teraforming) would not be dense enough to allow them to fly?
I know it sounds like I'm being a pedant, and maybe I am, but the author's lack of research really shows. I'm slightly horrified to read that the author teaches an MA in creative writing. I'd expect better. But then, I have a low opinion of those courses anyway. Maybe they consider this good.
On the plus point, the plot was halfway decent, even though the boring characters with their lack of intrigue let it down a fair bit.
This was first book by this author. Can't imagine I'll be reading a second.
July 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this adventure story. Looking forward to the next instalment.
I was particularly taken by the sci-fi alternate history storyline.
A bit Tolkien in space, with a good dash of Joan Aiken fun. Just what I needed right now.
I was particularly taken by the sci-fi alternate history storyline.
A bit Tolkien in space, with a good dash of Joan Aiken fun. Just what I needed right now.
February 27, 2015
FANTASTIC READ..... Book review will be published in blog, near publication date. http://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com/
July 14, 2015
Wonderfully strange, surreal, and awesome! Can't wait for the next instalment.
January 3, 2017
Mars seems to be everywhere at the minute, with the prospect of exploration in our near distant future it is easy to imagine how life on the red planet will be.
Lost on Mars follows Lora and her family, Mars has been settled for several generations now and Lora's family live out on the Martian plains in a small holding living a simple life. They are pioneers but with the pioneer life comes danger.
Three generations of Lora's family live day to day dealing with what Mars throws at them which includes crazy storms but things take a bad turn when people in their area start disappearing, vanishing without a trace.
Rumours race round about the cause of the disappearances and the whispers say they are not alone on Mars, this is confirmed late one night when Lora sees in the street dancing creatures looking through windows and doors, looking for people.
Mars still has its original inhabitants and quite frankly the description of them scared me a little. Now this book is probably aimed at teens but the description of them creeping about houses and the "hehehehehe" noise they made, well it made my skin creep and crawl!
Anyway with the prospect of everyone being taken by the Martians, Lora and her family leave their town to seek a new life. The journey is by far safe and remains of other settlements show what is to become of their town.
Now I am not going to give too much away now but people are lost along the way and the Martians definitely don't go away but there could be hope for them in the City Inside, will they make it there?
This is a good read but I did feel it was split in two with the first half of the book being a little different from the second half, sorry vague don't want to spoil. This is the first book in the series and it was certainly good enough to warrant finding out what happens in the second book.
Great for fans of Mars and Sci-fi, imagine Little House on the Prairie crossed with The Martian and Lost in Space!
Lost on Mars follows Lora and her family, Mars has been settled for several generations now and Lora's family live out on the Martian plains in a small holding living a simple life. They are pioneers but with the pioneer life comes danger.
Three generations of Lora's family live day to day dealing with what Mars throws at them which includes crazy storms but things take a bad turn when people in their area start disappearing, vanishing without a trace.
Rumours race round about the cause of the disappearances and the whispers say they are not alone on Mars, this is confirmed late one night when Lora sees in the street dancing creatures looking through windows and doors, looking for people.
Mars still has its original inhabitants and quite frankly the description of them scared me a little. Now this book is probably aimed at teens but the description of them creeping about houses and the "hehehehehe" noise they made, well it made my skin creep and crawl!
Anyway with the prospect of everyone being taken by the Martians, Lora and her family leave their town to seek a new life. The journey is by far safe and remains of other settlements show what is to become of their town.
Now I am not going to give too much away now but people are lost along the way and the Martians definitely don't go away but there could be hope for them in the City Inside, will they make it there?
This is a good read but I did feel it was split in two with the first half of the book being a little different from the second half, sorry vague don't want to spoil. This is the first book in the series and it was certainly good enough to warrant finding out what happens in the second book.
Great for fans of Mars and Sci-fi, imagine Little House on the Prairie crossed with The Martian and Lost in Space!
May 16, 2017
I was disappointed as I really wanted to like this more. I love Little House on the Prairie and sci-fi so this seemed perfect for me and to be fair, I'd definitely recommend this to my ten year old self (but since I don't have a time machine, I'll make do with recommending it to children 10+).
