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The Rings of Mars

Rachel Foucar (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 5 ratings · 5 reviews

Trapped on a ship with a deadly saboteur, Jane will be forced to use her unique skills to keep the crew of the Sleipnir and her new friends safe. But will Jane be able to get the ship to its destination and keep her past a secret? For most people, colonising Mars is the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance for adventure. But for Jane Parker, it's a chance to escape her old ...more

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Paperback, 344 pages

Published February 2nd 2021 by RhetAskew Publishing

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Feb 20, 2021 Terry Tyler rated it liked it

3.5*

I read this book via an ARC, for Rosie Amber's Book Review Team. The fact that it was free has not affected this honest review.

About a 500-strong crew on a year-long mission to Mars, to establish a society that will, it is hoped, be part of the solution for all the troubles on earth. But there appears to be a saboteur on board ship...

I liked the premise very much, and Ms Foucar has a most readable, flowing writing style. I was drawn in quickly; the beginning, with Jane Parker leaving a dying 3.5*

I read this book via an ARC, for Rosie Amber's Book Review Team. The fact that it was free has not affected this honest review.

About a 500-strong crew on a year-long mission to Mars, to establish a society that will, it is hoped, be part of the solution for all the troubles on earth. But there appears to be a saboteur on board ship...

I liked the premise very much, and Ms Foucar has a most readable, flowing writing style. I was drawn in quickly; the beginning, with Jane Parker leaving a dying country, held great promise, and there is an excellent part early on in which a maintenance crew member gets killed. Around a third of the way through, though, my interest began to lapse. There are a lot of main and secondary characters, all with unmemorable names like Pat, Pamela, Jane, Mark, Frank, Beth, Sam, which wouldn't have mattered so much if the POV didn't change so often, and most of them didn't talk in the same way. It was okay at first, and I had a clear picture of Jane, Mark and Pat, but after that it all got a bit hazy. Having said that, most of the dialogue is basically good; natural, convincing.

I wasn't sure how old they were all supposed to be, but they gave the impression of being in their early twenties, and sometimes seemed more like students running around a campus than people especially selected to go on this important voyage; I didn't have a sense of them being on a ground-breaking mission into space.

For a scifi thriller, there was a lot of talking but not very much tension or drama. I also felt that the plot itself wasn't very clear, as if there hadn't been enough thinking through - having said that, it didn't help that the mobi copy I was sent for review was badly formatted - on (literally) every other page there was a gap in the narrative, sometimes breaking a sentence in two, with the title and the words 'ARC Not for Sale'. Obviously I would not mark down the book itself for this, and I tried not to notice and just read the story, but it became off-putting, and made me lose concentration. Also, early on, there were a few punctuation errors - simple ones, like apostrophes in plurals.

This is a first novel - the author definitely has talent, and this story is a great idea. I would suggest a) working with a good editor to pull it into shape, b) instructing her publisher to make decent review copies before she sends out any more! and c) having a re-think about some of the character names - perhaps make some of them more unusual, and more 21st century. To sum up - it's good, and has the potential to be very good, but it felt a bit 3rd-draft-ish, and needs more work to make it publication-ready, in my opinion.

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Feb 10, 2021 Anie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi

This is how a sci-fi book should look like! :)

People are colonizing Mars, with the second ship about to launch. Going through rigorous screening and a lot of luck, the new crew is picked. They spend last year training and think they are ready for what comes. :) Jane wants to start over, escape her old life, and leave it on Earth, with a new name and past she is really for an adventure.

After a little bit of time on the ship, it becomes clear that the voyage will not be the smoothest. There is so ...more

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Apr 06, 2021 John McCrea rated it liked it

Full review published at: https://talesfromabsurdia.com/book-reviews/the-rings-of-mars-review/

__________

Blighted by the effects of climate change, humanity looks to the stars.

The Rings of Mars, a ‘spy-fi’ thriller, sees mankind begin a mass migration to Mars in an endeavour to preserve the future of the species.

However, not everyone supports the evacuation. The journey aboard the shuttle Sleipnir sees cracks begin to emerge amongst the crew, revealing the fragility of social cohesion in a high ...more

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Mar 11, 2021 Dan rated it it was amazing

A fantastic ride with genuine characters

I was expecting a pretty fun sci fi romp when I saw it was about colonising Mars but the intrigue and cat and mouse element of trying to catch the saboteur added a wonderful thriller element. It’s all the more gripping because the book is full to bursting with real, kind and hilarious characters, who I was terrified for every time I turned the page. Space is dangerous, friends and no one knows that better than Rachel Foucar. Can’t wait to see what she doe ...more

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Feb 18, 2021 Angela rated it it was amazing

LOVED this book

The characters make my heart warm, even the villain I sort of get, and without trying to spoil it, the ending made me feel a lot of emotions.

Really highly recommend even if you don't read a lot of sci-fi, the nerdy stuff is present but it's presented in a way that's easy to digest.

I would describe this as a spy-thriller where the human elements put you on the edge of your seat, with the sci-fi backdrop intensifying each dangerous moment. I cared so much about these characters, t ...more

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About Rachel Foucar

Rachel Foucar

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Rachel Foucar is an author living and working in Perth, Western Australia. After receiving her Batchelor of Arts in Performance Studies from Curtin University, Rachel spent several years in the theatre industry, where she had a lot more fun than actual success. Eventually her love of storytelling led her to writing, because it's hard to depict space travel on stage.

When she isn't doom scrolling t ...more