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    Heirs of Mars
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    Heirs of Mars
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    Heirs of Mars
    Ebook383 pages6 hours

    Heirs of Mars

    By Jordan Lockhart

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The dream that was Mars has become a nightmare for the children born there.

    Asher roams the vast canyons of Mars in search of dying souls ready for digital reincarnation. But his strange profession has its perils. Those who fear the newborn clones have hunted Asher and his friends for years, claiming the lives countless innocents, including his daughter. Stalked relentlessly across the harsh red deserts by both men and machines, Asher leads his fellow cloners and the persecuted clones to end the first war on Mars.

    Heirs of Mars follows the lives of six men and women (not all of them human) from the dusty wind farms of the Valles Marineris to the shining city of New Troy, and from the ancient tunnels beneath the Noctis Labyrinth to the sandy highways where daredevils race on single-wheeled motorcycles for a fleeting glimpse of fame and freedom.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopper Crow Books
    Release dateNov 5, 2010
    ISBN9781452466309
    Unavailable
    Heirs of Mars
    Author

    Jordan Lockhart

    Jordan Lockhart loves all sorts of science fiction, from deeply philosophical hard SF to grandiose, swashbuckling space operas. Jordan’s many years as a technical writer have given him countless insights into the technologies of today and tomorrow, and their consequences for humanity.

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    Reviews for Heirs of Mars