August 4, 2015
I just finished this excellent novel and wanted to write a review of it here.
It will be difficult for me to talk about this book, as there are things I don't want to give away. Hence, the review may end up being rather shorer than I'd prefer, as I don't want to talk too much about some of the later developments (as much of the novel happens in the last section).
Let's start at the beginning. The book that I want to call "Lost on Magrs" (sorry) is a YA scifi novel about a family in the fairly near future that has settled on Mars.
The protagonist is a 14-year-old girl named Lora. She lives on the Martian homestead with her brother Al, little sister Hannah, her Ma and Da and Grandma. They have a hard life growing and harvesting their blue corn, with two pack animals and a servo-furnishing to help them do the chores.
The town in which they live is the first on Mars - and never did acquire a name. "Our Town" is what they call it, though other settlements now exist on the planet. When a massive dust storm comes through and devastates the town, everything begins to change - and the Disappearances start again.
This is just the setup, although it takes up a lengthy part of the novel. My only real gripe (and it was enough to knock my rating here down to four stars - once again I dearly wish for a half-star function, as this totally deserves four-and-a-half stars) is that the story proper really doesn't begin until about two-thirds into the book. I for one would have preferred the City Inside to have made an appearance by maybe a third of the way through. Or at least half. And the revelations about its origins to come at the two-thirds or three-quarter point. It just takes way too much time getting to what seems to be the "real" story.
Not that the prior parts are bad. Indeed, I wouldn't have minded if the City Inside was left for what will be the second book of three. If this entire novel were about what happens to Our Town, and Lora being forced to lead a troupe of adventurers across the desert surface of Mars in search of a vague and confusing transmission - leaving the other revelations for later - it could still have been a great book. The way it is weighted, however, with so much incident happening in such a small space in the book leaves it feeling oddly off-balance.
The indigenous people of the Red Planet are an interesting bunch, as barely portrayed here. I am fascinated by them, and can't wait to find out more about them in later installments of the series. Mysterious, and mythical, and dangerous - and yet capable of goodness, as we find out in the character of Sook - their motivation is completely unknown. Not as simple as we are initially led to believe, their so-called "Disappearing" of people is ultimately what causes Lora and a chunk of the settlers to journey across Mars, leaving Our Town behind.
And that sound. That "heee heeeee heeee" noise they make. Brrrr. It's not easy, as a writer, to create a signature sound that is simple but recognizable, catchy, and does not appear ridiculous on paper. This chilling noise the Martians in the book make really stands out and allows you to recognize its import when it appears.
Paul Magrs does have a fascination with anthropomorphic and clunky machinery, doesn't he? While Barbara the vending machine does not appear here, Lora's family has a servo-furnishing called Toaster that used to be a sun-bed, but whose tanning abilities no longer function. He serves now as a general helping hand, with a no-frills kind of personality. There's some wisdom in that clanky old body, however, and later on (despite his increasingly unreliable memory) his insights can become quite useful to Lora.
I have a question, actually. Firefly Press who published this book are based in Cardiff, and at the end there is a statement that "[t]his book has been published with the support of the Welsh Books Council". So, I wonder if Lora's family is supposed to sound Welsh? Their origin on Earth is never described, but I actually started out hearing them as Welsh (and then changed to a Geordie accent - possibly because it was easier for me to conjure up in my head) so when I saw this at the end it made me curious.
The characters in this book are very well-drawn. Lora is easy to love, being a strong young woman with a lot of independent ideas, but her family is an interesting bunch as well. Grandma is kind of senile and a burden at times. Da is avuncular and reliable. Ma has some emotional problems, but her heart is mostly in the right place. The Town has some interesting folks, too - perhaps most unique is Madame Lucille who seems to be the Town's only trans woman. At times, Magrs seems to be quite mocking of her - not only due to her innate hostility that comes out in bad situations, but earlier the very nature of her stubbly yet frilly-frocked look seems to draw criticism. I trust that there is no harm meant, however - to a Town unused to great varieties of lifestyles I suppose it's natural for a transgendered individual to draw notice.
