Mickey Barnes is an expendable. His job is to take on the tasks that would usually be considered too dangerous for humans with a high chance of death. Need someone to go into an area of high radiation? Want to know what happens if the human body is exposed to a new pathogen? Mickey’s your guy. And if he dies in the process, another version is created. Most expendables are conscripted into the role – typically prisoners who can now offer something back to society although this is a particularly high price to pay. Not Mickey though. Mickey volunteered, partly to escape a debt and a particularly ruthless loan shark, but also out of the desire to escape his humdrum existence. Idiot.
At the beginning of the novel, we meet the 7th iteration of Mickey in a perilous situation. On an exploration of the latest world to be colonised, Mickey has fallen down a hole, with extraction extremely difficult. Presumed dead or so close to it as to make no difference, he’s abandoned by his crew, and Mickey8 is generated. Mickey7, against the odds, survives and makes it back to base. The majority of the novel is then the two of them pretending to be the same person, which wouldn’t be as entertaining as it is were it not for the fact that they are really bad at it.
Along the way, we learn more about Mickey’s experiences as an expendable, including what happened to the previous six iterations. This led me to sympathise with him a great deal – some of his previous experiences are horrific. It might be his job, but he is treated as a guinea pig and something less than human. The two examples I gave of being sent into areas of high radiation and exposed to new pathogens? Yep, both of those things happen to him. And then some.
What also makes this role difficult – as if that wasn’t enough – is that the rest of the crew don’t really know how to treat him. Voluntary expendables are so rare that many assume he is in fact a criminal with some horrible misdeeds on his conscience and don’t want to associate with him. But even those who don’t believe that can be standoffish. How do you talk to someone who might be put into a deadly situation the very next day? What do you say to someone who has just been regenerated, the previous iteration having died in what were probably horrific circumstances? He does, thankfully, have a small group of friends, but it’s a hard life that he’s signed up for.
I thought that the world building was excellent, and I enjoyed the background as to why humans began to expand into space (overcrowding on earth), the false starts, and what’s happened since then. I also liked the philosophical question of whether each version of Mickey is the same person. Genetically, it’s true. He knows what each of the previous Mickey’s knew thanks to the ability to upload and download one’s memories. But is that enough? This idea is linked to the Ship of Theseus – a thought experiment that asks whether an object is still the same if you replace all of its constituent parts over time.
Mickey 7 is a surprisingly fun read and while it’s science fiction, it wasn’t the head-hurting kind. Mickey isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s a likeable character for the most part. I also enjoyed the somewhat dark humour throughout that helps to offset some of Mickey’s experiences. There are two sequels to this novel, and I’m interested to see where the story goes.
About the Book
Dying isn’t any fun… but at least it’s a living.
Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous-even suicidal- the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. Mickey signed on to escape from both bad debts and boredom on Midgard.
After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal… and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
When he goes missing and is presumed dead at the hands of deadly indigenous creatures, Mickey8 reports for duty, and their troubles really begin.
