There was joy for having arrived, and sorrow for having left, and no way to even pretend this was home.

It’s called the illusory truth effect. If you hear something often enough, for long enough, you’ll believe it. Even if you originally knew that the information was false.
― Natasha Pulley, The Mars House

It made January angry too, when people declared that giving someone poor some basic human consideration was the same as being Stalin. It was the kind of argument deployed by people who were saving up for their own private golf course.
― Natasha Pulley, The Mars House

CBR17 Bingo: Migrant

We meet January, the principal dancer with the London Ballet, as he and his company prepare to put on a performance by candlelight as the latest storm and flooding has knocked out electricity to the theater. Within a day, January and his fellow dancers are paddling around London, searching for food and supplies. London has been submerged for years at this point, but by now, it can no longer support human life. January accepts the offer to board a ship to Mars and accept asylum in Tharsis, the semi-habitable industrial city there.

The next chapter skips ahead two years. On Tharsis, humans from earth are three times stronger than humans on Mars as the Mars-born humans have had generations to evolve to cope with the weaker Martian gravity. Martians are taller but extremely fragile compared to Earth-borns, known as Earthstrongers. The closest analogy I can think of is that Earthstrongers are regarded like The Hulk: extremely strong, unintentionally dangerous, and must be controlled to protect the locals. Earth refugees can only perform physical labor, where they are isolated from the local population. Outside of work and home, Earthstrongers must wear a metal cage – a sort of body armour – which restrains them and makes movement sluggish enough to prevent accidents and mimic the way Martians function in the lower gravity.

January is working in a factory with other Earthstrongers and living in specialized housing in the bad part of town. One day, Aubrey Gale, a Tharsis politician, performs a factory visit as part of their lead up to the general election. Aubrey interviews January and January gives them a piece of his mind about Aubrey’s proposed solution to the Earthstronger problem. Aubrey wants to severely restrict immigration to Tharsis and to force all Earthstrongers to go through a “naturalisation” process where they are medically weakened in order to become a citizen or move outside of the Earthstronger compound. January insults Aubrey and is thrown in prison for threatening them. The opposing candidate swings into motion and quickly accuses Aubrey of using their political influence to have an innocent refugee thrown in prison.

To remedy this PR disaster, Aubrey’s team comes up with a plan: fake marriage. To win back the part of the population who does not want to shut Mars’ doors to refugees, Aubrey agrees to marry an Earthstronger for the minimum marriage contract period of five years. January doesn’t want this at all but, as he was sent to prison for threatening a citizen, he chooses marriage over being deported to a burning and flooding Earth.

This book was phenomenal. The only predictable thing about it was the arranged marriage trope, which I enjoyed as much as I expected. Aubrey is well-intentioned but is blinded by the data of the situation without understanding the physical and mental trauma that refugees like January endured and continue to endure just to survive. January is terrified he will be cast off as soon as he is no longer needed, but he cannot remain silent while his partner campaigns for Earthstrongers to be crippled to gain the privilege of continuing to live on Mars.

As heavy as the themes are, the world building and the playful relationship that develops between Aubrey and January keeps the story moving. I’m giving this four stars instead of five because despite the length of the book, the ending was abrupt with a critical moment happening off page and only mentioned once in passing. For all of the buildup, I would have gladly read another 20-30 pages just to have a more satisfying conclusion for one of the antagonists.