Other characters later on are just as strong, but I will not discuss them or their dubious loyalties here. As I said earlier, a lot of the exciting stuff - a lot of the incident as well - happens in the last quarter or so of the novel. There's an awful lot to talk about there (it's the section that gripped me most and had me unwilling to put the book down) but it's too much of a spoiler to go into any detail at all here.
Honestly, besides the lopsided nature of the book (which I don't mind terribly) the only significant complaint I have is the poor product description on Amazon. There are at least two spelling errors in the blurb there, which cannot be good for encouraging sales. They're very blatant and ridiculous errors as well, so prospective readers cannot help but notice them. I can only hope that more people overlook that and take the plunge anyway - it's a book that very much deserves to be read.
To tell the truth, it's one of my favorite Paul Magrs books ever. Maybe my absolute favorite, in point of fact.
Read it.
It will be difficult for me to talk about this book, as there are things I don't want to give away. Hence, the review may end up being rather shorer than I'd prefer, as I don't want to talk too much about some of the later developments (as much of the novel happens in the last section).
Let's start at the beginning. The book that I want to call "Lost on Magrs" (sorry) is a YA scifi novel about a family in the fairly near future that has settled on Mars.
The protagonist is a 14-year-old girl named Lora. She lives on the Martian homestead with her brother Al, little sister Hannah, her Ma and Da and Grandma. They have a hard life growing and harvesting their blue corn, with two pack animals and a servo-furnishing to help them do the chores.
The town in which they live is the first on Mars - and never did acquire a name. "Our Town" is what they call it, though other settlements now exist on the planet. When a massive dust storm comes through and devastates the town, everything begins to change - and the Disappearances start again.
This is just the setup, although it takes up a lengthy part of the novel. My only real gripe (and it was enough to knock my rating here down to four stars - once again I dearly wish for a half-star function, as this totally deserves four-and-a-half stars) is that the story proper really doesn't begin until about two-thirds into the book. I for one would have preferred the City Inside to have made an appearance by maybe a third of the way through. Or at least half. And the revelations about its origins to come at the two-thirds or three-quarter point. It just takes way too much time getting to what seems to be the "real" story.
Not that the prior parts are bad. Indeed, I wouldn't have minded if the City Inside was left for what will be the second book of three. If this entire novel were about what happens to Our Town, and Lora being forced to lead a troupe of adventurers across the desert surface of Mars in search of a vague and confusing transmission - leaving the other revelations for later - it could still have been a great book. The way it is weighted, however, with so much incident happening in such a small space in the book leaves it feeling oddly off-balance.
The indigenous people of the Red Planet are an interesting bunch, as barely portrayed here. I am fascinated by them, and can't wait to find out more about them in later installments of the series. Mysterious, and mythical, and dangerous - and yet capable of goodness, as we find out in the character of Sook - their motivation is completely unknown. Not as simple as we are initially led to believe, their so-called "Disappearing" of people is ultimately what causes Lora and a chunk of the settlers to journey across Mars, leaving Our Town behind.
And that sound. That "heee heeeee heeee" noise they make. Brrrr. It's not easy, as a writer, to create a signature sound that is simple but recognizable, catchy, and does not appear ridiculous on paper. This chilling noise the Martians in the book make really stands out and allows you to recognize its import when it appears.
Paul Magrs does have a fascination with anthropomorphic and clunky machinery, doesn't he? While Barbara the vending machine does not appear here, Lora's family has a servo-furnishing called Toaster that used to be a sun-bed, but whose tanning abilities no longer function. He serves now as a general helping hand, with a no-frills kind of personality. There's some wisdom in that clanky old body, however, and later on (despite his increasingly unreliable memory) his insights can become quite useful to Lora.
I have a question, actually. Firefly Press who published this book are based in Cardiff, and at the end there is a statement that "[t]his book has been published with the support of the Welsh Books Council". So, I wonder if Lora's family is supposed to sound Welsh? Their origin on Earth is never described, but I actually started out hearing them as Welsh (and then changed to a Geordie accent - possibly because it was easier for me to conjure up in my head) so when I saw this at the end it made me curious.
