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Mars Endeavour #1
Retrograde
Mankind has long dreamed of reaching out to live on other planets, and with the establishment of the Mars Endeavour colony, that dream has become reality. The fledgling colony consists of 120 scientists, astronauts, medical staff, and engineers. Buried deep underground, they’re protected from the harsh radiation that sterilizes the surface of the planet. The colony is prepared for every eventuality except one—what happens when disaster strikes Earth?
243 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2016
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November 17, 2017
Retrograde
By: Peter Cawdron
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Another favorite book by Cawdron...
Earth has many colonist and scientist on Mars then one day the Mars groups hear bits and pieces of bad new then nothing. War, nukes all over the world. No one knows who started it, each nation's pod is given different info. Now on Mars, no one trust each other. But now, whoever started the war on Earth is starting the war on Mars. It is so freaking exciting!!! Sci-fi, mystery, and so much more! With his books it is always that more that gets you... that is what keeps me coming back to his books. What is life? Such a good book.
The narrator is such a great actress, had me on the edge of my seat! Wonderful job!!!
By: Peter Cawdron
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Another favorite book by Cawdron...
Earth has many colonist and scientist on Mars then one day the Mars groups hear bits and pieces of bad new then nothing. War, nukes all over the world. No one knows who started it, each nation's pod is given different info. Now on Mars, no one trust each other. But now, whoever started the war on Earth is starting the war on Mars. It is so freaking exciting!!! Sci-fi, mystery, and so much more! With his books it is always that more that gets you... that is what keeps me coming back to his books. What is life? Such a good book.
The narrator is such a great actress, had me on the edge of my seat! Wonderful job!!!
February 8, 2018
There's finally a human colony on Mars. The Endeavor mission consists of scientists from all over the world living in a collection of habitats located in underground lava tubes. Elizabeth "Liz" Louise Anderson is a micropaleobiologist with the US module. We pick up Liz's story shortly before a massive disaster hits Earth and strains international cooperation in the Mars colony. When a series of nasty accidents begin to strike the colony things become even more strained.
This is the natural evolution of The Martian (such comparisons are inevitable), with solid technology and science and written by a mature writer who can do emotional conflict and dialogue. It's hard enough in terms of scitech to keep most hard SF aficionados happy and enough great characterization for everyone else. I will say that I felt the plot a little obvious, and Liz a bit too naive and a bit slow to figure things out at times, particularly given the sort of intellect and training she reveals throughout the novel.
The continuous flashbacks to the training and selection scenarios for the colonists were very instructive and the whole thing felt didactic, but I don't mind when it's genuinely interesting material.
This is the natural evolution of The Martian (such comparisons are inevitable), with solid technology and science and written by a mature writer who can do emotional conflict and dialogue. It's hard enough in terms of scitech to keep most hard SF aficionados happy and enough great characterization for everyone else. I will say that I felt the plot a little obvious, and Liz a bit too naive and a bit slow to figure things out at times, particularly given the sort of intellect and training she reveals throughout the novel.
The continuous flashbacks to the training and selection scenarios for the colonists were very instructive and the whole thing felt didactic, but I don't mind when it's genuinely interesting material.
September 13, 2022
“There’s been a nuclear exchange.”
“This is a goddamn nuclear war!” … “We don’t know who fired first, but once the missiles started flying, it doesn’t look like there was much in the way of restraint.”
And just like that, Mars Endeavour Mission and its 130 crew members and commanders, scientists, doctors, and technical specialists were abandoned by NASA mission control in Houston with no hope of rescue, return to earth, or resupply! Colonists from a lengthy list of earth’s nations are struggling to figure out what has happened on earth, whether their friends and families have been annihilated in what appears to be an out of control launching of WW III, and whether their loyalty and camaraderie belongs to their countries on earth or to continued exploration, to the advancement of science, to their mission and to their fellow scientists.
Then things started to REALLY go wrong!
RETROGRADE is a brilliant blend of both the hard and soft sides of contemporary sci-fi. On the hard side, consider for example this brief exposition on Martian dust which Cawdron manages to insert in the narrative, informing its readers without interrupting the high speed flow of his story in the slightest:
“I climb up into the cab of R4. A fine coating of dust covers the controls. Most of the electronics are sealed in plastic to protect them from various corrosives and volatiles in the Martian environment, but inevitably the dust gets everywhere. Dust on Mars is different from anything I’ve experienced on Earth. Back home, dust is soft and more of a nuisance than a problem. Up here, it’s as fine as cigarette smoke. Roll some between your fingers and you’d swear it was oily, with the consistency of graphene.”
“Dust represents a serious health concern for us, … Perchlorates in the dust are highly reactive when they come in contact with moisture – they’re chemical time bombs waiting to go off in our lungs, and on returning to base it’s important not to handle the outside of the suit until the techs have given it a chemical shower. Some of the dust is akin to glass particles ground up so find they hang in the air for up to several minutes. This dust can be easily sucked into our lungs when breathing. Ingesting sandpaper would do less tissue damage than Martian dust, as the fines are so small they can breach cell membranes. Back on earth, similar fine-grain particulate material, like cigarette smoke and asbestos fibers, can cause cancer, and the general view is there’s no safe level of exposure.”
On the soft side of the spectrum, RETROGRADE deals with issues such as off-planet continuations of earth-side nationalism; love and romance in a space colony; abiogenesis (the investigation of methods by which life could arise from inorganic material); scientific methodology; cross-cultural communication and understanding; how people in a fledgling colony in a hostile environment such as Mars would react to a life-threatening disaster back on earth; artificial intelligence, consciousness, sentience, and cognitive upload; and more!
SPOILER:
END SPOILER
Peter Cawdron is definitely on my list of favourite contemporary sci-fi authors and RETROGRADE is highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Paul Weiss
“This is a goddamn nuclear war!” … “We don’t know who fired first, but once the missiles started flying, it doesn’t look like there was much in the way of restraint.”
And just like that, Mars Endeavour Mission and its 130 crew members and commanders, scientists, doctors, and technical specialists were abandoned by NASA mission control in Houston with no hope of rescue, return to earth, or resupply! Colonists from a lengthy list of earth’s nations are struggling to figure out what has happened on earth, whether their friends and families have been annihilated in what appears to be an out of control launching of WW III, and whether their loyalty and camaraderie belongs to their countries on earth or to continued exploration, to the advancement of science, to their mission and to their fellow scientists.
Then things started to REALLY go wrong!
RETROGRADE is a brilliant blend of both the hard and soft sides of contemporary sci-fi. On the hard side, consider for example this brief exposition on Martian dust which Cawdron manages to insert in the narrative, informing its readers without interrupting the high speed flow of his story in the slightest:
“I climb up into the cab of R4. A fine coating of dust covers the controls. Most of the electronics are sealed in plastic to protect them from various corrosives and volatiles in the Martian environment, but inevitably the dust gets everywhere. Dust on Mars is different from anything I’ve experienced on Earth. Back home, dust is soft and more of a nuisance than a problem. Up here, it’s as fine as cigarette smoke. Roll some between your fingers and you’d swear it was oily, with the consistency of graphene.”
“Dust represents a serious health concern for us, … Perchlorates in the dust are highly reactive when they come in contact with moisture – they’re chemical time bombs waiting to go off in our lungs, and on returning to base it’s important not to handle the outside of the suit until the techs have given it a chemical shower. Some of the dust is akin to glass particles ground up so find they hang in the air for up to several minutes. This dust can be easily sucked into our lungs when breathing. Ingesting sandpaper would do less tissue damage than Martian dust, as the fines are so small they can breach cell membranes. Back on earth, similar fine-grain particulate material, like cigarette smoke and asbestos fibers, can cause cancer, and the general view is there’s no safe level of exposure.”
On the soft side of the spectrum, RETROGRADE deals with issues such as off-planet continuations of earth-side nationalism; love and romance in a space colony; abiogenesis (the investigation of methods by which life could arise from inorganic material); scientific methodology; cross-cultural communication and understanding; how people in a fledgling colony in a hostile environment such as Mars would react to a life-threatening disaster back on earth; artificial intelligence, consciousness, sentience, and cognitive upload; and more!
