79. The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm

Read the book, from SPS library
2021
235 pgs.
Mid Grade SciFi
Finished  7/25/21
Goodreads rating: 4.15 - 1010 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Mars

First line/s: "The trip to Mars was the hardest thing they'd ever experienced.  That's what the grown-ups said."

My comments: I was so sad when this book came to an end.  It was exceptional.  Five kids and six adults live in the American compound inside a lava tunnel on Mars.  There are four other similar colonies close by:  France, Finland, Russia, and China, but for years they have been alienated.  Then all the American adults get deathly ill.  The kids don't, and after some bravery on the part of the protagonis, Bell, things begin to change.  A really wonderful story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A kid raised on Mars learns that he can't be held back by the fears of the grown-ups around him.
          Bell has spent his whole life - all eleven years of it - on Mars. But he's still just a regular kid - he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don't have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It's up to Bell - a regular kid in a very different world - to uncover the truth and save his family ... and possibly unite an entire planet.

38. Collision by Victor Dixen

#3 Phobos
read the book - translated into English from the original French
originally published in 2016 in France
published in English in 2019 by Hot Key Books
725 pgs.
YA SciFi
Finished  2/28/2020
Goodreads rating: 4.02 - 1112 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Mars, in the future

First line/s:  "I'm alone, even if the people who've lived with me through the most important moments of my life are all around me:  them, the Genesis pioneers - the space heroes - the condemned of Mars."

My comments:  Wow, what a trip.  Ups and downs and all sorts of craziness, bt I couldn't wait to get back to the story every time I had to leave it.  The first volume was the best, the most fun, but the intricacy of this last volume, number three, was also really interesting.  Victor Dixen has quite an imagination.  I don't   think it would hurt to look into some of his other writing, if I can find any.  The series was written in French and I'm so tickled that it was translated into English, even though it was difficult to get hold of copies and hasn't been published in Kindle or audio as far as I can tell.

Goodreads synopsis:  The third book in a heartstopping, high-octane new space series.
          The Genesis Programme reality TV show has brought twelve young astronauts to Mars, to face unprecedented hostility. An even greater danger is now threatening Earth, but the viewers are too glued to their screens and the rescue mission to see what is really happening. 
          Leonor is ready to risk everything to bring out the truth and warn the world. She can never admit defeat - but can she fight her last fight alone?

57. Distortion by Victor Dixen

(#2 Phobos)
read the book - purchased online
2015 original in French, 2018 English Hot Key Books
576 pgs.
YA SciFi
Finished 6/22/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.11 - 1853 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting:  Contemporary Mars and various east coast US locations

First line/s:  "Twelve.  We are twelve, gathered all together for the first time in the Visiting Room, the glass bubble that has seen us parading in, two by two, over these past five months: us, the participants in the Genesis programme, the greatest TV game show in all history - and the cruelest lie of all time."

My comments:  These 567 pages flew by, almost literally.  I totally recommend to anyone that is going to read the series that you have all three volumes in hand before starting.  The cliffhanger on this one is really something.  The first book was about being in the transport to Mars, the second is about the first month or so on Mars, very different because not only are the twelve young people investigating this new habitat that is now their new world AND getting to know their new partners in life, but they are trying to figure out how to not be thwarted by the evil Serena McBee.  However, the revelation that Marcus makes at the very end of the this second volume must have so much more to it....and you have to wait for the next volume.  Eeeek.  Not only that, but - spoiler, spoiler! - the drones are rushing towards Andrew and Harmony in Death Valley and you have no idea what's going to happen to them.  I'm thinking I have at least a week before I received volume three.  Woe is me!

Goodreads synopsis: After a speed-dating show that is literally out of this world, twelve young astronauts are set to become the first humans to colonise Mars. They are also the victims of the cruellest of plots.
          Léonor thought she was a pioneer on an extraordinary mission. She thought she had left all regrets behind her on Earth. But when memories are this painful, there can be no forgetting . .