MAGZI AND THE MARS ACADEMY

Teens hailing from different worlds train together on Mars in Roy’s debut YA SF adventure.

It’s been nearly 15 years since the war ended between planet Phaeton and Jupiter’s icy moon of Europa. The worlds fought over Mars, where a new academy now stands to signify the peaceful resolution of the conflict. Ten teenaged Nordics of Phaeton and 10 of Europa’s aquatic humanoid Natatory will be the academy’s first students. Maganie “Magzi” Zi, like her fellow multihued Natatory, can breathe underwater, but she’s already adjusted to “dry” environments. She quickly befriends the Nordics girl Kitina “Kitto” Tova. In this novel, which kicks off a series, the students primarily train, gaining hands-on experience while learning of the red planet’s hazards (both faunal and floral), riding genetically modified horses, and staying at a survival camp. When unforeseen circumstances separate Magzi and Kitto from their peers and instructors, they’re forced to survive by relying on skills they’ve only recently honed, and they must brave such menaces as an intimidating creature that’s not even native to Mars. Roy sets the action in an unexpected period—the story takes place 66 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth. The eponymous teen shares the spotlight with Kitto, and the two leads are surrounded by other affable, conflict-free characters. Trouble brews outside the academy, however, with signs of old anti-Natatory beliefs (“Mars for Nordics!” some graffiti declares). Easygoing prose keeps the narrative moving and the dialogue popping. The author skimps on some of the finer points of worldbuilding—everyone apparently speaks the same language, and someone drops an inexplicable Jaws reference—but the backstory is truly compelling, especially regarding the thorny history shared by Phaeton and Europa. Both Magzi and Kitto have ties to the event that brought about the war’s end, as highlighted in a late flashback that gives a seemingly minor character the chance to shine.

An engaging cast and an intriguing interplanetary setting energize this series opener.