SPOILER:
END SPOILER
Peter Cawdron is definitely on my list of favourite contemporary sci-fi authors and RETROGRADE is highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Paul Weiss
November 11, 2017
Reading a story about a Mars disaster immediately makes you think of The Martian... or at least it did for me. But rather than this being a story built on one person having to survive on Mars while waiting for rescue, we see this story about a colony of various professional people from across several ethnic backgrounds working together as one when disaster strikes on Earth. This is how they react to this disaster and how it causes strife in their own world. Rather than being Americans, Russians or Chinese or wherever they're from, they have to learn to work as Martians again and not let what's happening back on earth effect them. Then when disaster strikes on their colony, they start having to fight for their own lives.
Throughout the book you can see that the author did a LOT of research. The technicalities of how the colony was sustained was informative but not overwhelming. The characters were fairly well developed but I wish there had been just a little bit more. We see through the eyes of Liz, an American, who struggles internally throughout the book ... I don't want to say too much so as not to give away any spoiler or story arcs. However, I will say that this being a science fiction book could've left out the typical love triangle plot. Luckily, that was such a minimal thing within the book compared to everything else that I'll just brush it aside.
As a person who loves all things science-y, I was pretty fascinated where the author took the story line. It's certainly conceivable that this could potentially happen in the future and I certainly hope the powers that be have contingency plans in place JUST IN CASE. I do feel the ending was a little too neat and felt a tad bit rushed. For all the detailing that came at the beginning to give you a sense of being on a different planet, the ending left more to the imagination and the time line seemed very quickened. OR maybe I just wanted more?
Any fan of outer space sci-fi action will like this book. What I thought started out as more of a political story went into a science fiction tale that maybe needed a little more balance, but was well written and certainly caught my attention.
Throughout the book you can see that the author did a LOT of research. The technicalities of how the colony was sustained was informative but not overwhelming. The characters were fairly well developed but I wish there had been just a little bit more. We see through the eyes of Liz, an American, who struggles internally throughout the book ... I don't want to say too much so as not to give away any spoiler or story arcs. However, I will say that this being a science fiction book could've left out the typical love triangle plot. Luckily, that was such a minimal thing within the book compared to everything else that I'll just brush it aside.
As a person who loves all things science-y, I was pretty fascinated where the author took the story line. It's certainly conceivable that this could potentially happen in the future and I certainly hope the powers that be have contingency plans in place JUST IN CASE. I do feel the ending was a little too neat and felt a tad bit rushed. For all the detailing that came at the beginning to give you a sense of being on a different planet, the ending left more to the imagination and the time line seemed very quickened. OR maybe I just wanted more?
Any fan of outer space sci-fi action will like this book. What I thought started out as more of a political story went into a science fiction tale that maybe needed a little more balance, but was well written and certainly caught my attention.
October 9, 2017
2.5 stars
This review and others posted over at my blog.
I have mixed feelings about this book and find it hard to talk about.
Let me start by talking about the parts I enjoyed. First, the general plot; I’ve read plenty of sci-fi, but I’ve never read a scenario where the people on a space station find themselves imperiled due to a war on Earth. This got me thinking about how scary (well, most sci-fi books set in space scare me because I’d be too scared to go into space) it would be to realize that your survival on another planet depends on a planet that’s now wrecked by a war and may never be able to send you further support. The space station certainly seems well-equipped, but I didn’t get the impression that the station could be self-sufficient if Earth was permanently incapable of sending them future supply pods. It certainly adds tension to an already dangerous situation, on top of the strife and misery the inhabitants experience after finding out everyone they know on Earth might be dead.
The other part I enjoyed was the twist…that I feel like I can’t talk about? I didn’t see if coming and if you might not see it coming either, I don’t want to give it away. So, it was unexpected (ok, duh, I just said that) and it added a little spice to a story that was otherwise boring me. I mean, I wanted to be interested in what was going to happen to these people who are possibly stranded on Mars due to a nuclear war on Earth, but, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment, I wasn’t. When some shit hit the fan and I found out why my interest was renewed in the plot, at least.
My main problem with this book is Liz – the first person narration prevented me from getting to know any of the other characters, except through Liz’s limited, and extremely repetitive, observations and I found Liz bland.
I’ve read plenty of novels written in first person; I know many people dislike it, but I typically don’t mind it (sometimes I don’t even really notice it). In this context, however, I never got to know any of the characters except Liz and even Liz’s way of talking about her own life and experiences didn’t feel like I was getting to know her so much as it felt like she was just citing random facts about herself. As a result, when other characters experienced something traumatic or emotionally meaningful, I felt nothing.
Liz is also extremely repetitive. One of the first things that started to annoy me was her constant talk about how Harrison, one of the US mod leaders and also her ex-boyfriend, swears often. At first, I chalked it up to Liz thinking someone swearing is a character trait or description we need to know about (whereas he could just swear a lot in his dialogue and I’d get the point without it needing to be explained to me). Then she keeps talking about it. Good Old Harrison, can’t talk without swearing. That’s Harrison, swearing away, he does it a lot. Harrison swears, he must like the colorful language, unlike the rest of us. Man, nobody swears like Harrison and it sounds totally new and different when he does it. Golly, there’s Harrison, swearing again, isn’t it neat?
Shut. Up.
This is a theme with Liz – constant repetition. Her thoughts on the war were one-note and repeated throughout the book. Essentially any observation she made was bound to be repeated and every scenario over-explained. I didn’t feel like I was given a chance to figure anything out myself. For example:
“Hit me with spray,” Connor says.
“I’ll hit you if you don’t do as you’re told,” Anna says sternly, playing on his words.
I get it – you don’t have to tell me Anna was playing on Connor’s words because I read what she said and it’s clearly a play on words. Most of the dialogue is similarly flat.
While I don’t consider Retrograde a bad book, I’m torn on whether or not I’d recommend it. I did like the plot, but I never felt for any of the characters because of Liz’s lackluster point of view. It is a relatively quick read though and if you’re looking for a slightly different take on the ‘life in a space station’ scenario, this one might be worth borrowing from the library.
This review and others posted over at my blog.
I have mixed feelings about this book and find it hard to talk about.
Let me start by talking about the parts I enjoyed. First, the general plot; I’ve read plenty of sci-fi, but I’ve never read a scenario where the people on a space station find themselves imperiled due to a war on Earth. This got me thinking about how scary (well, most sci-fi books set in space scare me because I’d be too scared to go into space) it would be to realize that your survival on another planet depends on a planet that’s now wrecked by a war and may never be able to send you further support. The space station certainly seems well-equipped, but I didn’t get the impression that the station could be self-sufficient if Earth was permanently incapable of sending them future supply pods. It certainly adds tension to an already dangerous situation, on top of the strife and misery the inhabitants experience after finding out everyone they know on Earth might be dead.
The other part I enjoyed was the twist…that I feel like I can’t talk about? I didn’t see if coming and if you might not see it coming either, I don’t want to give it away. So, it was unexpected (ok, duh, I just said that) and it added a little spice to a story that was otherwise boring me. I mean, I wanted to be interested in what was going to happen to these people who are possibly stranded on Mars due to a nuclear war on Earth, but, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment, I wasn’t. When some shit hit the fan and I found out why my interest was renewed in the plot, at least.
My main problem with this book is Liz – the first person narration prevented me from getting to know any of the other characters, except through Liz’s limited, and extremely repetitive, observations and I found Liz bland.
I’ve read plenty of novels written in first person; I know many people dislike it, but I typically don’t mind it (sometimes I don’t even really notice it). In this context, however, I never got to know any of the characters except Liz and even Liz’s way of talking about her own life and experiences didn’t feel like I was getting to know her so much as it felt like she was just citing random facts about herself. As a result, when other characters experienced something traumatic or emotionally meaningful, I felt nothing.
Liz is also extremely repetitive. One of the first things that started to annoy me was her constant talk about how Harrison, one of the US mod leaders and also her ex-boyfriend, swears often. At first, I chalked it up to Liz thinking someone swearing is a character trait or description we need to know about (whereas he could just swear a lot in his dialogue and I’d get the point without it needing to be explained to me). Then she keeps talking about it. Good Old Harrison, can’t talk without swearing. That’s Harrison, swearing away, he does it a lot. Harrison swears, he must like the colorful language, unlike the rest of us. Man, nobody swears like Harrison and it sounds totally new and different when he does it. Golly, there’s Harrison, swearing again, isn’t it neat?
