Dynamic characters and an animated distant-future setting enrich this engaging coming-of-age tale.
A boy grows up on a human-colonized, perpetually restless Mars in Korell’s debut SF satire.
Flip Buchanan is born on the Red Planet to a family that hates being second, like his earthling ancestor Buzz Aldrin had been. At a mere 8 years old, he’s part of a “gang” that steals crypto coins, digital identities, and more. It’s a way to rebel against his father, Buzz Buchanan, who never seems happy with his son, a boy who isn’t first at anything. Buzz leads Mars’ fight for independence from Astral Destiny, the corporation that sponsored the planet’s biosphere colonization but eventually got greedy (“Stores closed. People were forced to squat in warehouses. The cost of living skyrocketed. The hard-earned savings of Martian colonists vanished”). But Flip’s dad isn’t ideal as a potential Director of Mars, as he has shady dealings with clones and the planet’s indigenous species, and even instigates conflict between biospheres. Flip finds solace in his best friend, Pepper, a girl who lives in the apartment below him and shares his birthday, but as the years pass, his never-ending conflict with his father spoils any romantic prospects with her; staying alive is already hard enough, especially with Buzz always ready for war. Korell’s tale, which spans a couple of decades, is quintessential satire. The social commentary (discriminated-against groups, a politically divided society) is impossible to miss, but the book is poignant as well; there are tragic moments, a strained father-son relationship, and obstacles keeping Flip and Pepper apart. The story is brimming with unexpected turns that threaten Mars’ safety or Flip’s emotional state, though the fact that an older, wiser Flip narrates the story eases much of the tension. There is much gleefully silly humor (one of Flip’s favorite TV shows is NCIS: Mars) and sound worldbuilding, both figurative and literal (new Martian biospheres are gradually being added). While the keen final act and fantastic ending make this a standalone novel, a sequel or spinoff remains a distinct possibility.
Dynamic characters and an animated distant-future setting enrich this engaging coming-of-age tale.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 429
Publisher: jk lawls
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.
When a bunch of corporate assholes mark their planet for destruction, a garage band of colonists must defend their home world with the power of rock.
Slightly sidestepping his frenetic litRPG—literary role-playing game—doorstoppers, here Dinniman takes on capitalism, propaganda, xenophobia, and violence as entertainment. Thankfully for readers, it’s all wrapped in the usual profane, adolescent humor, and SF readers will have a ball. A couple of hundred years after they left Earth, the inhabitants of the interstellar colony of New Sonora weren’t expecting much in the way of new threats, especially after a mysterious illness killed almost everyone between the ages of 30 and 60. That disaster left only the young and the old on the populated planet, where farming is enabled by highly accelerated AI and people are generally cool with each other. But when drummer Oliver Lewis stumbles across a foul-mouthed killer mech piloted by a child, he realizes that something’s definitely fishy. Earth, it seems, has classified the New Sonorans as non-human and scheduled their destruction as a paid, five-day combat game. Apex Industries, led by lead mercenary Eli Opel, has reverse-engineered Ender’s Game and is turning loose its players with real bullets and bombs on the population of New Sonora. The resistance is a weird bunch, led by proto-slacker Oliver; his little sister, Lulu; and his ex-girlfriend, documentary filmmaker and burgeoning revolutionary Rosita Zapatero, as well as the other members of Oliver’s band, the Rhythm Mafia. Thankfully, they also have Roger, the last functioning AI on the planet, though Oliver’s grandfather permanently programmed it to nannybot mode as a dying joke. Call the book overlong—the battle scenes often feel like watching someone play a videogame—but the humor and the execution are cutting without being mean and there’s almost always a point.
A disarmingly heartfelt space adventure that dares to suggest genocide might be a bad business.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
ISBN: 9780593820308
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.
Weir’s latest is a page-turning interstellar thrill ride that follows a junior high school teacher–turned–reluctant astronaut at the center of a desperate mission to save humankind from a looming extinction event.
Ryland Grace was a once-promising molecular biologist who wrote a controversial academic paper contesting the assumption that life requires liquid water. Now disgraced, he works as a junior high science teacher in San Francisco. His previous theories, however, make him the perfect researcher for a multinational task force that's trying to understand how and why the sun is suddenly dimming at an alarming rate. A barely detectable line of light that rises from the sun’s north pole and curves toward Venus is inexplicably draining the star of power. According to scientists, an “instant ice age” is all but inevitable within a few decades. All the other stars in proximity to the sun seem to be suffering with the same affliction—except Tau Ceti. An unwilling last-minute replacement as part of a three-person mission heading to Tau Ceti in hopes of finding an answer, Ryland finds himself awakening from an induced coma on the spaceship with two dead crewmates and a spotty memory. With time running out for humankind, he discovers an alien spacecraft in the vicinity of his ship with a strange traveler on a similar quest. Although hard scientific speculation fuels the storyline, the real power lies in the many jaw-dropping plot twists, the relentless tension, and the extraordinary dynamic between Ryland and the alien (whom he nicknames Rocky because of its carapace of oxidized minerals and metallic alloy bones). Readers may find themselves consuming this emotionally intense and thematically profound novel in one stay-up-all-night-until-your-eyes-bleed sitting.
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13520-4
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