    4/5

    99 ratings40 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Set in the future on Mars, clones are a way of extending human civilization that is salvation to some and hell to others. At the center of the action are Asher and his daughter and many fun modified motorcycles. Between the clones, thinking machines and humans, it is difficult to tell who is on which side, who is right, and who is wrong.
    • 3/5
      This was a fresh approach to many sci-fi novels. Even the cyborgs have individual personalities. This book could easily have been longer but perhaps the author is waiting to share more in the next book. If so, I'm looking forward to reading it.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this novel-it moved very quickly and I was constantly wanting to find out what happened next. The first few chapters were hard to sort out due to the mass array of characters and events, but by chapter four I really understood the flow of the novel. One of my favorite things about Heirs of Mars is that there are so many plot lines and characters but they work together seamlessly to build one great novel instead of six different stories. Each character had his or her own voice and motives behind their actions. It would have been nice to hear more from each character though. Just when I felt like I was getting to know or understand a character, their plot line ended. I also liked that there was more than one strong female character. The author also eased us into the Sci-Fi nature of the novel. It is pretty far out there, but I was able to understand what was going on and get a solid feel for life on Mars. The enviornment was well developed and I feel as though there could be a whole series developed using it. The same thing goes with the characters-there could be a lot more. Speaking on the cloning aspect of the novel, I really appreciated that the author did not inject his personal opinion on cloning or use the novel to make a statement, but instead created what would be the Martian debate on cloning. Overall, I thought the book was great. It was enjoyable, fun, and interesting.
    • 3/5
      A new take on a science fiction theme. Admittedly I know very little regarding the actual science behind cloning but it didn't make a difference in this story. The characters are likable and the action keeps the pace going. It's an easy read. There is some filler but I don't think it distracts from whats happening. I would like to read more from this author.
    • 3/5
      This is a good book if you like this kind of genre. It took me a bit of time to get into the storyline. I found it a bit hard going switching between the different characters when each chapter ended. I finally was able to get into it but it took over half of the story to do it. I feel the author has great promise and I do wish to try something else written by this author.I was given this book via LibraryThing.com to do an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Heirs of Mars is an interesting science fiction tale. I like authors who take an old idea and put a new spin on it, as I think Joseph Robert Lewis did with digital reincarnation and the colonization of Mars.I was a little confused at the beginning, couldn't quite figure out what was going on. There were so many characters on so many different sides, it was hard to keep everyone straight. Plus, there were some pacing issues, it would speed up and slow down like a bad driver on a freeway. All in all, it's a fun science fiction romp that was enjoyable to read.*Disclaimer: I was given this book by the author through LibraryThing. I was not required to write a positive review.
    • 3/5
      Heirs of Mars tells a story of survival and the question of what makes humanity through the lives of colonists on Mars. The concept of what makes something a person runs through out the book as a subtext, with clones as digital recordings of personalities and lives loaded into cybernetic bodies, humans who are scared, desperate, and uncertain, and the androids and robots that want to survive just as much as the humans do.The story immediately immerses the reader in the world in an almost jarring fashion. The latter part of the story when the desperation and comes out and everything starts falling apart was when the characters really started to develop, before that it felt too much like rough snapshots pieced together. The characters, even the non-humans are all people, flawed, stubborn, and with their own misconceptions and misunderstandings.
    • 4/5
      Asher Radescu, in an attempt to curb Mars' diminishing birth rate, roams its canyon in search of dying souls for digital reincarnation, also known as cloning. Claudia Cruz, the most popular entertainer on the planet, entertains children in the morning and risks her life for the general populace at night, all for the sake of keeping morale. And Holm, a Cartesian, is desperately looking for a way out.In all, six men and women share the spotlight in this science-fiction novel, where there is no great love between humans, clones and Cartesians. Life on Mars is harsh for everyone, even when living in the shiny city of New Troy. In fact, a war is waging between humans and Cartesians. When Asher and Claudia take it upon themselves to put an end to the Cartesians once and for all, they drag scientists, clones and rogue mechs along with them.This isn't your Utopian Mars colonization story. Life is hard, birth levels are low, and "clonism" is apparent. Clones exist if only to curb the declining birth rate, and people are worried that the human race on Mars will eventually die out and clones will inherit the planet. Cartesians, on the other hand, are afraid clones will eventually be used as weapons against them, so they take it upon themselves to eradicate humans, who create clones in the first place.As the story is recounted with multiple points of view, the reader sees each facet of the story; the human side, the clones' perspective, and how Cartesians see things. Artificial intelligence and robotics are rather well depicted, albeit a bit vulgarized, as to not render the story too complex. The main theme isn't science nor colonization, but how the not understood is generally feared.The story, while fast-paced and entertaining, still leaves space for character development. However, Radescu, the main protagonist, gets the biggest piece of the pie when it comes to background. In any case, each character's individual personality evolves throughout the story, as their motives become clearer.Heirs of Mars is an entertaining piece of science-fiction. More fiction than science, which sometimes, is just the way I like it.3.5/5
    • 4/5
