An excellent read with entertaining characters and aspects in the plot which make you think twice, then question yourself again. My only complaint is that it was too short.

Brilliant. Just like proper old-fashioned sci-fi, although with modern people, terms and equipment. I really appreciated the fact that this book was a complete story, not just the 'first of a series' which is all too common nowadays.
The premise for the story was great, with characters who were believable and I cared about. I couldn't put the book down, yet didn't want to get to the end as it would be over. Great ideas, plenty of action, and although some of it was slightly gory, other bits were written quite lightly and did bring a wry smile to my face.
In this sad time of life, please, please, authors and publishers - more stories like this to transport me away and delight me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion for the arc

Mickey7 is an Expendable, basically he's a clone of a guy who decided life as a guinea pig and chosen person to die in dangerous situations was better than life on Midguard - he was probably right. Be that as it may being an Expendable isn't all it's cracked up to be - especially when your best friend leaves you to die in a hole and then wrongfully assumes you died and you come home to find Mickey8 in your bed. Why is that an issue? Largely because your boss is a Naturalist and believes your very existence to be an insult against God. Why should you get to live while the rest of the sorry saps only get one life? It's a fair point, really, but he doesn't have to be such a dick about it. Needless to say, multiples aren't allowed so now Mickey7 and Mickey8 have a choice to make. Which one is getting thrown down the corpse-hole? Not an easy decision to make when both Expendables decide that, actually, they don't want to die. So now the hard part. How to make the crew, of which everyone knows everyone, especially the designated kill guy, believe that there's only one Mickey? It isn't going to be easy but neither one is going down without a fight.

Quite enjoyed this story about an Expendable on a beachhead colony. Topics of immortality, what defines sentient beings, what humans do when conquering new territory.

Once the basic premise of the book has been accepted - namely the ability to replicate a human being complete with those memories "uploaded" to the system prior to "death" - then the concept of the "Expendable" works. The plot is sufficiently fast moving to hold the attention and I was able to read it in a couple of sessions on long journeys. The ideas were sufficiently different to be interesting and on the whole I found it an enjoyable read.

Thanks to #NetGalley for this eARC of Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, in return for a fair review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sci-fi tale which follows the misadventures of an 'Expendable' clone crew member - Mickey. An Expendable is a person whose physical and mental being have been mapped and downloaded, able to be reprinted should death occur. After an iteration of Mickey 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.

Mickey has died six times, and is in his 7th iteration as part of the crew sent to colonise the frozen planet of Niflheim. Exploring a mountain range, Mickey7 takes a tumble into an unexplored cave system inhabited by a dangerous indigenous species. When Mickey7 somehow survives being left for dead, he finds that he's been prematurely regenerated and encounters Mickey8 when he manages to return to base. The strongly held taboo and aversion against 'Multiples' means Mickey7 & Mickey8 can't reveal this to anyone.

The philosophical thought exercise - 'The Ship of Theseus' is considered and applied to humans several times in this novel, and themes of immortality & whether reprinted humans have souls.

The author has developed a well fleshed out world, complete with the backstory of the human diaspora neatly dropped into the narrative. Mickey7's compatriots, his best friend Barto and Nasha, his girlfriend are the most developed of the supporting characters.

#Rebellion #SciFi

I picked this book up on the basis of the blurb and am so glad I did. The laconic first person narration reminds me strongly of Murderbot, though our protagonist here is a human being, even if one at the mercy of a particular set-up and abuse of technology.

The basic premise of Mickey7 is that technology now allows a small group of people to be basically immortal but this happens by means of uploading their memories and dumping them into a newly-cloned body after the previous version dies. In reality, this is used to provide Expendables, people who can do the dangerously lethal jobs that space travel and colonisation requires, and is primarily the role of conscripts or criminals because who'd want to put themselves at that kind of risk?

Our protagonist, the eponymous Mickey, finds himself in desperate straits after the latest in a long line of swindles goes wrong and volunteers to become the Expendable on a colony ship. Which is absolutely fine till that ship lands on their destination planet, discovers that it's covered in snow rather than ready for colonisation as well as being already occupied by possibly-sentient life that seems determined to kill them. While exploring said world, Mickey7 suffers a massive fall and the pilot who's supposed to rescue him decides the risk is too great and reports his death, meaning that when Mickey eventually gets back to base a new version of him is already there and waiting.