Shut. Up.
This is a theme with Liz – constant repetition. Her thoughts on the war were one-note and repeated throughout the book. Essentially any observation she made was bound to be repeated and every scenario over-explained. I didn’t feel like I was given a chance to figure anything out myself. For example:
“Hit me with spray,” Connor says.
“I’ll hit you if you don’t do as you’re told,” Anna says sternly, playing on his words.
I get it – you don’t have to tell me Anna was playing on Connor’s words because I read what she said and it’s clearly a play on words. Most of the dialogue is similarly flat.
While I don’t consider Retrograde a bad book, I’m torn on whether or not I’d recommend it. I did like the plot, but I never felt for any of the characters because of Liz’s lackluster point of view. It is a relatively quick read though and if you’re looking for a slightly different take on the ‘life in a space station’ scenario, this one might be worth borrowing from the library.
September 12, 2017
I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. According to the publication date on the spine, I finished it one day before the release date. Yay, me!
Set an unspecified number of years in the future--probably several decades at least--Retrograde takes place on Mars. A permanent base has been established, with teams from several different countries residing there. And then word reaches them from Earth: nuclear missiles have hit various cities around the globe. Reeling from the shock of losing loved ones back home and suddenly acutely aware of differing nationalities, can the Mars base survive?
Comparisons to Andy Weir's The Martian are probably inevitable. The book and movie made a huge enough splash that, for better or worse, it will be the yardstick by which Martian tales are measured for many years to come. Certainly both books have the general setting in common, and both take the trouble to get the scientific details as correct as possible. But, while The Martian focuses on science, Retrograde is more concerned with psychology: how do you respond when your country is accused of starting a war? Suspicion runs rampant, possibly for good reason.
There's a plot twist halfway through the book that I found somewhat jarring. Suddenly I was reading a very different novel than I thought I was. Cawdron follows through on the implications of the twist nicely, and the result is a fascinating read. To say more would spoil everything. This was one of the better SF novels I've read in a while. Recommended!
Set an unspecified number of years in the future--probably several decades at least--Retrograde takes place on Mars. A permanent base has been established, with teams from several different countries residing there. And then word reaches them from Earth: nuclear missiles have hit various cities around the globe. Reeling from the shock of losing loved ones back home and suddenly acutely aware of differing nationalities, can the Mars base survive?
Comparisons to Andy Weir's The Martian are probably inevitable. The book and movie made a huge enough splash that, for better or worse, it will be the yardstick by which Martian tales are measured for many years to come. Certainly both books have the general setting in common, and both take the trouble to get the scientific details as correct as possible. But, while The Martian focuses on science, Retrograde is more concerned with psychology: how do you respond when your country is accused of starting a war? Suspicion runs rampant, possibly for good reason.
There's a plot twist halfway through the book that I found somewhat jarring. Suddenly I was reading a very different novel than I thought I was. Cawdron follows through on the implications of the twist nicely, and the result is a fascinating read. To say more would spoil everything. This was one of the better SF novels I've read in a while. Recommended!
November 12, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was an entertaining near future sci fi thriller that combined hard science and complicated situations into a compelling narrative. The characters were not particularly deep and the plot was relatively simple, given the length of this short novel. However I really appreciated the accuracy of the colonization and engineering of the red planet.
This was an entertaining near future sci fi thriller that combined hard science and complicated situations into a compelling narrative. The characters were not particularly deep and the plot was relatively simple, given the length of this short novel. However I really appreciated the accuracy of the colonization and engineering of the red planet.
February 10, 2019
Okay, I try not to be too negative in my reviews, but this one was just…. not good. In most ways mediocre, and in a few ways truly bad.
The writing is full of cliched phrases, cultural stereotypes, and weird overexplanations. The pacing is really odd-- some plot elements are skimmed over, but the characters never seem to act with any real urgency. Cawdron often seems to be striving for something like Andy Weir’s detail-rich problem-solving sequences (no doubt the hope was fans of The Martian will be drawn in by the orange-tinted helmet glare visor and Martian landscape on the cover) but I read nothing to show he has any more command of the technicals than what could be obtained from Wikipedia. Some of the infodumps in the early parts of the book are mildly interesting, but the insistence on reusing that trick once we’re theoretically in the high-stakes endgame can be seriously off-putting.
No character in the story seems fully developed-- we get a few sentences of backstory and personality when they’re first introduced, and then everything they do is consistent with that introduction. Jianyu is relaxed and dependable. Michelle is emotional. Vlad is... Russian. (One character’s main personality trait seems to be just that he swears a lot, which is bizarrely treated as a big deal and constantly commented on, though he never gets worse than a “fuck”, rarely worse than a “damn”, and never more creative than a “what the hell?”) It’s hard to see any evidence of how anyone feels about or relates to each other, except what is relayed through bland exposition. Many of the characters and factions distrust each other at various points in the story, but never really to the extent of truly fighting, or sabotaging each other, or even ceasing communications.
In general, nothing packs an emotional punch. Moments that could be seriously creepy, tense, or atmospheric are quickly punctured and deflated by straightforward description and quick progress towards the next plot point. Most of the time our narrator, Liz, seems to neither have a handle on the situation nor really be out of her depth in an interesting way-- she just keeps trucking slipshod through the plot until we stumble into the conclusion.
Overall: the basic premise, including the big twist, are theoretically interesting, but the book pretty much entirely fails to execute on its potential.
Oh! One last thing. Please someone explain this to me-- why does being in retrograde mean they have longer communication delays with Earth? I thought that Mars being in retrograde coincided with opposition, when the two planets are relatively close... This may genuinely be something that I’m misunderstanding, so please let me know, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Cawdron thinks that “opposition” means Earth is on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, not that Mars and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth. On the other hand, a character does say at one point that they’re fifty million miles from Earth, which is pretty close…. I don’t know, guys. I just don’t know.
Some quotes that really killed me:
“I’d like to, but I’m too polite-- too nice. I can’t swear like Harrison. When he swears, it sounds natural, almost as though cusswords are the norm; for me, it would be crude and forced.”
““Hit me with the spray,” Connor says. “I’ll hit you if you don’t do as you’re told,” Anna says sternly, playing on his words.”
"I wonder if the feed is still live. Live. What a concept. Life. Death. They're such abstract ideas, really."
“In a matter of a few minutes, I’ve pulled myself out of my gloom.” (Context: The gloom she was pulled out of was a result of a nuclear strike hitting her hometown on earth, several close friends dying, and a new threat on the rest of her fellow astronauts. She felt better because she thought about what soccer would be like in Mars gravity.)
“My chest heaves as a knot forms deep inside. A knife seems to plunge through my heart, twisting as it’s driven deeper.”
“He’s been dead for hours. I sob. I feel like a knife has been plunged into my heart.”
“As well meaning as he is, his words cut like a knife plunging into my heart.”
"My heart aches. Driving a knife into my waist and slowly twisting it around could not cause me any more pain than I feel."
The writing is full of cliched phrases, cultural stereotypes, and weird overexplanations. The pacing is really odd-- some plot elements are skimmed over, but the characters never seem to act with any real urgency. Cawdron often seems to be striving for something like Andy Weir’s detail-rich problem-solving sequences (no doubt the hope was fans of The Martian will be drawn in by the orange-tinted helmet glare visor and Martian landscape on the cover) but I read nothing to show he has any more command of the technicals than what could be obtained from Wikipedia. Some of the infodumps in the early parts of the book are mildly interesting, but the insistence on reusing that trick once we’re theoretically in the high-stakes endgame can be seriously off-putting.