The characters in this book are very well-drawn. Lora is easy to love, being a strong young woman with a lot of independent ideas, but her family is an interesting bunch as well. Grandma is kind of senile and a burden at times. Da is avuncular and reliable. Ma has some emotional problems, but her heart is mostly in the right place. The Town has some interesting folks, too - perhaps most unique is Madame Lucille who seems to be the Town's only trans woman. At times, Magrs seems to be quite mocking of her - not only due to her innate hostility that comes out in bad situations, but earlier the very nature of her stubbly yet frilly-frocked look seems to draw criticism. I trust that there is no harm meant, however - to a Town unused to great varieties of lifestyles I suppose it's natural for a transgendered individual to draw notice.
Other characters later on are just as strong, but I will not discuss them or their dubious loyalties here. As I said earlier, a lot of the exciting stuff - a lot of the incident as well - happens in the last quarter or so of the novel. There's an awful lot to talk about there (it's the section that gripped me most and had me unwilling to put the book down) but it's too much of a spoiler to go into any detail at all here.
Honestly, besides the lopsided nature of the book (which I don't mind terribly) the only significant complaint I have is the poor product description on Amazon. There are at least two spelling errors in the blurb there, which cannot be good for encouraging sales. They're very blatant and ridiculous errors as well, so prospective readers cannot help but notice them. I can only hope that more people overlook that and take the plunge anyway - it's a book that very much deserves to be read.
To tell the truth, it's one of my favorite Paul Magrs books ever. Maybe my absolute favorite, in point of fact.
Read it.
January 27, 2018
I enjoyed the first half of this book; life on the Homestead, the family interactions, the relationship with Toaster, the strange Disappearances, the Martian sightings and the comings and goings of Our Town. I loved Madam Lucille, Zook and the Adams family. I adored Lora and I knew she was capable of bigger things. I thought the journey into the wilderness was fab and it was emotional when the others joined them. Their capture by the lizard birds was great and then.....it went weird.
I liked the idea of the City Inside and I thought the idea of Victorians going to Mars was genius. But then the book lost its way. At the end I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. The last few chapters let this great book down.
I liked the idea of the City Inside and I thought the idea of Victorians going to Mars was genius. But then the book lost its way. At the end I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. The last few chapters let this great book down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2018
Lost on Mars started off really strong. I was hooked in by a compelling plot and skillful prose; the setting was mysterious and eerie, and characters promised to be memorable. I was thoroughly invested in the world and what it had to offer.
200 pages in and I found my devotion waning. Nothing much seemed to happen; dialogue and internal monologues became repetitive; character development was replaced with character confuzzlement, and the quality of writing went downhill as though an amateur ghostwriter had taken Paul Magrs' place.
Disappointed. It could have been so, so good.
Thanks to Lovereading4kids for providing me with a copy to review.
200 pages in and I found my devotion waning. Nothing much seemed to happen; dialogue and internal monologues became repetitive; character development was replaced with character confuzzlement, and the quality of writing went downhill as though an amateur ghostwriter had taken Paul Magrs' place.
Disappointed. It could have been so, so good.
Thanks to Lovereading4kids for providing me with a copy to review.
May 24, 2023
This is written in an engaging style and I enjoyed it as I was going along, BUT it doesn't go anywhere, there is no resolution. I know it is the first part of a trilogy but even so you expect some sort of conclusion to the first episode. At the end it felt like a string of very imaginative but unconnected events without any meaning.
June 30, 2019
Wildly imaginative and pleasantly scary. It started off reminding me of a science-fiction version of Little House on the Prairie but then went off in all kinds of surprising directions. Great main character!
October 9, 2019
Overall this book was decent. I think if I were a tad younger I would have enjoyed it more. I don’t think I will be reading the next two books in the trilogy. I don’t really feel the need to know what happens next.
February 22, 2025
Giving this a four star as it was unusual! Definitely enjoyed the weaving threads and it kept me wondering until the end. However, the ending was all wrong.... Then I realised it's the first in a trilogy 😂
January 4, 2019
flat storytelling, little characterisation and a superbly disappointing ending.
October 31, 2016
Amazing roller-coaster of a book. Mysterious to the last. Fantastic characters, a beautiful setting. Really gripping.