      Loved the book. Very detailed, crisp writing style. As you read through the book, you are literally transported to Mars. The details of the place, the difficult terrain and the complexity of life, kind of hits you hard and makes you wonder if this is our future. The book begins a little slow but gradually picks the pace and the reader gets caught in the action. For those who love sci-fi, this book brings together alot of such elements that make it a wonderful read.
    • 4/5
      I have to be honest and say I didn't expect to enjoy this book. Anything space-related tends to put me to sleep and I have been getting sick of hearing about Mars. Yet, when I picked this book up, I instantly knew I was going to like it. The writing flows like a swollen river, elegant and fast-paced. The three different factions of the planet Mars are well thought out, the characters well written and believeable. Could this actually be our future? You never know!
    • 5/5
      I've gotten a couple books from this author through Member Giveaways now, and this is by far my favorite. The characters are fun and engaging, the setting is interesting and the idea of what clones are vs what Carties are is fascinating. I really enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      Mars is populated by three different groups - humans, clones who have been created to replace needed scientists and engineers as they die, and AI, robots known as Carties. War between humans and the Carties has recently ended with a peace accord but some of the Carties refuse to stop fighting. Joseph Robert Lewis has penned a well-crafted scifi novel, fast paced with lots of action and likable characters. I can't recommend this highly enough for fans of the genre or anyone who enjoys a book with lots of action.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read. I enjoyed the sci-fi fantasy world created by the author.
    • 4/5
      Very believable story set on Mars. Well thought out and I really like the explanation behind the cloning processand the reasoning of the clone creator. Nice story easy to follow. Would have given it 4 stars but the story just kind of ended and I (just me personally) didnt like the non-resolution of the ending. It did remind of early C.J. Cherry and the story does have a nice flow to it. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon in the sun. Good Job.
    • 1/5
      Tried to read the prologue first before actually starting the book, however I could not finish it. It left me feeling a little to much like I was reading the book to the film "Total Recall." I'm guessing it is more because I'm interested more in Paranormal Sy-Fi that I lost interest in this book so quickly. What I did read was very well written though.
    • 4/5
      First things first, this is the BEST book I've ever received from Early Reviewers or Members Give-Away. Recently, I had been lamenting what I perceived as a downturn in the quality of cosmological science fiction (which is probably more due to my own lack of exposure than an actual trend), but this book really restored my faith. The characters are diverse and interesting, the science makes just enough sense to follow easily while still maintaining that fantastical element that makes it seem just BEYOND our conceptions of normality. Some of the underlying philosophical issues, especially involving person-hood were well thought out. Honestly, my only real complaint is that it seemed like the main plot took awhile to get going. Obviously, the author had to set up the world and get the players on the board, but I couldn't really see where the plot was headed until about thirty percent of the way through. But that wasn't really terrible considering how much I enjoyed the world and the characters. Glad to know good science fiction is still around.
    • 3/5
      Mars. When volcanic activity made new colonizers unwilling, the existing colonies began to crumble. Clones - To save Mars, scientists began to 'ghost' the brains of useful people and place them into mechanical bodies - intelligent, dedicated and not human.Cloners - a select few individuals, living in trucks and travelling the colonies looking for useful, upstanding and terminally ill citizens to clone. While trying hard not to get mobbed.Cartesians - a handful of sentient mechs waging a guerreila war on the colonies in fear of the non-existant 'biological' ghost weapon.--------------------Overall, Heirs to Mars was a fairly decent read. The characters are interesting and likeable, the action is well-detailed and flows well, and the overall plot is engaging. The only problem was the sheer amount of stuff going on - every character is suffering and there is no break in the action. It gets a little overwhelming
    • 4/5
      Heirs of Mars by Joseph Robert Lewis is about a colony on Mars that is cohabitated by humans, clones and mechs. Clones are synthetic beings that have the memories of a person who has died. The memories are taken shortly before death and implanted into the clone. A mech is a robot. They are also called Cartesian’s in the story. There is a treaty between the humans and the mechs which also includes the clones. There is a group of renegade mechs that have been waging war on the humans and clones of Mars. They think Mars should be free of the humans and clones and so they have been killing human and clone alike for years but because of the treaty the officials have made very little attempt to track down these renegade mechs and stop them. It is illegal to have a weapon except by officials but there are a few peoples who decide that it is time to put a stop to the mechs so they make homemade weapons and go to the Labyrinth where the mechs have their headquarters. These events occur at different times and each time they manage to take out one or two or even three mechs but someone ends up getting hurt or killed. There are several characters that the story revolves around and each chapter concentrates on a particular characters part in the story. In the beginning I found the story hard to get into because I was getting lost about who was who. After I learned who the characters were I found I had trouble putting the story down. The characters, as well as the plot were well developed. The descriptions were vivid and well defined. I would definitely recommend this book for others to read.
    • 5/5
      This book sucked me in. It's such an original and interesting scifi world that was so imaginative. The characters are creative, and overall I was so happy with the read.
    • 3/5
      Something I have come to enjoy in books lately is authors who tell a story through the eyes and minds of different characters - jumping to a new one withthe forward movement of the novel. I believe Lewis used that perfectly in this novel.I enjoyed the story, I was fascinated until the end and I truly felt the same joy reading his story as I did when I read RR Martin's Game of Thrones series.
    • 4/5