No character in the story seems fully developed-- we get a few sentences of backstory and personality when they’re first introduced, and then everything they do is consistent with that introduction. Jianyu is relaxed and dependable. Michelle is emotional. Vlad is... Russian. (One character’s main personality trait seems to be just that he swears a lot, which is bizarrely treated as a big deal and constantly commented on, though he never gets worse than a “fuck”, rarely worse than a “damn”, and never more creative than a “what the hell?”) It’s hard to see any evidence of how anyone feels about or relates to each other, except what is relayed through bland exposition. Many of the characters and factions distrust each other at various points in the story, but never really to the extent of truly fighting, or sabotaging each other, or even ceasing communications.
In general, nothing packs an emotional punch. Moments that could be seriously creepy, tense, or atmospheric are quickly punctured and deflated by straightforward description and quick progress towards the next plot point. Most of the time our narrator, Liz, seems to neither have a handle on the situation nor really be out of her depth in an interesting way-- she just keeps trucking slipshod through the plot until we stumble into the conclusion.
Overall: the basic premise, including the big twist, are theoretically interesting, but the book pretty much entirely fails to execute on its potential.
Oh! One last thing. Please someone explain this to me-- why does being in retrograde mean they have longer communication delays with Earth? I thought that Mars being in retrograde coincided with opposition, when the two planets are relatively close... This may genuinely be something that I’m misunderstanding, so please let me know, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Cawdron thinks that “opposition” means Earth is on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, not that Mars and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth. On the other hand, a character does say at one point that they’re fifty million miles from Earth, which is pretty close…. I don’t know, guys. I just don’t know.
Some quotes that really killed me:
“I’d like to, but I’m too polite-- too nice. I can’t swear like Harrison. When he swears, it sounds natural, almost as though cusswords are the norm; for me, it would be crude and forced.”
““Hit me with the spray,” Connor says. “I’ll hit you if you don’t do as you’re told,” Anna says sternly, playing on his words.”
"I wonder if the feed is still live. Live. What a concept. Life. Death. They're such abstract ideas, really."
“In a matter of a few minutes, I’ve pulled myself out of my gloom.” (Context: The gloom she was pulled out of was a result of a nuclear strike hitting her hometown on earth, several close friends dying, and a new threat on the rest of her fellow astronauts. She felt better because she thought about what soccer would be like in Mars gravity.)
“My chest heaves as a knot forms deep inside. A knife seems to plunge through my heart, twisting as it’s driven deeper.”
“He’s been dead for hours. I sob. I feel like a knife has been plunged into my heart.”
“As well meaning as he is, his words cut like a knife plunging into my heart.”
"My heart aches. Driving a knife into my waist and slowly twisting it around could not cause me any more pain than I feel."
November 5, 2019
Retrograde is an exciting science fiction thriller set in a Mars science station. Nuclear war breaks out back on Earth, and suddenly the American, Russian, Chinese, and European astronauts don’t know who to trust. Virtually no news is coming from Earth — who is nuking whom, and why? Then accidents start happening on Mars. Can Liz figure it out and save the colony? This is excellent hard SF with many details about the challenges of living on Mars.
January 7, 2017
Exciting account of how the first colony on Mars fights for survival when disaster strikes... on Earth. The book is set in the near future and is highly believable with a few scifi concepts too.
I really enjoyed the ride. The conflicts between cultures and nationalities were very realistic and well thought out. The style of story telling drew me in and there was lots to think about after the final page.
I would have loved this book to be twice as long!
I really enjoyed the ride. The conflicts between cultures and nationalities were very realistic and well thought out. The style of story telling drew me in and there was lots to think about after the final page.
I would have loved this book to be twice as long!
September 12, 2017
Thanks to HMH Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Not going to lie, the cover to this book made me want to read it. RETROGRADE by Peter Cawdron is set on Mars and we follow the colony of people that are now inhabiting the red planet. We see them put to the test when tragedy strikes earth.
The colony on Mars is made up of people from all over the world. All are professionals but they span across multiple ethnic backgrounds. It's great to see the characters work together when disaster strikes Earth, but can they still come together as Martians when their colony is faced with losing their support?
It's really hard to write a review without giving away some spoilers - with it being a shorter and action packed novel. I will say this, Cawdron definitely did his homework and research for this one! Everything felt so real, and the fact that I'm not a scientist, I felt like what he put out there is completely plausible. With people already in the process of trying to get people to Mars, this doesn't feel like its in the too distant future.
Overall, this was incredibly well-written and had some memorable characters. Lots of action and a quick pace made for a good read! I would say that I wanted just a little bit more. The ending did feel rushed, but that's probably because of the length of the novel.
If you're a fan of all things science and outer space, then this is one you'll have to pick up!
I give this 4/5 stars!
Not going to lie, the cover to this book made me want to read it. RETROGRADE by Peter Cawdron is set on Mars and we follow the colony of people that are now inhabiting the red planet. We see them put to the test when tragedy strikes earth.
The colony on Mars is made up of people from all over the world. All are professionals but they span across multiple ethnic backgrounds. It's great to see the characters work together when disaster strikes Earth, but can they still come together as Martians when their colony is faced with losing their support?
It's really hard to write a review without giving away some spoilers - with it being a shorter and action packed novel. I will say this, Cawdron definitely did his homework and research for this one! Everything felt so real, and the fact that I'm not a scientist, I felt like what he put out there is completely plausible. With people already in the process of trying to get people to Mars, this doesn't feel like its in the too distant future.
Overall, this was incredibly well-written and had some memorable characters. Lots of action and a quick pace made for a good read! I would say that I wanted just a little bit more. The ending did feel rushed, but that's probably because of the length of the novel.
If you're a fan of all things science and outer space, then this is one you'll have to pick up!
I give this 4/5 stars!
June 18, 2019
Lots of science backs up this tense story of Mars colonists dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear war on earth, escalating tensions amongst themselves, and all manner of technological failures.
There are astronauts from all over the world on Mars, though the US, China and Russia have the largest numbers of individuals, with Europe and Asia together making up the last group. Main character Liz is one of the American colonists. When everyone receives minimal but horrible news from Earth, grief and anger is expressed along country lines, and fear and mistrust is the order of the day. When technical failures start occurring, and colonists begin dying, the fear ratchets up.
I loved all the details about Mars and about the technology the astronauts used. And though I found Liz painfully naïve about people and their motives several times during the first quarter to half of the book, I liked her, and was worried about her and a few of the other colonists once things started to go wrong. As this was an enjoyable, tense story, and there are several questions raised by the end of this book, I'm interested to see where the author takes his story next.
There are astronauts from all over the world on Mars, though the US, China and Russia have the largest numbers of individuals, with Europe and Asia together making up the last group. Main character Liz is one of the American colonists. When everyone receives minimal but horrible news from Earth, grief and anger is expressed along country lines, and fear and mistrust is the order of the day. When technical failures start occurring, and colonists begin dying, the fear ratchets up.
I loved all the details about Mars and about the technology the astronauts used. And though I found Liz painfully naïve about people and their motives several times during the first quarter to half of the book, I liked her, and was worried about her and a few of the other colonists once things started to go wrong. As this was an enjoyable, tense story, and there are several questions raised by the end of this book, I'm interested to see where the author takes his story next.
September 15, 2019
Habitat ist der erste Band einer Reihe. Das stellte ich gerade beim Schreiben der Rezi fest - also nicht nach beenden des Buches, was darauf schließen lässt, dass es keinen Cliffhanger gibt. Das finde ich prima!
Ansonsten war dieses Buch der erste SciFi-Roman seit langem, der mir so richtig gut gefiel. Es werden keine Klischees bedient bzw vertieft behandelt, was ich ebenfalls als sehr angenehm empfand. Beim Lesen kam endlich wieder Science-Fiction-Feeling auf. Da man hier sehr schnell zu viel verraten kann, sage ich lieber gar nichts. Ich würde auch empfehlen, keine Rezensionen zu lesen. Auch hier besteht die Gefahr, gespoilert zu werden und das wäre sehr schade.
Es wird technische Probleme geben, soziologische, materielle, soziale, ethnische, moralische... Ich hoffe, es war kryptisch genug.
.
100% Leseempfehlung
Ansonsten war dieses Buch der erste SciFi-Roman seit langem, der mir so richtig gut gefiel. Es werden keine Klischees bedient bzw vertieft behandelt, was ich ebenfalls als sehr angenehm empfand. Beim Lesen kam endlich wieder Science-Fiction-Feeling auf. Da man hier sehr schnell zu viel verraten kann, sage ich lieber gar nichts. Ich würde auch empfehlen, keine Rezensionen zu lesen. Auch hier besteht die Gefahr, gespoilert zu werden und das wäre sehr schade.