Loved it.
Loved it.
December 10, 2015
From the very start this book captured me in the struggles of Lora and her family gathering crops before a sand storm swept in over the Martian landscape. Their homely existence is soon threatened by more sinister happenings when people start disappearing from the nearby town. Then Grandma disappears leaving behind her cybernetic leg. The sheriff says they have to wait ten weeks to see if grandma returns.
"'It's rediculous,' said Ma, with Hannah grizzling on her lap. 'What does he think? The old woman went off on a whim? Dragging herself along on one leg just for fun? And that some day soon she's gonna come hopping back to the homestead and surprise us all?'"
There is a strong sense all the way through that things are not as they seem, that great truths are yet to be revealed. And also that people are deliberately trying to keep the truth from Lora and her family. Lora knows her Grandma isn't coming back, she saw the strange pale beings dancing around town with their high pitched, haunting laughs.
When Lora's father also goes missing she puts his plan into action to leave their homestead. She leads her family across the huge desert of Mars with no map, just heading towards a strange meteorological forecast that is broadcast everyday from an unknown place.
The characters are rich and varied, from an ancient servobot, Toaster, a sunbed who talks and walks, Lora's brother Al, who dreams of living on earth and sailing on lakes and Aunt Ruby who still lives off dehydrated food cubes like when she was in space, to a cross-dressing dressmaker who holds a bizzare dance one night in the middle of the Martian desert. Lora is of course the star though, strong, determined and She very much drives the story with her decisions.
My one complaint is the end, it felt very left in the air and incomplete. Not a cliffhanger, but we are left waiting to find out the whole truth and who can be trusted.
Very original story, with lots of unexpected twists.
"'It's rediculous,' said Ma, with Hannah grizzling on her lap. 'What does he think? The old woman went off on a whim? Dragging herself along on one leg just for fun? And that some day soon she's gonna come hopping back to the homestead and surprise us all?'"
There is a strong sense all the way through that things are not as they seem, that great truths are yet to be revealed. And also that people are deliberately trying to keep the truth from Lora and her family. Lora knows her Grandma isn't coming back, she saw the strange pale beings dancing around town with their high pitched, haunting laughs.
When Lora's father also goes missing she puts his plan into action to leave their homestead. She leads her family across the huge desert of Mars with no map, just heading towards a strange meteorological forecast that is broadcast everyday from an unknown place.
The characters are rich and varied, from an ancient servobot, Toaster, a sunbed who talks and walks, Lora's brother Al, who dreams of living on earth and sailing on lakes and Aunt Ruby who still lives off dehydrated food cubes like when she was in space, to a cross-dressing dressmaker who holds a bizzare dance one night in the middle of the Martian desert. Lora is of course the star though, strong, determined and She very much drives the story with her decisions.
My one complaint is the end, it felt very left in the air and incomplete. Not a cliffhanger, but we are left waiting to find out the whole truth and who can be trusted.
Very original story, with lots of unexpected twists.
August 2, 2015
I'm not 100% sure of my feelings for this book so I'm going to have to break it down into my favourite things and my not-so-favourite things.
The Highlights
•I loved the fact it was set on Mars - it just made it that little bit more unique.
•I quite liked the main character, Lora. She was a great lead for the novel and fit into the storyline very well. I also really liked Peter's character, who we met later on. I'm quite intrigued as to what role he'll end up playing in future books and what he'll bring to the storyline.
•I also really enjoyed the fact that there was so much mystery surrounding everything - even having finished the book, nothing is clear to me! I'm just left with the gut feeling that something isn't right and the world Lora lives in is mucked up.
•The world was, undeniably, very complex.
•You can also see how the author has written Doctor Who books because there was a general foreign, alien feel to the book - which I rather enjoyed!
•**AN UPDATED ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHT** It's thought-provoking - I finished it this morning and all I've been doing since is mulling it all over. It gets in your head.
The Lowlights
•It didn't feel like that much actually happened overall in the novel, and some parts seemed to drag. It took me longer to get through than a lot of books I read - though I wouldn't say at any point was it bad.
•I wasn't overly attached to any of the other characters we were stuck with for a majority of the novel, aside from Lora and Peter and her Da.
