Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

The fact that someone had decided I would be safer on Mars, where you could still only SORT OF breathe the air and SORT OF not get sunburned to death, was a sign that the war with the aliens was not going fantastically well.

I’d been worried I was about to be told that my mother’s spacefighter had been shot down, so when I found out that I was being evacuated to Mars, I was pretty calm.

And despite everything that happened to me and my friends afterwards, I’d do it all again. because until you’ve been shot at, pursued by terrifying aliens, taught maths by a laser-shooting robot goldfish and tried to save the galaxy, I don’t think you can say that you’ve really lived.

If the same thing happens to you, this is my advice: ALWAYS CARRY DUCT TAPE.

The sentence where 12-year-old Alice is being sent to Mars because the ice is getting close to her school sets the tone for Mars Evacuees.  From that point on there is none stop action and adventure. Of course Alice and friends end up overcoming almost impossible odds while helping save two races.

I loved how active Alice and friends were in solving their problems.  It was kind of like MacGyver meets Mars and a lot of the fixes involved Duct Tape. There is also a new take on aliens taking over the Earth that adds more interest to the story.  

The character development, world building and plot keeps the story moving.   The writing moves the story line smoothly without any of those annoying breaks that stop a story  As I came to the end it looked like this was the start of a new series but it does come to a satisfying conclusion with the Epilogue. 

Mars Evacuees is a story that readers from pre-teens to adult will enjoy.

Harper Collins published Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall in 2014.

I received an ARC of Mars Evacuees from Edelweiss in return for a honest review.