There were lots of things which I loved about this book – I loved how the title character was called January because his mum messed up filling in his birth certificate and wrote his birth month where his name was supposed to go! I loved the little factoids about language and word origins from the character who was an expert in these things, and of course, I loved the wise enormous talking mammoths!
Set in a future where much of Earth is flooded due to climate change, it begins with January being the principal dancer in the Royal Ballet, the continuation of which is hanging by a thread in an increasingly less inhabitable London, until things get too bad and January becomes a refugee and is sent to a Chinese run Earth colony on Mars.
The Mars colony has by this time been going for several generations and the people living there have adapted both naturally and by genetic enhancements to the different environment, most notably, due to much lower gravity, they are taller, slighter and less strong than Earth born people.
What follows is a mix of a political type thriller and a love story and a whodunnit. ‘Earthstrongers’ the newly arrived refugees are feared due to being so much more physically strong than naturalised Martians and there is a lot of prejudice and racial hatred towards them. They are forced to wear literal cages to weaken them and to take low paid physical labour type jobs. Also, the Martians don’t use gender pronouns and have somehow genetically altered people so it’s not obvious which gender they are and it’s very rude to ask.
In a weird publicity stunt, January is asked to ‘marry’ (more of a job/contract than a romantic liaison) a senator and then there’s lots of political mystery and intrigue, not all of which I followed (possibly because I’m quite distracted at the moment because my beloved pet spaniel, Chester suddenly went blind and after several vet visits and tests turns out has end stage cancer) and he (January) is such a sweet well meaning person that he is torn between hating the politics that his new spouse stands for, but finding himself drawn to them as a person.
I did enjoy the book, mostly – I like Natasha Pulley’s writing style, and I loved January’s character, and the little bits of whimsy (like the aforementioned mammoths). I did get a bit confused, although like I said maybe that was on me and what I’m going through with Chester. Other reviewers have dissed the science and also the Chinese cultural elements, but I don’t know enough to have been bothered by those things.
Sarah Wray Writer 