To conclude, I did really enjoy this book - I'm just unsure at the minute as to the extent of my enjoyment. I've not quite decided whether I'll pick up the sequel yet but I may just end up doing so because I need answers badly!
**UPDATE** The more I think about the book, the more I think I've enjoyed it. Strange, maybe, but I'm going to roll with it.
The Highlights
•I loved the fact it was set on Mars - it just made it that little bit more unique.
•I quite liked the main character, Lora. She was a great lead for the novel and fit into the storyline very well. I also really liked Peter's character, who we met later on. I'm quite intrigued as to what role he'll end up playing in future books and what he'll bring to the storyline.
•I also really enjoyed the fact that there was so much mystery surrounding everything - even having finished the book, nothing is clear to me! I'm just left with the gut feeling that something isn't right and the world Lora lives in is mucked up.
•The world was, undeniably, very complex.
•You can also see how the author has written Doctor Who books because there was a general foreign, alien feel to the book - which I rather enjoyed!
•**AN UPDATED ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHT** It's thought-provoking - I finished it this morning and all I've been doing since is mulling it all over. It gets in your head.
The Lowlights
•It didn't feel like that much actually happened overall in the novel, and some parts seemed to drag. It took me longer to get through than a lot of books I read - though I wouldn't say at any point was it bad.
•I wasn't overly attached to any of the other characters we were stuck with for a majority of the novel, aside from Lora and Peter and her Da.
To conclude, I did really enjoy this book - I'm just unsure at the minute as to the extent of my enjoyment. I've not quite decided whether I'll pick up the sequel yet but I may just end up doing so because I need answers badly!
**UPDATE** The more I think about the book, the more I think I've enjoyed it. Strange, maybe, but I'm going to roll with it.
June 13, 2015
This starts as an SF Little House on the Prairie but quickly moves on to become something far more strange and wonderful. It starts with the narrator, Lora, and her family eking a living from the land just outside a Martian frontier town. The first few chapters sketch in this version of Mars beautifully, adding SF touches to the transplanted Western story. Then things take a turn for the darker as the story unfolds and Mars proves not quite as dead as it seems…
As ever Magrs is a master of genre-mashing madness, stirring in elements which wouldn’t obviously go together and garnishing with familiar touches including literary homages and sentient furniture. His version of Mars is wonderfully idiosyncratic too, redolent of unconquered mystery and avoiding the pulp SF trap of homogenous alien societies – that said the Martian natives we do meet are fabulously spooky and so vivid they’re practically begging to be realised in other media. Topping all that off, Lora’s a strong narrative voice, an impressively different tone from the author’s usual prose.
The only frustration is that this is clearly the first in the series – there are a lot of wonderfully intriguing mysteries left hanging at the book’s end, leaving me wanting much more right now. In that sense, this is a fine start to a new series and I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to revisit this eerie, eclectic Mars again.
As ever Magrs is a master of genre-mashing madness, stirring in elements which wouldn’t obviously go together and garnishing with familiar touches including literary homages and sentient furniture. His version of Mars is wonderfully idiosyncratic too, redolent of unconquered mystery and avoiding the pulp SF trap of homogenous alien societies – that said the Martian natives we do meet are fabulously spooky and so vivid they’re practically begging to be realised in other media. Topping all that off, Lora’s a strong narrative voice, an impressively different tone from the author’s usual prose.
The only frustration is that this is clearly the first in the series – there are a lot of wonderfully intriguing mysteries left hanging at the book’s end, leaving me wanting much more right now. In that sense, this is a fine start to a new series and I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to revisit this eerie, eclectic Mars again.
November 7, 2016
I can't wait to read the second instalment of this trilogy. I am still thinking about the characters and the hard life they led on Mars, trying to grow enough to eat, like early settlers in the United States. And then their journey away from their initial homestead and all that happens there.
I felt unsettled and spooked out early on - it seemed fitting to finish it on Halloween. It wasn't a cosy read, though it seemed to get cosier when I understood more about what was happening in the world. It's not a YA book I would introduce to a middle grade reader or younger. But I would be pleased to recommend it to readers aged 12 or older. It's an interesting and thought-provoking read about the nature of people, academia and civilisation itself.
