Mickey7

Edward Ashton

Cloning, alien frontiers, outer space survival. Sound like your kind of thing? If so, you need to read Mickey7. 

Edward Ashton’s epic novel offers readers a thrilling venture into all things existential, ethical, and extraterrestrial, with all the twists, turns, and fast pace you’d expect from a sci-fi adventure story.

The novel explores in great detail the concept of expendable humans — that is human beings who are repeatedly cloned to perform the less desirable tasks that other humans would rather avoid. In an exciting turn of events, readers are forced to bear witness to what happens when the streamlined cloning process goes awry, making Mickey7 as much a novel about survival as the senseless human pursuit of progress — no matter the cost.


“[The book is a] multilayered, wildly entertaining story [with] something for everyone while also putting a fresh spin on the idea of clones."

- Gabino Iglesias, Locus


Taking us on a unique journey, and asking what it means to be human, Ashton’s writing is sharp and often laugh-out-loud funny, shedding rare familiarity and humour into the sci-fi genre. As readers watch the events unfold, told from the perspective of titular Mickey Barnes — the seventh iteration of an “Expendable” on a colonial expedition to the ice planet Niflheim — they can’t help but put themselves in his shoes.

The novel has won numerous prestigious awards in the sci-fi and wider fiction world already, namely being included by NPR in its list of Best Sci-Fi Books of 2022, and being nominated as one of Goodreads’ Best Science Fiction books of 2022 too!

Something that critics praise Mickey7 most for is its exploration of complex ethical questions, and we have to agree. Is life disposable if you can recreate it whenever you want? Are humans still as valuable if you can duplicate them? What do you think?


"The first novel I have come across that properly explores the philosophy behind [uploaded consciousness]"

- Sally Adde, New Scientist


However, Mickey7 hasn’t received the warmest of welcomes from everyone. Many reviewers feel that the supporting characters are underdeveloped and lacking, and the events surrounding Mickey and his love interest are predictable and fall into cliched territory at times. Despite minor criticism, though, Mickey7 has been picked up by filmmaker Bong Joon-ho and is set to be a top-grossing film released in 2025. When asked, Ashton stated that Bong was going to change a lot about the book, but is excited for its release regardless. 

Starring Robert Pattinson, along with appearances from the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, and Naomi Ackie, Mickey7 will soon make it to the big screen. So, if you want to answer the age-old question of whether the film is better than the book, now’s the time to get reading!

 

Who is Edward Ashton?

Edward Ashton is a contemporary author who has risen to fame after the roaring success of Mickey7 and its upcoming motion picture. Ashton lives in upstate New York in a cosy cabin with his wife, and enjoys whittling, cancer research, and teaching quantum physics to grad students in his free time. Not much else is known about Ashton — and perhaps he intends it so; much harder to clone that way.

 

Other books by Edward Ashton 

Edward Ashton has perfected a concoction of humour, heart, and hard-hitting science fiction over the years, crafting stories that are both entertaining and make for plenty of food for thought. If you’re a fan of character-driven narratives (and you aren’t afraid of a fiction-induced existential crisis or two), Ashton’s oeuvre is your new happy place.

Edward Ashton has quite the collection of novels under his belt, writing Three Days in April, Mal Goes to War, Antimatter Blues, and The End of the Ordinary alongside Mickey7.  

 

Find your next page-turner

Enjoyed reading our review of Mickey7 ? Why not take a look at some of the books we’ve reviewed in other genres like Drama, Thriller, or wider Fiction? Who knows, you might find your next page-turner…

To keep up to date with our most recent book reviews, visit our latest reviews page and, of course, you can find all the literary news and guidance you could ask for over on the Victoria Freudenheim blog. Happy reading!

Book cover for "Mickey7" by Edward Ashton.
ISBN 978-1786185464
Pages 312

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