Mother Go

Hard Science Fiction with Heart!

Here is a heartfelt coming-of-age story about a teenage girl navigating relationships; complicated would-be boyfriends, her payroll father, and her distant "mother" (who she happens to be a clone of). It's a wonderful journey of finding both independence and loyalty among a pretty thrilling conspiracy. Kelly's technologies (including sharing-brain-feeds, deep space travel, print-anything-on-demand) were fully realized, believable, and never got in the way of the story. Not to mention the ending... agh! Highly recommended.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Jim Kelly Trapped Me in My Car With This Story.

If you could sum up Mother Go in three words, what would they be?

Fun, heart-wrenching, addictive.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mother Go?

Without giving too much away, the scene between Mariska and Nathalia on Mars, when they decide to wait and eat breakfast.

Which scene was your favorite?

It's hard to pick a favorite, but I enjoyed the humor in the cleaning the crud from the ship scenes.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, hence the headline. I ended up sitting in my car in the parking lot at work - I had to know what happened during the final action sequence. I couldn't leave my car!

Any additional comments?

This book has something for everyone. It's a coming of age story, a love story, a caper story, and a sci-fi story.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Teen love drama

I really wanted to like this, but it primarily focuses on a young girl's obstinate rejection of familial love due to feelings of abandonment, her wishy-washy sense of ambition and purpose, and on her need to have a boyfriend.

I'm sure these issues will resolve at some point, but I'm more than halfway through and have lost patience with it.

Performance is decent, if there are a few intentional quirks that can either be a benefit to the narration or an annoyance, depending on how you're enjoying the story. An echo reverb for effect and a strange speech impediment for Martians were the latter for me, but probably a big element of that is my disappointment in the story and character development.

30 of 34 people found this review helpful

There better be a sequel.

The quality of the narrative caught me off guard, as did January's flawless storytelling. Mother Go is unique and traditional at the same time, and once it had me hooked it didn't let me go until I had finished it.

There's something nostalgic about this production, as though it harkens back to the golden age of radio sci-fi - something i sadly never experienced.
I absolutely recommend this, unless scifi isn't your thing. If it is, this is a MUST OWN.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

A Dream of the future

I loved the exploration of many futuristic issues like cloned vs. clone psychological issues, genetic modifications of humans to live on Mars and on Space Voyages. Well done, a good "read" nicely performed.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great sci-fi

My first audible book in many years and I've enjoyed morning and afternoon commutes and even looked forward too it. Only downside is that it's over. Highly recommended if you're into sci-fi or just want a great story!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Story is excellent; narrator makes it astounding

Narrator turns what could be just another coming-of-age story into a heartbreaking, addictive new series.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

22nd century coming of age novel

Mariska is not your typical 22nd century teenager growing up on the Moon. She is a clone of her famous mother, the doctor and spacefarer, Natalia Volochkova. Born in a tank and raised by a father paid to do the job, Mariska rejects everything her absent mother engineered her to be. She is supposed to become a Spacer, travel through the wormhole to the mysterious Builder’s galaxy, but what she does is what any teen does: she defies her mother, parties, and has complicated relationships. But once caught up in the drama of a thrilling conspiracy, Mariska’s coming-of-age is anything but typical.

There was some fun tech in this novel but nothing that could not be realized a hundred years from now. The story flowed from one adventure to the next, always keeping me enticed. The narrator did a fabulous job, especially with Russian accents and a fictional Mars speech pattern. Well done, and highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Adventure, drama, and taking a colony to the stars

Mariska Volochkova is the clone-daughter of Natalia Volochkova, famed deep space explorer. Like her clone-mother, she is genetically engineered for the ability to hibernate, born for interstellar exploration.

That's not what Mariska wants, in part because she resents the woman who created her and then took off through the wormhole to a distant galaxy. Mariska was left with contract father Sal, under a term adoption contract, and an artificial intelligence that is her room. More than anything she resents the idea that Natalia could return and, as her mother and legal guardian, take her off through the wormhole again, away from a life she enjoys, her friends, and the contract father she loves. Then Natalia does return, with news of a beautiful, habitable planet at the other end of the wormhole.

And Mariska is a year short of being of legal age and able to make her own decisions.

This is both a deeply personal story, of the complicated relationship between Mariska and Natalia, and a story of a daring plan to colonize a distant planet. Mariska is, at the outset, in many ways a self-absorbed child, but also smart, capable, and resourceful. Some of the choices she makes are dumb and impulsive when she makes them, but she learns and grows from each of them. Her determination to avoid her mother includes taking a job on a "mining bucket," a grungy but educational job. The plan to colonize that planet on the far side of the wormhole becomes the driving force of a political conflict, and Mariska's romance with a Martian draws her into it on a side she would never have predicted.

Family dynamics, adventure, crisis, and political conflict over the resources devoted to the starship and the colony it will carry all make for an exciting, absorbing story.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fantastic read!

What made the experience of listening to Mother Go the most enjoyable?

If you like complicated parental relationships, plans with limited survival odds, extreme body modification, life on the moon and on mars, and strong female characters, then this is the book for you.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful