Book Review: Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

How many Mickeys does it take...

Initial thoughts: Cool premise that started off fun and exciting. I enjoyed Mickey’s first-person, conversational and light-humored narration. The opening chapters set me up for a great story.

For those that didn't see the film/don't know the premise, Micky 7 is set in a future where humanity has colonized other planets. Crews exploring new potential planets hire someone to be cloned and do all the dangerous jobs, sharing their memories with the next clone in the (likely) event they die. 

Mickey lacks other employment possibilities and desperately needs to leave his current job. The set up wasn't that believable; it seemed to me that his solution was drastic relative to his problems.

Mickey breaks a rule when he is only assumed dead and another of him is activated. This is a major no-no for a resource strapped outer space mission.

Besides the central conflict of too many Mickeys, there was also the greater jeopardy to the colony and Mickey’s controversial role in it, coupled with his growing distrust of his best friend. These ideas seemed well planted and I had high hopes.

After a while it felt that a lot of potential story arcs were dead ends or “red herrings” as other reviews pointed out. There were more possibilities with the premise than wacky sitcom mix-ups, but that seemed to be the author’s focus.

It is possible to have science fiction stories that keep a sense of adventure and a sense of humor while going into deeper emotional and intellectual territory.

A lot of the conflict in Mickey7 is about resources. An important matter sure, but could have been a background element adding to the tension, not entirely creating it. My general feeling is the entire novel could have upped the level of intensity, conflict, and tension

The premise suggested themes of existential dread and identity but your average Black Mirror episode dives deeper into those than Mickey7.

There was some backstory that sounded intriguing. The story of how the cloning technology came to be had more danger and oomph to it than the actual plot. Perhaps the novel should have been about that.

I saw a trailer of the film a while ago and that inspired me to read the book when I stumbled across it at the library. Now that I've read the book, I don't particularly want to see the movie, but you never know, maybe the filmmakers made a better story out of the source material.

Reviewed originally on Goodreads January 31, 2026