Es wird technische Probleme geben, soziologische, materielle, soziale, ethnische, moralische... Ich hoffe, es war kryptisch genug.
.
100% Leseempfehlung
October 10, 2017
Although there have been several books written about people being trapped on Mars (Andy Weir's 'The Martian' being the most obvious recently), Cawdron has taken a slightly different approach, placing a large contingent of colonists on Mars and then having an incident occur on Earth that means that they are alone as Earth is lost to them. How do they survive without their support? There is then a further story that happens on the Mars colony that creates this amazing book that you just can't stop reading.
Cawdron has written an amazing book here, going into incredible detail about the Mars Colony, how it would have to be created so that people would actually survive, using actual research (he cities several sources including NASA), to create this story that is incredibly realistic, detailed and authentic. As you read this story, you get a real education about what is actually going to be required to live on Mars, how a colony will work, and what those living there will need to survive. Apart from this incredible Sci-fi thriller he has written, there is a kind of detailed documentary embedded in the story that only adds to this exceptional story.
The story is told from one of the US Colonists point of view, Liz, and how after a major incident on Earth cuts off contact from the colony, how this impacts each of the main players. There are 4 main modules in the colony, the Chinese, US, Russian and a Eurasian Module that is made up of Japanese, Brits, Spanish, Australians and a couple of other nationalities. Through Liz’s eyes we get to see how the event’s that have occurred on Earth affect each of the other colonists, each other character in the book, whether they are a major or a minor character. It is a very clever way of writing the story, allowing a single character to tell us the story, but at the same time, we also get the perspectives of multiple other characters, as well as a feel for the size and population of the colony, and a concept of what it is like to live in the colony, not just for Liz and the US contingent, but each of the other nationalities as well. It is yet another example of just how exceptional Cawdron is at character writing.
There are some fascinating characters in this story, from the US commander who is a self-taught astronaut, who taught himself whilst fighting as a Special Forces soldier. His 2IC, Harrison, is loud, obnoxious, but has a softer centre, if you take the time to find it. The Chinese contingent has a wealth of beauty, with Doi the older Commander, set in her ways, Jaiyun, Liz’s best friend and lover. The Russians have a couple of standard characters, Vlad, highly intelligent, likes to drink, and there is the beautiful Dr Anna, who everyone falls in love with at first sight. Of course, she is also one of the smartest people on the station as well.
This is an in-depth look at survival on Mars, a thriller with multiple sub-plots that unfolds after the events on Earth take place and of course, this is just an exceptional Sci-fi character story.
The interactions between each of the characters is Intelligent and gritty, realistic, Cawdron has put a lot of time and effort into making sure that conversations on the Sci-fi front are accurate by seeking guidance from NASA, he has done his research about building a colony on Mars, so much so that somebody should be hiring him to be on a committee for designing the plans for the next base up there.
And all of this is before the real twists and turns of the actual story take hold and you realise that you haven't even gotten into the real story yet. As I said, there are a lot of plots and sub-plots to make this an exceptional thriller and one that will leave you sitting there at the end going ‘Huh’ as you put it all together.
If you love Sci-fi, love a good thriller, are interested in Mars at all, liked ‘The Martian’, or just want a good read, then you should read this book.
Cawdron has written an amazing book here, going into incredible detail about the Mars Colony, how it would have to be created so that people would actually survive, using actual research (he cities several sources including NASA), to create this story that is incredibly realistic, detailed and authentic. As you read this story, you get a real education about what is actually going to be required to live on Mars, how a colony will work, and what those living there will need to survive. Apart from this incredible Sci-fi thriller he has written, there is a kind of detailed documentary embedded in the story that only adds to this exceptional story.
The story is told from one of the US Colonists point of view, Liz, and how after a major incident on Earth cuts off contact from the colony, how this impacts each of the main players. There are 4 main modules in the colony, the Chinese, US, Russian and a Eurasian Module that is made up of Japanese, Brits, Spanish, Australians and a couple of other nationalities. Through Liz’s eyes we get to see how the event’s that have occurred on Earth affect each of the other colonists, each other character in the book, whether they are a major or a minor character. It is a very clever way of writing the story, allowing a single character to tell us the story, but at the same time, we also get the perspectives of multiple other characters, as well as a feel for the size and population of the colony, and a concept of what it is like to live in the colony, not just for Liz and the US contingent, but each of the other nationalities as well. It is yet another example of just how exceptional Cawdron is at character writing.
There are some fascinating characters in this story, from the US commander who is a self-taught astronaut, who taught himself whilst fighting as a Special Forces soldier. His 2IC, Harrison, is loud, obnoxious, but has a softer centre, if you take the time to find it. The Chinese contingent has a wealth of beauty, with Doi the older Commander, set in her ways, Jaiyun, Liz’s best friend and lover. The Russians have a couple of standard characters, Vlad, highly intelligent, likes to drink, and there is the beautiful Dr Anna, who everyone falls in love with at first sight. Of course, she is also one of the smartest people on the station as well.
This is an in-depth look at survival on Mars, a thriller with multiple sub-plots that unfolds after the events on Earth take place and of course, this is just an exceptional Sci-fi character story.
The interactions between each of the characters is Intelligent and gritty, realistic, Cawdron has put a lot of time and effort into making sure that conversations on the Sci-fi front are accurate by seeking guidance from NASA, he has done his research about building a colony on Mars, so much so that somebody should be hiring him to be on a committee for designing the plans for the next base up there.
And all of this is before the real twists and turns of the actual story take hold and you realise that you haven't even gotten into the real story yet. As I said, there are a lot of plots and sub-plots to make this an exceptional thriller and one that will leave you sitting there at the end going ‘Huh’ as you put it all together.
If you love Sci-fi, love a good thriller, are interested in Mars at all, liked ‘The Martian’, or just want a good read, then you should read this book.
March 30, 2019
I have read every Arthur C. Clarke book he's ever written and many sci-fi but for the last few years I haven't read so many because it's pretty to hard to find good sci-fi. So I stopped looking. I saw this book was an audio and ebook included in Kindle Unlimited and I'm loving audios lately, so I thought, "great cover, why not?"
This is one heck of a book and the audio performance is top notch and I've listened to many. There's touches of so many great sci-fi novels in here, including The Martian, which I adored. Yet, Peter Cawdron has made this his own too.
I'm going to read some more of Cawdron's books. I did read a couple years ago but he's matured into probably one of the best sci-fi writers you'll find writing today.
Honestly, if you love sci-fi and you don't read this book, you are missing out. Grab the audible and you'll be thrilled and hooked.
This is one heck of a book and the audio performance is top notch and I've listened to many. There's touches of so many great sci-fi novels in here, including The Martian, which I adored. Yet, Peter Cawdron has made this his own too.
I'm going to read some more of Cawdron's books. I did read a couple years ago but he's matured into probably one of the best sci-fi writers you'll find writing today.
Honestly, if you love sci-fi and you don't read this book, you are missing out. Grab the audible and you'll be thrilled and hooked.
May 8, 2024
Taht was very satisfying. Mars exploration and disaster-porn done right. Great hard-scifi details, well thought out Mars exploration. Mr Cawdron has done his due diligence and constructed a very believable Mars base. I couldn't fault much, which is often a hobby when reading Mars books.
The Protagonist who shall not be named/spoiled was a little unrealistic, but it all worked out in the end and the story held together pretty well.
Read this with my partner and she enjoyed it even more than I did.
The Protagonist who shall not be named/spoiled was a little unrealistic, but it all worked out in the end and the story held together pretty well.
Read this with my partner and she enjoyed it even more than I did.
January 11, 2019
A disappointment and very difficult to finish, although, fortunately, it's short. Such an enticing premise but, in my opinion, it's let down by its lack of heart (some of the characters deserved better), its dialogue and by the twist, which almost made me stop reading. Comparisons to The Martian don't do Retrograde any favours - all of the things that I enjoyed about The Martian aren't evident here. Great cover, though...