Since resources are limited and he doesn't want to get mulched, Mickey7 finds himself living an unexpected double life, trying to keep his secret safe from the rest of the crew, even as the colony starts to deal with the local life-forms becoming even more destructive. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and it had some twists and turns I didn't quite see coming - I look forward to seeing what else this author comes up with and will definitely check out their next book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest opinion of the book in question.

Absolutely loved this book and I don't even like scifi. The main character was very likable and the premise of the book was super interesting.
I certainly feel like there is a sequal in there and if Edward Ashton was to write one I would be first in line to buy it

What does it mean to be 'immortal'? Mickey signed up (volunteered!) for the position of Expendable on this mission to colonise another planet. This position, usually filled by drafted convicts, involves doing the kind of scut work that normal people couldn't do, like cleaning the nuclear reactor (and getting bombarded with radiation) or fixing the exterior of a spaceship (and getting pummelled by the interstellar medium) or even checking to see if those interesting creatures on the new planet are friendly (who might be a bit more carnivorous than one might hope).

In each case, Mickey is killed. Because he's the Expendable, he is regenerated with (most of) his memories intact. This has happened six times so far, but when Mickey7 somehow survives being left for dead, he finds that he's been prematurely regenerated and encounters Mickey8 when manages to return to base.

It's bad enough that the leader of the mission already considers him an abomination, Multiples are universally hated by everybody. It's a sure recipe for disaster, at least for the two Mickeys.

What follows is an interesting romp through the philosophical ideas behind re-embodiment and immortality. As mentioned several times in the book, the Ship of Theseus is considered and applied to humans.

I was hoping for more of an investigation into the aliens on the planet and how they might interact with the invading humans. However, I was satisfied with the plight of the poor Mickeys and their existential issues.

The book was well-written with several interesting characters to investigate. Unfortunately, at least a few of them were more cartoonish in their behaviour. There might have been more to them, and there were hints of that coming through, but for the most part those extraneous characters get a bit of short shrift in the development department.

The world building was nice, too. The author has clearly laid out a timeline of events in the background, while not bothering to bore the reader with too much of it. Just enough, revealed at appropriate times, kept me interested in what might have been going on in the rest of the human-centric universe. I would be interested in other stores set in the same universe, though I would recommend against trying to use the same characters from this book.

All in all, the book is well worth taking the time to read.

Mickey is unusual, he is a voulenteer, in a role that nobody in their right mind would accept. He is an expendable. He is a clone of his former self, on his seventh cycle.

Only in place to do the jobs that may involve loss of life. You see life is important in space, just as it is everywhere else. The only difference they have his memory on file, uploaded regularly. Just incase of death you see. He will have his memories and still know most of what he knew. Replecated.

Assumed dead. Duplicated. His life neve to be the same again. Wrestling with his other self of food, women and just what did happen to him.

A Sci-Fi adventure in the truest sense, just warped, comical and immensley enjoyable.

A rip-rollocking ride across the skyskcape. To a planet of 'habital' consistancy.

You find yourself drawn into the character, alost to the point where you feel for him. Capturing the idoesyncrasies of life as one of the oft overlooked.

A truely enjoyable page turner of a read.

4.5/5.0

There’s a time when a novel is so much fun to read, with such great writing and an insanely likeable main character it’s impossible to put down. Mickey7 is that book; it kept me up late on a Sunday and, around my house, that’s a big deal.

Mickey7, the eponymous character of the title, is an Expendable; a person whose physical and mental being have been mapped and downloaded, able to be reprinted should death occur. For Expendables, that’s basically the point. Humanity has spread beyond the solar system, out from an overcrowded Earth to seek new planets. But, creating a colony on another world is difficult and fraught with all manner of dangers. And this is where Expendables come in; they do the dangerous, difficult, deadly work including suicide missions and medical testing.

Obviously, Mickey7 has been reprinted a number of times but it was better than the fate he was facing if he stayed on his home colony planet. Now, on a frozen world far from everything with a leader who hates him, he might be rethinking things, including if he is even himself anymore. Even worse, the place is nothing like they’d assumed and, to top it off, there are things out in the snow.

