In the Shadow of Deimos

ARC Copy...Well for starters I was only slightly familiar with Terra Forming Mars and I did have to research the factions during the read but as space opera intrigue read, it fun, solid world building + twisty to read through.

n the Shadow of Deimos is a tie-in novel for the board game Terraforming Mars, it’s not a game that I have played before, but I’ve found with all the Aconyte books I’ve had the pleasure of reading you don’t need to be familiar with the novels origins to enjoy their books. As a quick side note, since picking up and reading Litany of Dreams and The Devourer Below, I’ve played a short Arkham Horror campaign and enjoyed it all the more for having read the books.

In the Shadow of Deimos follows Luka Schafer, an immigrant to Mars looking to work the remainder of his days in manual labour to forget the trials of his life back on Earth. Alas, things don’t go smoothly and he is soon wrapped up in the mystery of a co-worker's death. On the flip side of this death is Julie, an unwitting investigator of what caused the accident that cost the unfortunate man his life.

The characters in In the Shadow of Deimos are engaging and endearing; as the book progresses there’s more to discover about their pasts and their individual motivations – as well as that of the corporations they work for and represent. There is a lot of political inner-workings in the novel that is experienced through the characters that they are a part of. While the investigation of the dead co-worker is the heart of the story, I found the political intrigue between the Mega-Corporations of Mars to bulk out the rest of the novel; the world-building and placement of ideas within these aspects of the novel are second to none. Figuring out if any of the individual corporations have more of a positive merit than the others is as much a part of the mystery as the investigation.

So too is the mystery that’s eating away at Luka Schafer; he has clearly been driven to Mars to escape something terrible, possibly linked to the Mega-Corporations of the red planet. As the pages turn and the mystery is uncovered, it made me wonder if the life-changing event would tie back into the story or if it was just another tragic-tale-laden hero. The manner in which Luke deals with his past and how it feeds back into the story is well-considered and shows the sign of expertly crafted story-telling.

There’s a handful of side characters, each with their own individual flair and the cast is diverse; as one would expect when considering these characters have come from various origins on Earth. I did find it somewhat jarring however when the characters were described directly by the colour of their skin and thought that this could have been addressed in a more sympathetic manner.

Both Luka and Julie had different approaches to the cause of their investigations and as a reader, you’re given a larger picture than each of the individual characters; the mystery is for the characters to solve and while it’s easier for the reader to figure it out, the journey that the characters take you on is full of action, betrayal, and heart-pounding thrills! There are dramatic scenes that completely pull you in and leave you breathless as they resolve. While I enjoyed the book as a whole, I did find myself enjoying the scenes where the tension is high the most. In one such offering, Luka Schafer is crossing from one of the Terraforming Cities to another in a rented rover, his power and air running low. This scene was high-energy and fast-paced giving across a true sense of urgency. This is one of many such scenes that are carried out with expert skill from the writer. Gripping the reader and leaving them eager for the next exciting event.

The pacing of the story is generally strong, starting off relatively sedately and building into a large, climactic crescendo; the plot has a good, well-rounded ending that leaves the characters open enough to have further dealings with the Corporations of Mars but giving the reader enough closer for the story within this particular novel.

All-in-all In the Shadow of Deimos is a very strong introduction to the Terraforming Mars world and I do hope that Aconyte picks up more novels in the world set in the future.

