Mars Adrift Book Blog Tour, #Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit

Posted February 14, 2022 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 7 Comments

MARS ADRIFT
THE HALO TRILOGY, BOOK 3

by
KATHLEEN McFALL + CLARK HAYS
Categories: Science Fiction / Detective ( Hard-Boiled) / Mystery
Publisher: Pumpjack Press
Date of Publication: February 14, 2022
Number of Pages: 300 pages 
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An interplanetary mystery and a searing critique of the contemporary billionaire quest for Mars. The year is (still) 2188 and Crucial Larsen is officially done with Mars. But just as he’s set to head back to his beloved Earth, meteors crash into the orbital platforms, ravage the luxury domes and knock Halo—the powerful AI running Mars and Earth—offline. And this is no random cosmic event. An invading force has the technology to redirect space rocks at will and intends to level the Five Families.

Their first act? Put a bounty on missing Staff Scientist Melinda Hopwire, Crucial’s ex-lover—the only person left alive who can find the back-up servers to introduce the AI empathy hack, the endgame of the beleaguered Resistance. Crucial has to claw his way across the deadly Choke armed with nothing more than a glue gun, expired maple rum and Sanders, a malfunctioning cybanism, to find Mel and her synthetic perma-kitten Wisp. If he fails, it’s the end for both planets.

“A compelling saga, edgy and different…the personal, political, and social issues create a Mars story that is thoroughly absorbing. Other books have attempted to blend the genres of an investigative detective piece with sci-fi, but few achieve such a seamless integration.” – Midwest Book Review

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Four of the most unlikely people thrown together are now counting down a doomsday clock as we stare at an inert cybanism who was as close to a friend as I’ve ever had.

 

This is SO MUCH BETTER of a descriptor than the blurb on this book! Publishers should just ask me what the blurbs should be. 😉
(And I won’t mention said cybanism is very naked.)

 

I am always down for sci fi. Even more when it’s a detective sci fi with a cranky main character. It’s no secret that I love this series (Read my reviews of Book #1 here and Book #2 here). MARS ADRIFT is the whipped cream on top of the ice cream sundae that is an excellent series! Let me tell you why:

 

Character Growth: At the beginning of SCORCHED EARTH, Larsen is a cantankerous cop and reluctant hero on Mars searching for his missing sister. By the beginning of MARS ADRIFT, he’s still stuck on Mars, still just as irascible, but no longer the reluctant hero. Sure, he’s a self-serving hero, trying to save his loved ones, but he’s embracing saving Mars and Earth in the process. He’s accepted his fate and does what is necessary. Like Larsen, Sanders the cybanism has shown growth over the novels. He may be only a cybanism, but he’s truly the heart of the novels.

 

Using the future as a lens to current times: What science fiction, to me, has always been good at is a mirror on current crises (climate change, global wealth distribution, war, and politics in the case of MARS ADRIFT). If you weren’t worried about pollution before, you certainly will be worried after reading this series. The descriptions of an Earth that is hot and scorched with no clouds and nowhere to grow crops makes me shudder. On Mars, the people are living under a giant dome because Earth is no longer habitable. Or at least not habitable for the wealthy. Do you know what domes are very susceptible to? That’s right. Meteors. Which is exactly what the how villains in this book choose to attack!

 

Fun technology: I still don’t like mushrooms and thinking about them as the major building material gives me the heebie-jeebies. What’s interesting in MARS ADRIFT is the addition of a whole new enemy. One that uses bacteria to power their ships. Let’s just say the fart jokes abound due to the smelly ships and weapons. It’s how the bacteria is grown that really got me thinking. And finally, we have the all-knowing Halo. But this time around, Halo is not working! Imagine how long you could go without the internet. Now imagine that times 1000, as the internet is embedded in your eye and ALWAYS active. Sure, the quiet would be nice for a while. But eventually, you’d need directions or to chat with a friend. None of which is possible any longer.

 

MARS ADRIFT is the third novel in the series. I think a reader could pick this up without having read the other novels in the series. But that reader would be missing out by not reading the first two novels in the series.

 

There are many readers out there who turn their noses up at sci-fi. But in the case of the Halo Trilogy by McFall + Hays, that’s a big mistake. Sure, there are some excellent space battles (pew-pew!), but that’s not really the main focus here. There’s something for any reader: characters with heart, plenty of action and peril, multiple mysteries to solve, and some great dry humor. And after you’ve finished this series, let me know! I have a lot more sci fi ideas for you!
Thanks to authors Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing this opportunity to review MARS ADRIFT. I received the novel free in exchange for my honest review.

 

Clark and Kathleen wrote their first book together in 1999 as a test for marriage. They passed. Mars Adrift is their tenth co-authored book.

PUMPJACK PRESS
◆  WEBSITE  ◆

THE AUTHORS ON:
◆ FACEBOOK ◆  INSTAGRAM ◆

CONNECT WITH KATHLEEN:

◆ AMAZON ◆ GOODREADS ◆
◆ FACEBOOK ◆ TWITTER ◆

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◆ FACEBOOK ◆ TWITTER◆

————————————— 
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all three books in The Halo Trilogy.
(US only. Ends 2/21/22).

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FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY, 
or visit the blogs directly:

2/14/22

Review

Sybrina’s Book Blog

2/14/22

Review

Chapter
Break Book Blog

2/14/22

BONUS Promo

Hall Ways Blog

2/15/22

Review

The Clueless Gent

2/15/22

Review

Tangled in Text

2/15/22

BONUS Promo

LSBBT Blog

2/16/22

Review

Reading
by Moonlight

2/16/22

Review

Book Fidelity

2/17/22

Review

Momma on the Rocks

2/17/22

Review

Bibliotica

2/18/22

Review

The Plain-Spoken Pen

2/18/22

Review

Forgotten
Winds
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Posted February 14, 2022 by Lynn in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews / 7 Comments

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