Mars Underground by H.M. Waugh

The setting of this new book is the hero in this series! This book completes the duology that began with Mars Awakens. It is an adventure story set in an environment that is almost beyond our comprehension – Mars as a populated planet trying to survive and utilising a variety of skills and strategies. It is ‘ the others’ who are hard to understand. Will they destroy or assist the colonies that are trying to eke out their existence and competing or struggling to exist into the future? Holt and Dee are the central characters who should not really be friends, but whose connection began in Mars Awakens and continues to grow in this adventure that spends much of its time underground. The pressure to find solutions to their survival issues has led to some strange choices in their own colonies and now the young characters must act against their own histories to rescue those whose lives are at stake.

Although I loved Mars Awakens, I struggled to reconnect with this story and the characters again because there was too much time between reading that book and this second book. There was insufficient context given at the beginning of Mars Underground to reacquaint me to their background and characteristics. However, persistence paid off, and I loved the epic quest. I imagine though that this book would be best read immediately after Mars Awakens, it would be very difficult to read this book as a stand-alone story. Despite this initial struggle, the action and adventure grew in their ability to compel me to keep reading. There were chases and moments of intense stress as the young protagonists and several of their friends set out on a quest to bring the communities together and to save lives. I would recommend this book to lovers of Sci-fi aged 13+, but there are some subtle romantic threads that might enable this to be enjoyed by those who would not normally read Sci-fi.

Themes: Mars, Alien life, Survival, Adventure, Conflict, Sci-fi.

Carolyn Hull