It is my distinct pleasure to be the first to rate and review this book. An unusual but an inspired choice for this reader who has long made it a rule to stay away from movie/tv tie in novels, game to book adaptations, etc. It’s a sound rule, usually, but this time the siren song of Mars was just too much to resist. Who says sound doesn’t travel in space. So does a seemingly elaborate board game require a novel tie in? Yes, yes, it does. Because, you know, it’s Mars, people…how can a mere earthling say no to an armchair trip to the red planet. Who has that kind of restraint? And why would you want to? It’s a dream destination.
And thus my reading of this book. And the bulk of enjoyment of it. Because…Mars. But to be fair it’s also a perfectly good read. It isn’t a great work of literary science fiction, but it isn’t trying or meant to be that. The author has dabbled in her own original sci fi serials and nonfiction sci fi tv guides, etc. and her narrative style has that slick pro, paid per word, write by numbers thing going for it with minimal internalization and maximum action, but it actually works really well here. Not sure if it’s because the world has already been staged and precreated through the game (I’ve never even heard of the game until finding this book), but this mystery set on a newly colonized Mars was well imagined, vividly rendered and, most of all and best of all, genuinely exciting. It read very much like a fun science fiction movie would. It had suspense, sabotage and some serious science…which is as far as I can stretch that alliteration.
There was an elaborate plot, featuring a fresh arrival who stumbles into a clandestine plot conceived by rival Martian companies, all striving to commercialize the colonization of Mars. The end goal is making it habitable through (obviously, title) terraforming, but everyone has different ideas on how to go about it and are willing to do whatever it takes to get their way. Even on Mars business and politics rule. Because, of course, wherever people go…there they are, in all their greedy manipulative lying cheating stealing splendor. Can an honest person survive on this terraforming Mars and maintain their integrity? Can Deimos? Well, read and find out.
So yeah, this book…so much more than Elon Musk’s wet dream. By now you should be interested in checking this out, ideally, I suppose, depending on my powers of persuasion. But anyway, I enjoyed it very much, it was hugely entertaining and read very quickly for the age count. Overall a very fun space adventure. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Review: Terraforming Mars: In the Shadow of Deimos by Jane Killick
I was kindly given an ARC of this novel by Netgalley & Aconyte Books in exchange for a fair review.
Having played Terraforming Mars a couple of times with a few good friends I was instantly interested in the concept of taking the premises and turning it into a book. I won’t lie, Aconyte seem to be consistently publishing fantastic works by fantastic authors that scratch that geeky and nerdy itch in myself (and I am sure numerous others). In short I hope this would be good and I was not disappointed!

I can’t remember the last time a read a good sci-fi book based on a planet rather than spaceship or space station. The descriptions of a relatively barren setting (it is being terraformed after all) really do bring home the bleakness and potential for isolation. Tie this with a gripping plot of corporate corruption (which lets face probably would happen) and you have the makings of a fantastic book!

Killick has the perfect balance of natural danger and threat with the growing threat of who can you trust. The characters are likable and interesting. You find yourself invested in them and their wellbeing. I was shocked, happily so, that my two favourites didn’t die. I also found I wasn’t able to predict or guess the twists and turns of the plot.

All in all this is fantastic tale for anyone who is looking for a fix of Terraforming Mars without the time to play the game or a good sci-fi story about survival not only of a new and harsh environment but the corruption of those in power.

The e-book is out now with physical copies due to be released in the US on September 21, 2021 and the UK on October 28, 2021

Love the game, so curious to see what was done to turn it into a book.

Interesting premise, starts with an accident that quickly develops into a potential act of sabotage. Politics and Power plays abound and it's all tied together in the name of trying to Terraform Mars. Good start to what I'm presuming is going to be a series, it's clear to see that several of the cards in the game have been used as inspiration, as have several of the corporations, which is as it should be. There's enough there that you can see the game inside the fiction without it becoming a narrative of how to play the game, which is always the concern.

It's a good start, the actual terraforming hasn't moved that far along by the time the book finishes, but there's enough there to get you engaged and want to see what happens next.