      Very good book! The story was very engaging and well written. It also poses some interesting questions about what might mean to be human in the future.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a very well written Science Fiction Story, which easily could turn out to become a nice series. The characters in the story are good developed and as such the book kept me entertained all the way through. I liked the idea of having virtually three different types of races. Humans, clones and mechanical beings. The last two should not be able to have any kind of emotions as they are artificial, but in this story they are portrait much different to the general idea. I was quite upset about the ending and initially I thought I lost pages during download, but it become apparent that there will be a sequel and I sincerly hope the author picks up, where he left off. This book was a very enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Not the sort of book I usually read and I had trouble understanding the plot , then I read Heirs of Mars: Preludes, which helped me get a better idea of the actual story and the characters involved. I then continued with Heirs of Mars and found I could get into the story with a better understanding of what it was all about. I liked following Asher's story, but would have liked a bit more depth to the other characters but I am hoping, by the way the book ended, that there will be more to the story and I look forward to it.
    • 4/5
      This was a pretty good story. It wasn't brilliant and didn't have me reading non stop, but at the same time did leave me with enough interest to read it through to the end. The only thing I really didn't like was too many pov characters, Asher's story interesting, but some of the others seemed to only be thrown in to make the book longer.
    • 5/5
      Let me preface my review by saying that I read Heirs of Mars: Preludes before tackling this ebook and I am glad I did. Re-reading the first chapter of Heirs, I realized how confused I might have been without the background Preludes provided. There are a lot of characters and places to keep track of not to mention 3 distinct groups: human beings, clones, and machines along with entities such as cloners, mechs, avatars, rangers, and cartesians (to name a few). The general plot of the book pits humans against machines but the author throws in several new twists to make this a fresh, fun read. While reading this book I kept thinking of some of the earlier science fiction writers and how they presented their visions of the future by focusing on characters first and technology second (Doc Smith, Philip Dick, and Larry Niven come to mind). This author clearly is building on that recipe by focusing much of the book on character development. By the end of the book the reader has an excellent understanding of all of the major characters presented in the narrative. I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book but understand that the author is planning a sequel. This is a solid science fiction novel which any science fiction fan should enjoy. I look forward to reading more of this author's works.
    • 2/5
      I read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi. It was ok. The start was pretty slow, because it kept jumping from person to person, which made it harder to get into.
    • 5/5
      Mars is less than idea for humanity to survive and as the population dwindles, its populous face more and more difficulties. In order to combat this, clone of dying people are create and inserted into mechanical beings. Further, a second group of mechanical beings have been sent by their "mother" to destroy the clone network. This story follows a number of characters who are struggling to live and survive on the planet. I am not a big fan of science-fiction, but I really enjoyed this book. The characters are interesting and engaging and the plot is fast-paced and entertaining
    • 4/5
      This was a good book for anyone who enjoys thought provoking science fiction. There was action, characterisation and a clever premise behind it all. Most of all I would say that it was an interesting exploration of different types of people and the workings of the mind. That is what I found most interesting since it is not an issue in our world; minds that work differently to our own, perhaps even being blended together with another mind. If the mind of a person can be changed are they still the same person? And if it doesn’t work like ours are they a person at all? I also liked the unique take on cloning in this story.So in summary, perhaps if you are getting picky there were one or two moments that I found a little convenient, but overall an enjoyable and intelligent story.Reviewed as a librarything giveaway ebook.
    • 5/5
      Review as member giveaway eBookThis was a very good science fiction read.Mars colony is struggling to survive with a poor birth rate and no new colonists from Earth. Asher is a cloner, using ghosting technology he can save the memories of dying colonists and transfer them into robotic bodies. This helps to preserve vital skills for the colony such as doctors and engineers. This technology is seen as a threat by an AI evolved on a satellite of Venus who sends AI robots to Mars to destroy this technology. The novel is set in this context with colonists accepting but uneasy with the cloned colonists, the cloners working underground to continue their work against a guerrilla war being waged by the AI (Cartesian) warriors fighting from the deserts. Asher decides to clone a girl who reminds him of his murdered daughter, killed in a Cartesian attack on the dome he was working from. This sets of a cascade of events which will keep you wanting to read more. The plot is pacy, the underlying concepts intriguing, the characters are well drawn and relevant to the overarching themes of the novel. You also have car and bike racing across the valleys of Mars. What more could you ask for. I look forward to further novels set in this world.
    • 4/5
      Heirs of Mars is a rollicking adventure set on the planet Mars and featuring an intriguing cast of robots, clones and humans. The human, Asher, is a Cloner, a man who can take the ghost of a dying human and create a productive clone member of society. It's an inspiring way to solve a steadily falling population on the dangerous planet. The villain is Mother and her crew of robots, some of whom are sympathetic to the human population. The rest of them are intent on the total annihilation of the human species.The story rolls along with a focus on each of the characters until we reach an explosive conclusion. I was fascinated as I learned a little more of the mysteries behind Asher's life. The descriptive action sequences helped to set the stage on which the battles were waged. All in all this was a fun-to-read book, which I have already recommended to several friends and family members! I'm looking forward to a either a sequel or prequel to this story.