I own many of Paul Magrs's books and I think this is one of the best. I'm excited by the potential of the YA space novel and wonder what new level Paul will take it to, a pioneer in this genre as the settlers are pioneers on Mars.
I felt unsettled and spooked out early on - it seemed fitting to finish it on Halloween. It wasn't a cosy read, though it seemed to get cosier when I understood more about what was happening in the world. It's not a YA book I would introduce to a middle grade reader or younger. But I would be pleased to recommend it to readers aged 12 or older. It's an interesting and thought-provoking read about the nature of people, academia and civilisation itself.
I own many of Paul Magrs's books and I think this is one of the best. I'm excited by the potential of the YA space novel and wonder what new level Paul will take it to, a pioneer in this genre as the settlers are pioneers on Mars.
January 13, 2016
I'm kind of surprised by how many good reviews this book has. Maybe it's just down to personal taste and this is somehow not my cup of tea. I found the writing style really irritating, it was the kind of book that seems to just constantly jump forward in time and gloss over stuff. It was like the narrator was just tlaking about stuff that happened in vague detail rather than you being there, which I guess led to me not feeling particularly attached to any of the characters. Some of the plot points were just so absurd I actually laughed out loud a few times. It was also one of those books that just raises constant questions with literally no answers. I honestly don't think one question was answered in the whole book. Mystery and suspense are good but this was too much. Not sure I'll be reading any sequels...
April 27, 2017
It is a wonderfully weird world. The family servant and friend is a sunbed called Toaster, and Lora makes friends – and more than friends? – with a female flying Martian called Sook who may or may not want to eat her. The ideas and the plotting are certainly there, but the writing feels a bit hit and miss. It’s not a major issue, and it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book, but the occasional time-lapse or jump could have been handled a little more smoothly, and there was a reliance on paraphrasing conversations rather than writing them through, which created a level of distance at times between me as the reader and the characters.
You can read my full review here: https://rustlingreads.wordpress.com/2...
You can read my full review here: https://rustlingreads.wordpress.com/2...
October 9, 2016
Lora and her family have a tough life in a small town on the Martian praires.The struggle of having enough crops to sell and keep for storms. And having hardly enough money to keep their hovercraft and robot sunbed servant going. But the worst of it all was the Martians
. It had become commonplace for a couple of people to go missing a year. But then it got worse and worse people were disappearing left and right. One day when Lora and her Dad were on the hovercraft and it broke down Lora's Dad had to repair it but it fell on him. Lora went to get help but when she got back he too disappeared.
So Lora and her family decided to leave their homestead on an adventure into the unknown.
. It had become commonplace for a couple of people to go missing a year. But then it got worse and worse people were disappearing left and right. One day when Lora and her Dad were on the hovercraft and it broke down Lora's Dad had to repair it but it fell on him. Lora went to get help but when she got back he too disappeared.
So Lora and her family decided to leave their homestead on an adventure into the unknown.
May 7, 2015
I received this book in a first reads giveaway.
An emerald green glass city inhabited by Victorians and ruled by Martians that make people disappear. I think that can sum up what's happening here. This book, I felt, was quite slow to get started, but once it did, I was hooked. I suppose though a book set in a whole entire fictional universe of its own might need quite a back story. At the end of this book, I find myself with so many unanswered questions, and I have no idea who to trust. I think Magrs has definitely written a great start to the trilogy and I look forward to the rest.
An emerald green glass city inhabited by Victorians and ruled by Martians that make people disappear. I think that can sum up what's happening here. This book, I felt, was quite slow to get started, but once it did, I was hooked. I suppose though a book set in a whole entire fictional universe of its own might need quite a back story. At the end of this book, I find myself with so many unanswered questions, and I have no idea who to trust. I think Magrs has definitely written a great start to the trilogy and I look forward to the rest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2015
I got this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway. It's a fabulous read, a magical Bradbury-esque Martian adventure with a strong female protagonist. There's mystery and thrills and Christmas. It's also definitely in the voice of Magrs!
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