"In the Shadow of Deimos" is based on the "Terraforming Mars" boardgame. I hadn't heard of it before, but it's MARS - and as soon as I knew this book was in the pipeline I had it on my wish list. This is a fantastic murder-mystery story, wrapped up in a Martian blanket, and I couldn't have been happier with my reading experience. The plot is tense, with varied and fascinating characters, and brilliant writing. 5 stars and two thumbs up!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Jane Killick kicks off Aconyte Books’ range of novels based on the Terraforming Mars board game with In the Shadow of Deimos, a tale of the red planet that’s equal parts mystery and adventure. When Luka Schäfer arrives on Mars as an immigrant worker from Earth, keen to forget his past and lose himself in work, the last thing he expects is to watch an asteroid flatten a research station and kill a technician. All his plans are swept away when he’s recruited to replace the dead man and convinced to put his old skills to use, only to find himself drawn into the mystery of what his predecessor had been doing before his death. Meanwhile Julie Outerbridge, head of the United Nations Mars Initiative (UNMI), is maneuvered into leading an investigation into the crash in an attempt to understand what went wrong.

It’s a fantastic central concept, taking the inherent tension at the heart of Terraforming Mars – ruthless corporations competing for opportunities as they scramble to stake their claim on Mars’ resources, while a supposedly neutral organisation (UNMI) gets caught in the middle with little actual power – and ramping up the awesomeness by focusing on the most bombastic of terraforming methods…crashing asteroids into the surface of Mars! Add in Luka’s painful personal history, sinister secrets within the corporation he’s employed by, sacrifices made by both main characters, lashings of corporate corruption, a politically-driven investigation led by a deeply principled woman, not to mention the many and varied dangers of life on Mars, and you’ve got the recipe for a pacy, entertaining read.

While Luka’s arc has arguably the greater weight, the narrative alternates between his and Julie’s points of view, the two of them proving to be interestingly different characters – in terms of background, agency and awareness of the big picture on Mars – but with a similar inability to let a mystery go. As the two plot strands gradually converge they cover lots of ground, exploring a little of what everyday life is like for both migrant workers and more privileged corporate staff, and taking Luka and Julie across the surface of Mars both in and out of human habitations, and in and out of danger too. It’s all relatively light touch, always emphasising character and mystery over the science and technology – there’s a bit of interesting space-related science but it’s there in the background and doesn’t dominate – and avoiding going too dark in terms of tone.

While this might be a long way from a dark, hard-sci-fi book, it’s still a serious story with some serious themes. The generally light tone and the breezy pace of the plot nicely suit this sort of mystery/adventure story, but there’s plenty to think about in the exploration of how corporate greed comes into conflict with good old-fashioned human endeavour – whether you’re familiar with Terraforming Mars or just a sci-fi fan in general. At times a few of the key moments do speed past a bit too quickly and lose a little impact, especially towards the end as the pace really picks up, and a touch of narrative convenience creeps in now and then, but the plot and the characters are all sufficiently well thought-out and delivered that the entertainment never falls away. For anyone interested in a pacy, enjoyable mystery set to the backdrop of corporate competition for the red planet, this is well worth a look.

Many thanks to Aconyte Books and Jane Killick for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As I checked up on this book after finishing it, I discovered that a boardgame called Terraforming Mars provides the setting. I was blissfully unaware of the game while reading the book, so don’t let that nugget of information put you off. It doesn’t matter to anyone picking up the book, as it doesn’t impact your reading experience in any way.

This is a slow-burn mystery where the daily rhythm of the teams who are tasked with terraforming Mars is explored in some detail. So this isn’t one for murder mystery fans who only want a splash of sci fi in their crime scene. However, I appreciated the way Killick gives the reader a very clear picture of how the terraforming effort is progressing, while introducing us to the main protagonists. Inevitably there are strains between competing corporations – and also some major issues are discussed. Should Humanity be altering Mars to suit our needs at all? What if in doing so, we inadvertently destroy some biological organisms that we haven’t yet discovered? As a science fiction fan, I found all this fascinating, especially as running alongside these plotlines is the growing sense that all is not well within Mars’ fledgling community.

