I really enjoyed this book. Bulter is very descriptive and you feel the grittiness of Mars through his writing. The plot is believable and well worth the read.

The Dead Earth Protocol was a great book. The main character- Gordon had to go through so many impossible choices through his journey after losing his mom to a rebellion he didn't even know she was in. There was so many great things about this book from start to finish and everything in between. The tension is high all the way through the book but for me, I wish the book was a little more fast paced. Even though I enjoyed the book from the start it did take a little bit to really want to get more into it. All the side characters where great and the setting was a bit on the creepy side, I do not think I could handle living underground on a different planet!


Thank you Graeme Butler and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read The Dead Earth Protocol!

he Dead Earth Protocol is a science fiction tale set mainly in a mining outpost on Mars.

The story begins with introductions to Darlene and Gordon. Darlene, a grandmother and underground vigilante. While Gordon is a teenager who is running late for his work appointed graduation, where he hopes to be permitted to join the mining team. This will raise his position in the outpost so that he and his mother can live in a better home and receive improved food rations.

For years the outpost, situated below the surface of Mars, has been deteriorating with food, medical and electricity shortages. Everything is overseen by the Foreman, an AI creation who keeps the workers under tight ruling with armies of robots who dish out severe punishments.

Darlene is part of ‘The Dim’, those who have fallen out of grace. They survive deep within the caverns. Her belief is that Earth is dead and the ore which they are mining is going nowhere, while they are all slowly dying as the Foreman’s closed computer mind moves closer to killing them all.

In a rash attempt at distraction, while Darleen plans to attack the Foreman, Gordon is sent to the planet’s surface to sabotage the ore wagons. However, he partially blows up a visiting delegation from Earth. Among the group is Alex, the teenage daughter of a ruthless businessman, a man with plans to expand his interplanetary empire.

Gordon is captured and labelled a terrorist, but Alex is intrigued by who he is and where he has come from. A place she had been told was run completely by robots. She questions all that she has been told and escapes with Gordon in a grand scheme to help expose the centuries old secrets at the mine.

The world-building worked well, and I could easily imagine the mining society. I liked how the author chose main characters from different age groups, intermingling them with secondary characters from across a wider age-range. The pacing of the tale worked well. On a few occasions scenes jumped ahead unexpectedly, but these were only minor niggles.

Overall, a very readable science fiction cross dystopian story.

An excellent sci-fi thriller from a debut author - I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

The Dead Earth Protocol wastes no time jumping into the action, and in just a couple of chapters I was absolutely hooked. There was one main character that really bothered me, but I do believe that was the intent - so well done. The writing was smooth and kept me invested in the story and became almost invisible. It’s very refreshing to read Sci-Fi that doesn’t lean heavily into romance as many books are these days.

I have two small complaints - this felt overwhelmingly like a YA novel - something about the way the two young main characters interacted. I’m not against YA, but wasn’t expecting it from this story since it is labeled as adult. Secondly, and this is a not picky complaint, the last act fell flat for me - I didn’t realize it was the first of a series, and was expecting a conclusion of sorts. Instead it leaves you set up for more. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I wanted some sort of resolution that I don’t feel like I got.

Having said that, I will definitely be reading more of this series as it becomes available.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!
The second I read the summary for this, I knew I’d enjoy it - and I was right. I just finished Project Hail Mary and Red Rising earlier this year, and they made me realize I actually really like dystopian stories after all!

For a debut author, this book is seriously impressive and makes me want to keep an eye on what they write next. The writing was fantastic and perfect for the story. It made everything so much more enjoyable, especially since sci-fi can sometimes feel clunky and heavy.

The story grabs you right away and drops you straight into a creepy underground colony on Mars where everything feels dangerous. The setting feels very real, and the author does a great job keeping the tension high without ruining the plot with a forced romance bits.

I must say, though, that the ending frustrated me a little bit. The book ends on a cliffhanger without much closure, which felt like an abrupt stop. That said, the world-building was so good that even though I wanted a real resolution, I'm definitely going to buy the next book as soon as it comes out.

I read the book in one sitting, once I started I could not put it down : I wanted to know more.

The book alternates between a few characters' points of view, and each of them has their own morals, their own troubles, their own inner lives. The writing is very good at giving us multi-layer characters and presenting them with impossibles choices. Parts of the writing reminded me a lot of my favorite video game series, Mass Effect, whose writers also have a habit of putting characters in horrible situations and making us love them despite sometimes questionable choices. I usually complain, but it is one of the main reasons why it is my favorite game.

It is also very well paced alternating between characters and their parallel timelines. The character switches are not too hard to follow, and Graeme Butler is very good at having us grasp the situation they are in with one sentence or two.

The change in ambiance and context between different settings is also well handled in my opinion, you can feel the grit of the mining complex, the mess and the despair of guerilla fights, the cold and cruel aspect of robotic bureaucracy.

It is a very well written book, I found it riveting, and I am thrilled that it is book 1 in a series as I am really curious to see where it will go next.