The Mars House
A Novel
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The Mars House
Narrated by:
Daniel de Bourg
Buy Now for £18.03
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Narrated by:
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Daniel de Bourg
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By:
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Natasha Pulley
Summary
A compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.
Named a Best Book of 2024 by The Washington Post * Amazon * Book Riot * LitHub * Paste Magazine * HuffPost
In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London's Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January’s life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger—a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January’s job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.
When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January’s life is thrown into chaos, but Gale’s political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January’s future without naturalization and ensure Gale’s political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They're kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay—and January may be the only person standing in the way.
Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley’s new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.
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Critic reviews
Already one of my favorite books of the year . . . There’s palace intrigue, a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers plot, sassy footnotes, and also there are mammoths! It’s a total delight from start to finish.
Pulley astonishes in this thorny and addictive sci-fi romance.
Full of charming details and gender-bending gallantry, this imaginative thriller is a pleasure to read.
Readers will appreciate all the delightful details of worldbuilding, character arcs, and slow romantic tension.
Pulley has wrapped an enemies-to-lovers, fake-marriage romance in a fascinating sf-world package . . . Magnetic . . . Charming . . . Readers will have incredible fun reading about this slow-burn romance, the itch of two creepy background mysteries, and a delightful scene involving judgmental mammoths.
An incredibly ambitious novel . . . The Mars House is a complex and captivating story.
Few writers combine such warmth and heart with such consummate skill at Natasha Pulley. She sends the reader our into the skies, and deep into themselves, places we never knew we could travel. Reading her is both a joyful and profound experience—and The Mars House is her most daring, ambitious and exciting book yet.
Natasha Pulley heads to the gulags, then to an atomic village, in her latest to combine fast-paced action and imaginative settings with beautifully developed queer relationships.
Natasha Pulley builds a surreal world that slowly reveals immense dangers. It's an absorbing Cold War thriller as well as a tribute to courage and determination.
Brilliantly conceived, vibrantly realized, and complexly suspenseful.
Fans of such stories will be richly entertained by the lavish world-building and breakneck plotting of Natasha Pulley's The Kingdoms…Beautiful, surreal imagery appears throughout the novel, too . . . Clear a weekend if you can, and let yourself be absorbed.
Intriguing take on a human future on Mars
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