Killick’s smooth, unfussy writing style pulled me into the story, so that I stayed up faar later than I should to discover what happens next. Because while this one starts slowly, there are several excellent action scenes that are all the more shocking because of the relatively low key beginning. And the climactic episode out on the surface, where a man is struggling for his life after being double-crossed, is one I won’t forget in a hurry. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale – as well as the slightly bitter-sweet ending, which has stayed with me. I shall be looking around for more of Killick’s books and thoroughly recommend this Mars’ murder mystery. While I obtained an arc of In the Shadow of Deimos from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Set on Mars, where rival corporations strive to dictate the course of terraforming the red planet. An asteroid crashes into a research center and kills a lone worker. An investigation begins to find out what happened. Why did the asteroid hit the center? Why was the lone worker there? Was this an accident or something far more sinister?

Luka, who arrives on Mars as a migrant worker from Earth, is thrust into a job he doesn't want. His new quarters belonged to the man who was killed in the accident. Luka finds a thumb drive of the man's daily journal and finds himself drawn into the investigation. Julie, in charge of the United Nations Mars Initiative (UNMI), gets handed the investigation. She starts digging and realizes there is much more going on than she first thought. Things get more dangerous the more she digs.

In the Shadow of Deimos is based on a board game called Terraforming Mars. I had never heard of the game and haven't played it but that didn't keep me from enjoying the book.

I have been provided with an advance copy of the new Terraforming Mars book In the Shadow of Deimos by Jane Killick, published by Aconyte Books, so here is the honest review I promised in exchange for the book.

So here is an important disclaimer which is always important to put out there first. I have a casual work contact with Asmodee to demonstrate board games for them in stores and at conventions. Asmodee being the parent company of Aconyte the publisher.

I am going to try my best to not let this cloud my judgement in this review, but I accept that subconsciously it might.

What Is Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars is a strategy board game designed by Jacob Fryxelius, in which you work to raise the temperature of Mars and make it habitable for human life

Players take on the role of a corporation that work together to terraform Mars, and advance human infrastructure throughout the Sol system.

The game is incredibly successful and has five expansions, a Big Box, and a spin off game.

It also has a digital version available on Windows, iOS, MacOS, iPadOS & Android.

The Story
Set in the year 2316 not long after the formation of the Terraforming Committee, a rogue asteroid crashes into a research centre and kills its sole occupant, which kicks off an investigation, an official one by Julie, the head of the UNs terraforming team, and an unofficial one by Lucas, a recent immigrant to Mars who witnessed the disaster.

As they start to dig into the accident, they quickly learn that things on Mars aren’t quite right and the corporations are keen to cover things up, to prevent damage to their profits.

At the heart of this story its a good old fashioned murder mystery, and that’s its strength, it takes a genre of book which works and gives it the sci-fi twist.

The book is one which gives the reader a broader scope than the characters, who themselves are approaching the investigation from very different sides, and you figure out things before them, and see how they reach the same conclusion as you as more information is revealed to them.

There is a healthy number of side characters as well, all of whom are responsibly well rounded and that makes the setting feel ever more real.

Conclusion
I really enjoyed this book, the story itself was competent and entertaining, but what elevated it for me was the realistic science. All too often books in sci-fi assume we will have invented fantastical machines to work miracles and wonders, but this book is more grounded and whilst things have advanced, its not unrealistic.

Things like characters returning to earth needing time in physio to readjust to the heavier gravity, just little things like that which really stand out as showing how much attention to detail there is.

My favourite scene was one in the mess hall where Lucas and some friends were playing football, and the way the author has realistically described how different a ball would behave in a lower gravity environment, plus it showed how even on the frontier, people find a way to goof off.

There are scenes that make you think, and some high paced adrenaline fuelled parts which get your heart racing, and both in a nice balance. In particular the pacing is good, it never feels too slow or too fast, just right as it builds up to the conclusion.

This is a very strong book, Mars has been the subject to many many books written about it, and for me this felt just as good as Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy, and frankly is Hugo material.

I solidly recommended this book and give it 5 stars out of 5.