January 21, 2019
Ich denke, es ist unvermeidlich, dass Habitat von Peter Cawdron mit Andy Weirs Der Marsianer verglichen wird, hatte Andy Weir doch damit einen spannenden und mitreißenden Hard-Scifi-Roman auf den Markt geworfen.
Peter Cawdrons Habitat kann, was den Hard-Scifi-Teil angeht und die Spannung durchaus locker mithalten. Die wissenschaftlichen Details sind schon überragend und vermitteln eine glaubwürdige Vorstellung davon, wie das Leben auf dem Mars für Menschen aussehen könnte, wenn es die Menschheit in den nächsten paar Jahrzehnten schaffen sollte, einen Fuß auf unseren Nachbarplaneten zu setzen. Das Setting ist atemberaubend. Die Kolonie auf dem Mars faszinierend.
Es gibt vier Module, die um eine überkuppelte Nabe angeordnet sind, in der ein geschlossenes Ökosystem geschaffen wurde. Die 120 Wissenschaftler und Ingenieure leben und arbeiten zusammen, bis sie eines Tages eine Nachricht erreicht, dass auf der Erde ein Atomkrieg ausgebrochen ist. Schnell beginnen alte Denkmuster zu greifen und die Schuldfrage hängt über allen. Schuldzuweisungen, Verdächtigungen und Misstrauen greifen um sich.
Als Leserin erlebt man die Geschichte durch die Augen von Liz, einer Amerikanerin. Während ich es löblich finde, dass wir eine Protagonistin für diese Geschichte bekommen, so ist Liz doch genau der Punkt, in dem Habitat nicht mit Der Marsianer mithalten kann. Zu sehr wiederholen sich Liz‘ Gedanken und Beobachtungen. Zu naiv wirkt sie an manchen Stellen des Buches. Irgendwie ein bisschen zu sehr gewollt und nicht gekonnt. Die anderen Figuren nehmen kaum wirklich Gestalt an und können sich auch durch ihr Handeln kaum in den Vordergrund drängen. Zu sehr haben mich Liz‘ Ausführungen und Grübeleien davon abgelenkt.
Doch nicht nur auf der Erde herrscht Krieg. Auch auf dem Mars gibt es sehr bald Tote. Die Auflösung, was dahintersteckt, möchte ich hier nicht näher erläutern. Ich bin selbst noch hin- und hergerissen, ob ich sie gut finden oder als bereits ausgelutschtes Stilmittel abtun soll.
Durch das Nachwort weiß ich, dass Peter Cawdron hier schon einiges an Denkarbeit hat einfließen lassen, deswegen wäre es eher unfair, ihm vorzuhalten, dass schon andere diese Idee zu oft hatten. Sein Umgang damit im Rahmen der Geschichte bringt keinen direkten neuen Ansatz, aber der Twist funktioniert für die Geschichte sehr gut und ist in meinen Augen auch die einzig logische Möglichkeit.
Fazit:
Habitat ist ein guter Hard-Scifi-Roman. Für mich waren die Figuren, allen voran Liz, eigentlich seine größte Schwäche. Mir ist dabei aber auch bewusst, wie schwierig es ist, der wissenschaftlichen Genauigkeit gerecht zu werden und gleichzeitig eine spannende Geschichte mit interessanten Figuren zu erzählen. Hard-SF-Fans kommen jedenfalls voll auf ihre Kosten. Und dafür eine klare Leseempfehlung.
Peter Cawdrons Habitat kann, was den Hard-Scifi-Teil angeht und die Spannung durchaus locker mithalten. Die wissenschaftlichen Details sind schon überragend und vermitteln eine glaubwürdige Vorstellung davon, wie das Leben auf dem Mars für Menschen aussehen könnte, wenn es die Menschheit in den nächsten paar Jahrzehnten schaffen sollte, einen Fuß auf unseren Nachbarplaneten zu setzen. Das Setting ist atemberaubend. Die Kolonie auf dem Mars faszinierend.
Es gibt vier Module, die um eine überkuppelte Nabe angeordnet sind, in der ein geschlossenes Ökosystem geschaffen wurde. Die 120 Wissenschaftler und Ingenieure leben und arbeiten zusammen, bis sie eines Tages eine Nachricht erreicht, dass auf der Erde ein Atomkrieg ausgebrochen ist. Schnell beginnen alte Denkmuster zu greifen und die Schuldfrage hängt über allen. Schuldzuweisungen, Verdächtigungen und Misstrauen greifen um sich.
Als Leserin erlebt man die Geschichte durch die Augen von Liz, einer Amerikanerin. Während ich es löblich finde, dass wir eine Protagonistin für diese Geschichte bekommen, so ist Liz doch genau der Punkt, in dem Habitat nicht mit Der Marsianer mithalten kann. Zu sehr wiederholen sich Liz‘ Gedanken und Beobachtungen. Zu naiv wirkt sie an manchen Stellen des Buches. Irgendwie ein bisschen zu sehr gewollt und nicht gekonnt. Die anderen Figuren nehmen kaum wirklich Gestalt an und können sich auch durch ihr Handeln kaum in den Vordergrund drängen. Zu sehr haben mich Liz‘ Ausführungen und Grübeleien davon abgelenkt.
Doch nicht nur auf der Erde herrscht Krieg. Auch auf dem Mars gibt es sehr bald Tote. Die Auflösung, was dahintersteckt, möchte ich hier nicht näher erläutern. Ich bin selbst noch hin- und hergerissen, ob ich sie gut finden oder als bereits ausgelutschtes Stilmittel abtun soll.
Durch das Nachwort weiß ich, dass Peter Cawdron hier schon einiges an Denkarbeit hat einfließen lassen, deswegen wäre es eher unfair, ihm vorzuhalten, dass schon andere diese Idee zu oft hatten. Sein Umgang damit im Rahmen der Geschichte bringt keinen direkten neuen Ansatz, aber der Twist funktioniert für die Geschichte sehr gut und ist in meinen Augen auch die einzig logische Möglichkeit.
Fazit:
Habitat ist ein guter Hard-Scifi-Roman. Für mich waren die Figuren, allen voran Liz, eigentlich seine größte Schwäche. Mir ist dabei aber auch bewusst, wie schwierig es ist, der wissenschaftlichen Genauigkeit gerecht zu werden und gleichzeitig eine spannende Geschichte mit interessanten Figuren zu erzählen. Hard-SF-Fans kommen jedenfalls voll auf ihre Kosten. Und dafür eine klare Leseempfehlung.
November 19, 2017
Well here's the thing. As mighty a story it may have been, the author seemingly forced himself to share the entirety of the wealth of knowledge he learned while researching for the book. By all means research (please God do the research) but if you're going to vomit your entire volume of knowledge at me, don't force it into dialogue, and unnecessary and momentum diffusing paragraphs, especially in a short novel. Which brings me to poor point #2 on research...if you're going to drop knowledge, then make sure it's accurate! I get that you interviewed peeps at Space-X and NASA (since you were so proud to place that in the back of the book) but the professionals you had in the novel, ie. the medical personnel, please for the love of God make sure you get that right as well. Nobody does a "stint" in one specialty, then goes into cardiothoracic surgery. I don't remember the specifics of the quote, but it's resonated with me long enough to include it in the review 2 months later.
The dialogue is terrible, and forcing everything through a first person perspective was a poor choice. I think the author was trying to reveal as little as possible to the reader, trying to confuse them just as the characters were in the story, but it was pure poop. If you can't use the power of first person, just don't. It ruins the story.
That's about it. There's no point in saying "Oh but the plot was fantastic" because really, it wasn't. It was a huge miss. Like, we tried to send a rocket to Mars and got the timing wrong, leaving the crew floating into oblivion sort of miss.
The dialogue is terrible, and forcing everything through a first person perspective was a poor choice. I think the author was trying to reveal as little as possible to the reader, trying to confuse them just as the characters were in the story, but it was pure poop. If you can't use the power of first person, just don't. It ruins the story.
That's about it. There's no point in saying "Oh but the plot was fantastic" because really, it wasn't. It was a huge miss. Like, we tried to send a rocket to Mars and got the timing wrong, leaving the crew floating into oblivion sort of miss.
