Thoroughly enjoyable and mostly believable story

Not set so far in the future, so no great stretch of imagination.
The readers voice was just right for the story.
Without spoiling the story, just a bit strange that when people started dying, not everyone was under suspicion.
Very enjoyable and easy to identify with the lead character.
Loved it.

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A sequel would be nice

To add to to “The Martian” comparison, I would hazard Duncan Jones’ “Moon” was somewhat of an influence too - it certainly gave me that feel in my gut now and again. Anyway I loved it. Some reviewers felt the secondary characters were rather shallowly drawn but I felt they were about right for the plot and a book of this length, so I’ve no complaints there.
For me the story flew by - particularly as I had no desire to listen to any other material once I’d begun and that’s not true of many.

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1 person found this helpful

Entertaining

I found it a good book to listen to while driving long journies, but predictable in the way you knew the ending before the ending, however there was the journey to the ending that was not as predictable.
Overall enjoyable and well read.

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Thoroughly out of this world experience

The narrators voice is perfect for this book. The characters are carefully nurtured and specific. I enjoyed the build up to Mars and the slow burn....but not too slow a burn of life on Mars. Lovely listening o a story that removed me from Earth!

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1 person found this helpful

gripping sci fi thriller

gripping and plausible story. well thought out. interesting set of characters. could not stop listening.

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Rather dull

A rather dull writing and delivery of an interesting premise and what could have been a great book

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Excellent Characterization & Well Crafted Tension

S.J Morden and William Hope have done a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

The drama, the emotions, the ambiance, the accents and the different strokes of breathing/reading really make you feel not only as if you are on Mars; but as if you are in the same situation of impending doom, millions of miles away on another planet that the main character is in.

One Way is an on the edge of your seat thriller that keeps giving chapter after chapter, putting you though your paces at every opportunity.

Fantastic storyline throughout keeping in line with the technical aspects and realities of everyday functions outside of Earth.

I have already pre-ordered the sequel.

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An interesting concept that could never happen.

I'm not a huge sci fi fan so it was with trepidation I started this whodunnit-on-Mars book. The idea of having a group of prisoners going to Mars to be the first humans to set foot on it so that they can build the bases for the true NASA astronauts is intriguing to say the least but there's no way it could happen in reality.
And so after signing their lives away to an evil corporation responsible for the building of the bases the astronauts wake up on Mars and from day one things go wrong but more worryingly it turns out there's a murderer amongst this group of murderers and drug dealers. who's have thought it! One by one the group numbers start to decrease whilst the paranoia increases.
The narrator's reading style is pretty dry but then again that perfectly suits the baron exterior of the planet.
So in the end we have what I can only describe as a mashup between Andy Weir's The Martian and Agatha Christie's "And then there were none ". I've really enjoyed the book which is a surprise to me, the ending is left wide open for a sequel and I'm so pleased to see that there is one coming in Jan 2019 with the same narrator. Roll on next month.

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It Is Apparently Rocket Science!

Seven convicts, offered a choice, life imprisonment or life on Mars. What's not to like?

S J Morden and his fictional XO Corporation blast seven lifers with special skills off to Mars to build a base with which to begin Mars exploration. Morden's bona fide rocket scientist credentials have been used to good effect and he treats us to an enjoyable sci-fi thriller.

This includes in part the problem-solving attributes of The Martian with what is in essence a good old-fashioned murder mystery set on the cold wastes of Mars. With this Mars we aren't talking the relatively gentile world of Agatha Christie though. This is a genuinely frontier land battle for survival.

Morden spends some effort backing up his premise to make it seem credible and if I were a cynic I would suspect there's some real-life experience of modern corporate culture in there.

All in all, not a bad read at all.

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13 people found this helpful

Not 'proper' science fiction

An excellent listen in all sorts of ways, but it isn't a serious exploration of what it might be like to set up a human settlement on Mars. It's more of a moral tale about the things which humans will sometimes be prepared to do in order to get what they think they want or need.

But there's also quite a lot of action and suspense - I highly recommend it.

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