Slowly unpacking the history of humanities diaspora across the stars and using that history to cleverly illustrate some salient points, Mickey7 is a brilliant piece of science fiction. Exploring the notion of being and the idea of what makes a person themselves, the book raises the other interesting question of what happens if there are multiple copies of the same you. It’s a great conflict against which the larger issue of survival on a hostile, alien planet plays out brilliantly. Added to that, this is all told by a protagonist who is extremely likeable despite the existential crisis: smart, self-aware and in a seriously messed up situation.

From the excellent portrayal of a colonising humanity, the reasons and rules behind Expendables and the harsh realities of a space faring crew, Mickey7 hits the nail on the head every time. A fantastic, eminently readable slice of silence fiction – highly recommended.

I really loved Mickey7!
It was such a fun Sci-fi read!
I was so excited to read it as I loved the premise and I am so happy to say that the book lived up to it.
I highly recommend you read this book if you are looking for a fun Sci-fi read!
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read. Ashton has created an intricate, believable world and peopled it with realistic characters. Mickey 7 is engaging, if a trifle naive, and I was always firmly in his corner, even when he made unwise choices. It is also an easy read. The prose flows along at a steady pace, keeping the reader engaged. Unfortunately, I found all this positive energy was not enough to rescue a flimsy plot and a lacklustre ending. I wish the author had taken these excellent bones and fleshed out a tauter story with more tension.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a pretty weird and strange and yet fun book, about dying, alive, dying and on repeat. It’s also about how we are with other new and strange things which we at first assume are out to either eat us or destroy us. I also love the fact that there’s so much sarcasm that gets butted around I could cut myself. Mickey is such an unforgettable character and all the chaos that ensues when he realises who his friends actually are is perfect.

This is such an entertaining book, Mickey 7 is a great character, and the story is brilliant. The backstory of the exploration of planets is very well done, and Mickey's adventures on the new planet are exciting and funny.
Really enjoyed this, highly recommended.

"Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living."

Mickey7 follows an Expendable, who has the responsibility to carry out missions that are too dangerous for humans to perform. If Mickey dies, then a new body is regenerated with his memories intact. Mickey7 is working with a crew trying to colonize an Ice World called Niflheim, and he has already died six times, hence the name Mickey7. However, after many strange events, Mickey returns home, only to find a clone of himself, Mickey8, reporting for duty.

I was fortunate enough to receive an arc of this book from Rebellion Publishing, and I only requested it because I love the arc cover, and I am trying to read more Sci-Fi. I didn’t know much about this book or the author when I picked up this book. So what did I think?

I am pleased to say that I LOVED this book! The concept of being an Expendable, where your sole purpose is to perform life-threatening missions, just to be revived again, is fascinating. You would expect the offer of becoming an Expendable and thereby becoming immortal to be appealing. However, the major drawback is that you know you will die again and again, and often in excruciating ways.

I also loved how the theme of death and immortality is handled in this book. If a new body is regenerated, and your memories are uploaded to this new body, is this new entity “you” or someone else? And what about the soul? Can you keep your soul if you are revived? It is fascinating to see how different cultures and religions struggle to cope with Expendables since they don’t die!

Edward Ashton’s prose is accessible and easy to follow! The tone of Mickey7 is light and fun, which makes the story and the Sci-Fi concepts easy to grasp. In some ways, this book reminded me of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (one of my favourite reads of 2021). Although this story does get technical at times, I never felt lost or unintelligent. Ashton is very good at making this story accessible and enjoyable at the same time.
Mickey7 might not be the most complex or technical sci-fi book, but it is still entertaining and fascinating.

Ashton cleverly mixes philosophical ideas, humour and complex themes in Mickey7, making this a memorable read. Mickey7 is one of my favourite reads of 2021! I absolutely loved this book! If you are looking for a place to start with Sci-Fi or enjoy Andy Weir, then Mickey7 is a must-read. I can definitely see Mickey7 becoming a huge success!

4.5 / 5 stars

A special thanks to Rebellion Publishing for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.