February 1, 2023
Especially the beginning had me hooked, but the I thought this was going to be a book of how humans behave in an emergency like this. It most certainly was, but the resolution was underwhelming and felt like the author wanted to put another theme into this book, which was not really necessary. The research for the science was done well. Overall a Solid hard Sci-fi book.
March 23, 2023
Ein Überraschungshit! Spannend von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite, realistische Hard Sci-Fi basierend auf aktueller Technologie und gepaart mit starken sozialen Spannungen und Beziehungen. Die Protagonistin ist ebenfalls sehr gut ausgearbeitet mit persönlichem Hintergrund, Stärken und Schwächen.
Gekrönt wird das Ganze von perfekt eingestreuten wissenschaftlichen Fakten, sodass man obendrein noch was lernt.
Genau so stelle ich mir Sci-Fi vor und daher: absolute Empfehlung meinerseits!
Gekrönt wird das Ganze von perfekt eingestreuten wissenschaftlichen Fakten, sodass man obendrein noch was lernt.
Genau so stelle ich mir Sci-Fi vor und daher: absolute Empfehlung meinerseits!
December 22, 2021
I’ve read many exciting and gripping novels this year.
So at least I don’t have to feel too bad about the time I wasted on this.
I started making notes about just how amateur and sloppy this writing was, but I gave up after a while. I could have forgiven writing this cliched, unfocused and juvenile if this was some sort of first attempt, self-published passion project, but I genuinely can’t understand how this book got an actual deal at Harper, unless they found the author’s anti-western politics so adorable that they just had to publish…
That’s right, folks. Non-western people are just better, because they just are. Even the way they nod.
So, just to unpick that… with a systematically diverse American crew, everyone from every demographic race and religion just happened to be selected on merit, apart from whitey, because the whole of the USA apparently didn’t have any other WASP candidates.
I discovered Retrograde on a list of hard sf books. Despite the book’s glowing self-endorsement in the afterward, I would argue that, apart from the background technical data about the layout of the Mars colony, the rest of the story is about as scientific as an episode of Buck Rogers. When the eventual boss-level fisticuffs takes place, the whole premise is basically a shoddy rip-off of 1980s B movie -
At 250 pages, this book was around 100 pages too long. The narrator barely gets to engage in any sort of action without launching into some completely random and aimlessly meandering exposition and discussion, seemingly copy-pasted from the Children’s Encyclopaedia of Mars Colonies or something. The whole story was so badly paced I was looking for Ringo on drums.
So at least I don’t have to feel too bad about the time I wasted on this.
I started making notes about just how amateur and sloppy this writing was, but I gave up after a while. I could have forgiven writing this cliched, unfocused and juvenile if this was some sort of first attempt, self-published passion project, but I genuinely can’t understand how this book got an actual deal at Harper, unless they found the author’s anti-western politics so adorable that they just had to publish…
“It is good to see you,” she replies. “We need each other now, more than ever.”
Jianyu nods slowly, and she responds in kind, giving me a glimpse of these two ancient cultures communicating on a level that eclipses anything I’ve seen in Western civilization. America is some four hundred years old, whereas the Chinese and the Indians predate the Babylonians, perhaps even the Egyptians. They seem to relate to each other at a deeper level.
That’s right, folks. Non-western people are just better, because they just are. Even the way they nod.
I’d like to think the [American] crew was picked on the basis of their qualifications alone, but I’m not naive enough to believe that. No one in mission planning would ever admit to filling quotas, yet the split of men to women and various forms of American ethnicity, such as being of Native American descent, or Italian, or Irish, or Hispanic, all played a part in crew selection. Token gestures toward the major religions are visible, but there was a bias toward the Christian God. (Allah and Buddha had to hitch a ride with some of the other nations.) I can’t help but wonder if some of our brightest never made the cut so that someone [white] like Harrison could represent a key electoral demographic—all-American Anglo-Saxon quarterbacks are always popular in front of the cameras.
So, just to unpick that… with a systematically diverse American crew, everyone from every demographic race and religion just happened to be selected on merit, apart from whitey, because the whole of the USA apparently didn’t have any other WASP candidates.
I discovered Retrograde on a list of hard sf books. Despite the book’s glowing self-endorsement in the afterward, I would argue that, apart from the background technical data about the layout of the Mars colony, the rest of the story is about as scientific as an episode of Buck Rogers. When the eventual boss-level fisticuffs takes place, the whole premise is basically a shoddy rip-off of 1980s B movie -
At 250 pages, this book was around 100 pages too long. The narrator barely gets to engage in any sort of action without launching into some completely random and aimlessly meandering exposition and discussion, seemingly copy-pasted from the Children’s Encyclopaedia of Mars Colonies or something. The whole story was so badly paced I was looking for Ringo on drums.
March 4, 2019
Peter Cawdron has just risen to near the top of my list of great Science Fiction Writers. Having really enjoyed reading his recent book, Losing Mars, I decided to try an earlier book, Retrograde.
There are a lot of Science Fiction books about humans rushing off to colonize other worlds due to problems on earth. Cawdron goes a different route to have a nuclear war on earth threaten the colonists already on Mars.
I was immediately struck with three interesting things about Cawdron’s writing in this book. First, he is a male author telling the tale through a female protagonist. Second, there is an international theme with a focus on the differences in styles between American, Russian, and Chinese astronauts. The third is that Cawdron does a lot of research to insure that all of the science in his books is both accurate, and understandable.
So what happens when four interlinked modules - American, Chinese, Russian, and European - have to deal with a nuclear war breaking out on Earth. Will they bring the conflict to Mars or will they be “Martians” and work together to resolve their conflicts? And, just when they are getting a handle on that issue, Cawdron introduces the more immediate and serious problem that will become the main focus of the book. No, I’m not going to spoil it for you.
If you like hard science, Science Fiction you will love this book. If you are interested in the human dynamics of space exploration you will love this book. If you love drama and suspense you will love this book.
The sequel to this book, Reentry, has just come out and I’ll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.
There are a lot of Science Fiction books about humans rushing off to colonize other worlds due to problems on earth. Cawdron goes a different route to have a nuclear war on earth threaten the colonists already on Mars.
I was immediately struck with three interesting things about Cawdron’s writing in this book. First, he is a male author telling the tale through a female protagonist. Second, there is an international theme with a focus on the differences in styles between American, Russian, and Chinese astronauts. The third is that Cawdron does a lot of research to insure that all of the science in his books is both accurate, and understandable.
So what happens when four interlinked modules - American, Chinese, Russian, and European - have to deal with a nuclear war breaking out on Earth. Will they bring the conflict to Mars or will they be “Martians” and work together to resolve their conflicts? And, just when they are getting a handle on that issue, Cawdron introduces the more immediate and serious problem that will become the main focus of the book. No, I’m not going to spoil it for you.
If you like hard science, Science Fiction you will love this book. If you are interested in the human dynamics of space exploration you will love this book. If you love drama and suspense you will love this book.
The sequel to this book, Reentry, has just come out and I’ll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.
September 20, 2016
Let's start off with a question: Can I just give this book a 6-Star rating? Just this once??
No seriously, another excellent tale told by one of the best indie Science Fiction Writers at the moment - my favorite in any case!
It's one of those exciting, amazingly well thought out and in depth researched stories that Peter Cawdron's fans have grown to expect.
No spoilers here, but let's just say that the book has a shocking start, a tragic turn of events and a twist around the middle (which got me folks) and a very exciting build up towards the end!
Sounds perfect, well tis indeed.
Better still..... I WAS THERE with the heroine and for the first time it felt like a Mars adventure not made up of half developed brain-farts, based on facts and scientific sense (no offense Andy). Sly guy this Peter, teaching us about the Martian environment, geology and the difficulties facing human colonies through great literature!
No seriously, another excellent tale told by one of the best indie Science Fiction Writers at the moment - my favorite in any case!
It's one of those exciting, amazingly well thought out and in depth researched stories that Peter Cawdron's fans have grown to expect.
No spoilers here, but let's just say that the book has a shocking start, a tragic turn of events and a twist around the middle (which got me folks) and a very exciting build up towards the end!
