This wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t very inspiring or interesting! The story is about Mars and it’s about a group of young kids who are trying to grow up and it’s about Androids who want to think for themselves. Ok, that’s the whole story. You can stop reading now.
Well, actually, there’s more to it than that, but I’m not so sure you’ll want to stick with the entire book. It’s got a lot of political stuff going on. Mostly it’s about who controls who. Mars has been settled. Mostly by criminals from Earth that Earth doesn’t want. They call their place New Australia and they mostly live underground. Then theirs the Outliers who live away from the normal Mars domes because they can’t stand government control. And then, there’s the Homesteaders, which seem to be very few, but one of the main characters, Lowrie, Is one. He lives on the surface of Mars outside the domes also. Living outside on the surface of Mars is against the law. But, no one care anyway, so they don’t do much about it.
Mars is ran by Earth. Earth sends all the needed supplies and stuff to Mars so Mars is heavily dependent on Earth. Earth on the other hand, is using Mars to get at it’s rich mineral deposits. Most workers on Mars work for the mines. The mines are not the safest places in the world and they have cave ins when Mars has earthquakes, er, ah, marsquakes. This is where you meet the group of kids, who are miners, and find out they are not exactly happy to be working the mines, but that’s how you’re supposed to get rich on Mars and go back to Earth wealthy. Josh is their reluctant leader. I don’t know how old these “kids” are, but they seem to be in their late teens, I think. Anyway, they just survived a mine collapse, trapping them and other miners in the mine. Josh finds a way out using something he calls the “Guide”. It comes to him in his dreams and tells him things that he should do. This was how he was able to find a way out of the collapsed mine; the “Guide” had shown him a way out in a dream.
How does this tie into the “Patriots of Mars”? Well, the Patriots seem to be a separate group that stage a demonstration by capturing on of the supply ships coming from Earth. They some how overpower the small crew and then dump all the cargo into space. It will eventually all fall to Mars, scattered everywhere. Their demands are to have a free Mars, with it’s own government and not be bound to Earth. It turns out the Patriots aren’t what they appear to be.
So this is some of the story. Most Mars born want to government themselves and so do those who have come from Earth for whatever reason. But, it doesn’t seem as though anyone wants to do anything about it. But when the Patriots show up, Earth has to do something or it could get out of control. They decided to send a ship with military aboard to refresh the Mars occupants about who is in charge. Those on Mars who want freedom, don’t want the military to land. How does Josh and his group get involved? Read the book. Just don’t get excited about it.
There seems to be another book coming, but I’m not sure I’ll read it. There doesn’t seem to any compelling reason to do so.