Mars Underground by H.M. Waugh

Title: Mars Underground

Author: H.M. Waugh

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 2^nd May 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: Dee and Holt think they’ve found safety, but together they must face new dangers to reunite the humans of Mars in this heart-stopping, page-turning sequel to Mars Awakens.

When Dee brought Holt home to Davinci colony, there was a new sense of hope for human life on Mars. A new Y had been found – a precious boy – and more than that, there was a whole settlement still surviving at Newton. It felt like they were saved.

But now? There’s been no mission organised to go to Newton. Dee is on punishment duties, and Holt and Chayse are kept hidden away with the fragile Futures. Dee is destined to join them in a prison-like life of isolation, unless they can take matters into their own hands.

Dee, Holt and Chayse set out to cross the planet to Newton via a network of subterranean tunnels. Can they reach it without encountering the Others – the sinister biocloud they’ve been running from? And if they make it, can they convince the Newtonians to work with Davinci – those they’ve been trained to hate?

A thrilling and imaginative conclusion to the Mars Duology.

~*~

Dee, Chayse, and Holt are back – and think they’re safe, but now they’ve run into more dangers from the rival colonies – Marte, who has never done anything for himself, and the Others that everyone is afraid of.  But soon they are separated, and they’ve found out that the mission to save Newton. Yet the two colonies – the Newtonians and the Davincians are still at odds despite rumours of a revolution or a merging of the colonies as the Newtonians hold onto their prejudices about Davinci and the people there, and the belief that they are all in imminent danger from the Others and the biocloud. They don’t believe that the way the Davincians are living is viable, and when the heroes of the story are captured – it seems like all hope is lost, but can they unite the two colonies and reassure the Newtonians that the air is safe?

The conclusion to the Mars Duology is here – and we’re along for the nail-biting ride as Chayse, Holt, and Dee are trying to get to Newton and each other through the subterranean tunnels, which can feel claustrophobic but that makes the tension better. It feels like you’re trapped with them – yet that is the point, because as a reader, you are on this journey with them. The tunnels also feel dusty and damp at the same time – and very secretive – I kept wondering if everyone knew about them, or just our characters and one of the colonies. In this book, we see Dee, Holt, Chayse, and Marte together for part of the novel, but when they are captured, their separation drives how they must deal with the fallout of trying to understand each colony as they realise that the threat they were all told about may not really exist – that it was just a way to keep them all under control.

Of course, as the colonies converge when Dee and Holt are taken prisoner and they find out the mission they were talking about is no longer happening, the rising tension meant that as a reader, I never knew who to trust – were the characters turning against each other, or was there something else going on, things that they were never told so that their union and friendship could one day be taken advantage of when they tried to bring the two colonies together, so they could all live peacefully and effectively on Mars, as it seems that they may never return to Earth as some hope they will across the duology.

What I liked about this duology was that it illustrated the possibilities of what might happen if we ever have colonies on Mars, and how misinformation and miscommunication can led to division and discrimination, and a refusal to find ways to talk to each other or believe evidence that contradicts what they have been made to believe. I could see this at play across the duology, just as it happens in our world today – people need proof for lots of things, and in this book, the leaders of one colony are steadfast in believing the propaganda they’ve been fed. Telling the story this way means that Heather’s book has reflected our world in fiction, and how the attitudes that we have in our world can manifest themselves in the future and the damage that they can do – how they can shape everything we see in the world around us.

I quote enjoyed this – even though I don’t read a lot of science fiction and think it’s a good exploration of the future and impacts of climate change without feeling like it is too close to home. The vague setting means it could be set far into the future or now, and I think that is what makes it work well.