Sounds perfect, well tis indeed.
Better still..... I WAS THERE with the heroine and for the first time it felt like a Mars adventure not made up of half developed brain-farts, based on facts and scientific sense (no offense Andy). Sly guy this Peter, teaching us about the Martian environment, geology and the difficulties facing human colonies through great literature!
November 6, 2016
A lot of research went into this book. As a hard science-fiction lover, I really appreciate that. The story took a bit of a turn part of the way through that I was unprepared for, but it was still a good story. It wasn't a great story and the female aspect of the main character didn't hit the mark. I think the story is really more of a 3.5, but I decided to go down instead of up because ultimately the story just wasn't that great.
There wasn't much of a political or religious message. There was some minimal cursing and I wasn't paid for this review.
There wasn't much of a political or religious message. There was some minimal cursing and I wasn't paid for this review.
February 13, 2024
Gut geschrieben, allerdings scheint die Geschichte an vielen Stellen den offensichtlichsten Verlauf der möglich ist zu gehen.
Ein paar Überraschungen oder neue Ideen wären hier schön gewesen.
Ein paar Überraschungen oder neue Ideen wären hier schön gewesen.
October 15, 2022
Rezension folgt
November 25, 2017
RETROGRADE’s plot is fascinating and its author’s powerful storytelling ability pulls you right in from the first page and simply does not let go. The coolest part about this novel, to me, is that every thought, idea, and word is backed up by thorough research and rigorous attention to factual detail. It’s apparent throughout the entire story that the author, Peter Cawdron, sought out the right people and resources to learn about every technicality involved with a Mars survival story. What you’re reading is totally viable and, for me, that’s what makes this story special. It touches the intrinsic desire in all humans to seek knowledge, all while entertaining you with top-notch writing and a perfectly geeky sci-fi story.
And what a story it is! Brilliant minds on Mars fighting for their lives and the lives of everyone they love on Earth? Sold. RETROGRADE shows us how a group of amazing scientists and field pillars are faced with life or death decisions that are about as moral as decisions get – save yourself or save the world kind of decisions. And the decisions made in this story are beautiful and ugly. Humanity at it’s finest and, naturally, at its worst as well.
And trust me when I say, you’ll be rooting for these people. Cawdron’s great at emotionally connecting the reader to his characters. By the end of each of his novels that I’ve read, I’ve felt like I’d made new friends. Like I’d met some people with whom I’d love to grab a beer or, in this case, go spelunking on Mars. This novel is no different so when a cast of fellow geeks and people I genuinely admire are dropped head first into a situation in which most people couldn’t survive, I found it very difficult to put the book down.
In closing, this novel is a true page-turner that gives you a first-hand view of the beauty (and ugliness) of humanity when faced with a hopeless disaster. Furthermore, it serves as a perfect example of how the most important war humanity will ever fight can potentially kick off.
And what a story it is! Brilliant minds on Mars fighting for their lives and the lives of everyone they love on Earth? Sold. RETROGRADE shows us how a group of amazing scientists and field pillars are faced with life or death decisions that are about as moral as decisions get – save yourself or save the world kind of decisions. And the decisions made in this story are beautiful and ugly. Humanity at it’s finest and, naturally, at its worst as well.
And trust me when I say, you’ll be rooting for these people. Cawdron’s great at emotionally connecting the reader to his characters. By the end of each of his novels that I’ve read, I’ve felt like I’d made new friends. Like I’d met some people with whom I’d love to grab a beer or, in this case, go spelunking on Mars. This novel is no different so when a cast of fellow geeks and people I genuinely admire are dropped head first into a situation in which most people couldn’t survive, I found it very difficult to put the book down.
In closing, this novel is a true page-turner that gives you a first-hand view of the beauty (and ugliness) of humanity when faced with a hopeless disaster. Furthermore, it serves as a perfect example of how the most important war humanity will ever fight can potentially kick off.
November 13, 2017
A Total Mind Mess of a Book
In a world of three and five book series, Cawdron seems to stand out writing single books that have more emotion and action than most series I’ve read. Retrograde was no different. It tells a story of a colony building excursion to Mars that turns out to be a fight for life.
Retrograde is perfect science fiction. It takes all of the things that we, as humans, love and turns them against us. We are on Mars, but the Martian environment wants to kill us. We love technology, but sometimes it can go wrong. We love to trust each other, that is until things break down — then it’s a selfish game. He takes all of these themes and shakes them up. I listened to this in almost one sitting on a Saturday. I couldn’t walk away from it. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. Or to figure out exactly what was going on.
Numerous times I tried to guess what the ending was. I was close but still couldn’t get it right. I’m a big fan when I can’t figure out the ending and it seems to come out of nowhere. Cawdron has done this to me on numerous books (and short stories).
The narration was done by Sarah Mollo-Christensen and she absolutely crushed it. I’ve never listened to a book narrated by her before but I promise that this won’t be my last. She was able to give the female main character the right voice, but didn’t ruin the male voices either. She gave great performances for both sexes and made Retrograde an easy listen.
Overall, I may have read two of my favorite books of 2017 back-to-back this year, and I promise that if you like old-school (think Arthur C. Clarke) science fiction, you will not be disappointed in this at all.
In a world of three and five book series, Cawdron seems to stand out writing single books that have more emotion and action than most series I’ve read. Retrograde was no different. It tells a story of a colony building excursion to Mars that turns out to be a fight for life.
Retrograde is perfect science fiction. It takes all of the things that we, as humans, love and turns them against us. We are on Mars, but the Martian environment wants to kill us. We love technology, but sometimes it can go wrong. We love to trust each other, that is until things break down — then it’s a selfish game. He takes all of these themes and shakes them up. I listened to this in almost one sitting on a Saturday. I couldn’t walk away from it. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. Or to figure out exactly what was going on.
Numerous times I tried to guess what the ending was. I was close but still couldn’t get it right. I’m a big fan when I can’t figure out the ending and it seems to come out of nowhere. Cawdron has done this to me on numerous books (and short stories).
The narration was done by Sarah Mollo-Christensen and she absolutely crushed it. I’ve never listened to a book narrated by her before but I promise that this won’t be my last. She was able to give the female main character the right voice, but didn’t ruin the male voices either. She gave great performances for both sexes and made Retrograde an easy listen.
Overall, I may have read two of my favorite books of 2017 back-to-back this year, and I promise that if you like old-school (think Arthur C. Clarke) science fiction, you will not be disappointed in this at all.
August 21, 2020
Technically this is a 2.5 stars. I will say that I enjoyed the plot. The suspense was great and it was a quick read. I wasn’t in love with the plot twist but that’s ok.
My main issue is that this is a book written by a male author with a female protagonist. Not technically an issue, however I don’t appreciate being told that women are just being dramatic when they say they feel disadvantaged by men. First of all just because Liz as a woman (the protagonist) says that, doesn’t make it universally right. Second of all it’s highly unrealistically that a female character working in the STEM field never felt disadvantaged by men. That’s not science fiction.
Furthermore, I felt like all the characters were very stereotypical. The Russians drink, the Russian women look like models, the Chinese men is always calm, the American quarterback can’t stop swearing. Original? No.
So if you are looking for a book about conflicts between different characters you’re wrong here. Literally the only good thing about this is the plot.
(And it doesn’t help that it’s blurbed by a male scientist talking about how realistic it is. Just stop.)
My main issue is that this is a book written by a male author with a female protagonist. Not technically an issue, however I don’t appreciate being told that women are just being dramatic when they say they feel disadvantaged by men. First of all just because Liz as a woman (the protagonist) says that, doesn’t make it universally right. Second of all it’s highly unrealistically that a female character working in the STEM field never felt disadvantaged by men. That’s not science fiction.
Furthermore, I felt like all the characters were very stereotypical. The Russians drink, the Russian women look like models, the Chinese men is always calm, the American quarterback can’t stop swearing. Original? No.
So if you are looking for a book about conflicts between different characters you’re wrong here. Literally the only good thing about this is the plot.
(And it doesn’t help that it’s blurbed by a male scientist talking about how realistic it is. Just stop.)
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