Status Updates From Ed Marsmallow: Auch Held se...

The story has all the elements kids crave - heroes, technology, a villain, unbelievable life on Mars, adventure, danger, dragons and other crazy and dangerous flora and fauna. It was entertaining, surprising and a great ending, leaving you hoping for a second book. 12-year-old Edward, his younger sister Putty, short for Parthenia, older sisters Olivia and Jane, inventor father and beauty mom are in for a wild ride.

A quirky story about a 19th century people from Earth living on Mars - sans any kind of domes of protection. There's British Mars, Chinese Mars, Dragon Tombs, ancient Martian technology, the famous Martian city of Lunai, the Wilderness, City of Ophir, Candor, Tharsis, the Luna Plateau, the popular magazine- Thrilling Martian Tales, and the Sullivan's house. The main characters are the Sulivan family and Freddie.

Reading aloud to my 9-year-old daughter at bedtime.

Dear Mrs. Jones,
So far in the book the airship they were in crashed and they trekked trough the martian wilderness, until they hitched a ride on a boat to Lunae City.

Dear Mrs. Jones,
This book is really good so far and it seems it takes place on mars.

Interesting concept. I would like a little less nonstop action and a little more character development

This world is enormously fun, and quite good at examining the colonialism of a steampunk world. Servants are machines, not people, cultural differences between the native martians (humans who got there a long time ago) and the recent-comers is examined, and the British empire is only one of four empires with colonies on mars. (Colonies have been established from China and Peru as well.)

Finished! This was a really fun adventure story. I really enjoyed it. :-)

Well, Part Two: Into the Wilds, sure was exciting! Now to continue on to Part Three: The Dragon Tombs of Mars, to see who rescued Edward; were Freddie, Livvy, and Putty rescued, too; will Putty be okay; and will our intrepid rescuers manage to save Mama, Papa, and Jane. :-)

I'm past the halfway point (goal achieved!), so I'm going to pause here for the night. I'm afraid I'm leaving Edward, et.al., in the lurch. Chapter Thirteen is called "Attack of the Killer Crabs." Whoever is controlling them had better pause them, too, while I'm away!