The TD:DR: Great world-building and interesting concepts but a show don't tell issue that makes all the characters and relationships call flat for me. Still enjoyed!

Admittedly, I only picked this up because I watched Mickey 17 and loved it, but I tried to go into this unbiased. I will say it's different enough to be enjoyed after watching the movie. I was worried I'd get bored since I started immediately after watching. It has a unique vibe and so much got changed that I felt like I was along for the ride.

The biggest difference is Mickey's (7/17) personality, in the movie he's a lovable idiot but in this, he's kinda just a scrub. Rather than being tricked into ruining his life he makes a hilariously bad decision and has to bail himself out. He's mean, a bit of a shithead but is undeniably intelligent. Something I liked was his interest in history, an obsolete career since so much is documented in the space age. It allows for some great world-building since you find stuff out about failed expeditions but from Mickey researching them as he contemplates the chance of success of their own mission.

The world was the best part of this book for me. The concept of an expendable and what it would mean to die and be reprinted, would that be immortality or a series of people only living days or weeks of short unhappy life? The ship of Theseus comparison is perfect for this. It all unravels immediately when there are two of them, is that the same person living twice? clearly not since they form independent thoughts and actually disagree with each other. This point is something I feel is handled worse in the movie since the two Mickeys are so different that it softens the idea that this is the same person. Mickey 18 is a completely different person so the grey area that allows for speculation and interesting argument is gone. Seven and Eight are the same guy and that makes raises so many ethical dilemmas.

The other characters in this book are interesting but feel a little weak. I can't name any good character moments from any of them especially since a lot of this novel is Mickey recounting things to the reader rather than things happening and us experiencing them with Mickey. Bit of a show don't tell issue. It would have been better to see Nasha cradle Mickey through dying than have him recount it after the fact with all the intense emotions gone. Same with Berto, it would have been better to have the tense scene of Mickey blaming him for his debt and the tension between them be current rather than having Mickey explain it to us when we already know they resolved it and remain friends. Honestly, a lot of the actual events of this book without flashbacks and exposition is Mickey being hungry and wondering how to split his Kcals with Eight. I think the pacing and plot could have been handled a lot better. It just leaves the other characters feeling flat and the reader uninvested in them or their relationships with Mickey. I know Mickey loves Nasha because he tells me he loves her and she loves him but I don't feel like their relationship matters.