Whilst I've been familiar with a number of the franchises that Aconyte Books have been producing novels for Terraforming Mars is a game that I've never played before, and knew next to nothing about going into this book. As such, I got to experience this new novel not as a fan of the game, but someone coming to it completely fresh; and as a science fiction mystery it absolutely rocks.

The story of Terraforming Mars: In The Shadow of Deimos takes place in a future where the Earth isn't doing well. Thanks to an increasing population, ever expanding global pollution, and rampant corporate corruption life on Earth is harder than it's ever been. It has also led to the move to try to change Mars into a planet capable of supporting human life in large numbers. As such, several corporations have come to Mars, with various plans and techniques, to try and make the planet liveable.

One of these corporations is ThorGate, a group who are working to construct a brand new city and research centre where they will try to grow specially adapted plants to try to increase the amount of oxygen on the planet. Luka is one of the new indentured workers for ThorGate, having travelled to Mars to help construct the new city and escape the demons of his past. Shortly after arriving on Mars, however, the research station is hit by a falling asteroid.

The asteroid was no mere chance impact, however, as it was being smashed into the surface of the planet by a rival corporation. However, instead of landing at the designated coordinates it appears that the asteroid split in two, with one of the pieces hitting the research station, killing a ThorGate employee. With people demanding answers, Julie Outerbridge the head of the United Nations Mars Initiative, is assigned to find out how the accident happened. With Julie looking into the mystery, and Luka delving into the life of his dead coworker, the two of them stumble upon a plot involving multiple corporations that could forever change the face of Mars.

As I said earlier, I've not played Terraforming Mars, and as such have no idea how the game is played, or what the general goals of the game are. However, assuming that players take on the roles of the different mega corporations trying to convert Mars I was a little surprised to see that the book didn't really focus so much on the various methods and sciences of how these groups go about doing this, but what soon becomes a murder mystery set in space. However, I do think this approach is the much better idea, allowing new people such as myself an easy way into the universe and the complex mythology without feeling like you're being overwhelmed.

It also helps that the cast of characters are really well written, and feel like nice, relatable people for the most part; especially Luka and Julie. The two of them are our main windows into this world, we follow them as they investigate what has happened, and it's via them that we get a sense of what this universe is like. Despite coming from the book from very different places the two of them both have a keen determination for justice to prevail, something that seems to be of short supply on a planet with no real laws and no way to enforce said laws. There's no police or investigators to look into what could be an accident, but could be an elaborate murder, and the people who do wield power are high up corporate workers who have little to no care about the people under them.

Much of the plot of the book feels like a ball of tangled string, with the plots weaving in and out of each other, intersecting at different points, wrapping around each other, and so entangled that to begin with you can't see a clear path. But Jane Killick does an excellent job at leading you through this tangle, at showing you small snippets of the path that allow you to begin to figure things out. This is especially done well as we discover information with Luka that sheds light onto Julie's investigation, but as the two characters have not spoken to each other and revealed their findings yet we get to feel like we're figuring it out before they do.

Mars itself also gets to play a big part in the story, becoming something of a character in its own right. The planet feels dangerous and hostile, and there are moments where you're genuinely worried about the survival of the characters as they're put into some frightening conflict with the remote, deadly planet. But it also feels strangely beautiful and wonderful as well as dangerous, and Killick manages to make it feel like a place you'd want to visit if you were able. She manages to create an otherworldly beauty to the descriptions of the place that help you to understand why someone would be willing to leave everything behind, to never be able to return home to Earth, just for a chance to walk on this other world.

Terraforming Mars: In The Shadow of Deimos is a book that took me in some unexpected directions, that not only introduced me to a whole new game universe, but made me deeply intrigued about it. I came away from this book wanting to learn more, to discover more about the kinds of people that would make their homes on Mars, the corporations that would try to alter it and the science they use, and to spend more time on this strangely beautiful world. I can't wait to see what else gets made in this franchise.