Review: The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

‘Genre-blending’, ‘genre-defying’, ‘unputdownable’, ‘joyful’, ‘ambitious’ and ‘a spiritual heir to Terry Pratchett’: these are just some of the responses to Natasha Pulley’s sensational new novel The Mars House (Gollancz, 2024). And rightly so. Charting in best recent sci-fi and fantasy listings, this is an action-packed novel brimming with warmth and humour whilst tackling some of the most urgent themes facing humanity.

January, a former principal dancer in the Royal Ballet, has become a refugee on Tharsis, following an environmental catastrophe on Earth. Tharsis is a terraformed colony on Mars where life for Earthstrongers is very different – there’s the issue of alternative gravity, of Earthstrong people having to wear resistance cages in public, and a surgical naturalisation process which will grant citizenship at the cost of a significant health impact.

Aubrey Gale is a trillionaire politician campaigning for surgical naturalisation for Earthstrongers as part of his election campaign. When Aubrey and January’s chance encounter hits the media, an arranged five-year reality TV-style marriage ensues, along with a dust storm that threatens the planet. Unprecedented, important decisions about the future have to be made.

This is a novel which explores climate crisis, immigration, class, discrimination, identity and survival. And it is jam packed with heart, romantic tension and questions about languages and cultures, about who we are and what we might become.

Plus, there are daily hugs from polar bear cubs at a cafe, a polar bear Mama called Ming with a hotel master keycard, mammoths – yes, mammoths! – and footnotes! The footnotes will make you laugh out loud – from anecdotes about language, to details about the ‘Everything App’, bathrooms in Tharsis and Mama polar bear’s suspicions about humans.

The Mars House is a thrill and delight from start to end. Here is the very best of storytelling.