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The Strange
The Strange | Nathan Ballingrud
4 posts | 4 read | 7 to read
1931, New Gavleston, Mars: Fourteen-year-old Anabelle Crisp sets off through the wastelands of the Strange to find Silas Mundts gang who have stolen her mothers voice, destroyed her father, and left her solely with a need for vengeance. Since Anabelles mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Gavleston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic fathers diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher as her only companion. When the Silence came, and communication and shipments from Earth to its colonies on Mars stopped, life seemed stuck in foreboding stasis until the night Silas Mundt and his gang attacked. At once evoking the dreams of an America explored in Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles and the harder realities of frontier life in Charles Portis True Grit, Balingruds novel is haunting in its evocation of Anabelles quest for revenge amidst a spent and angry world accompanied by a domestic Engine, a drunken space pilot, and the toughest woman on Mars. Nathan Ballingruds stories have been adapted into the film Wounds and the Hulu series Monsterland, The Strange is his first novel.
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OutsmartYourShelf
The Strange | Nathan Ballingrud
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Pickpick

14-year-old Anabelle Crisp lives on Mars with her father & together they run the diner in New Galveston. They lost contact with Anabelle's mother after she returned to Earth to visit a sick relative. The colonists have not heard from Earth since then, no further ships have arrived, & supplies are starting to dwindle. When they are robbed at gunpoint one evening, that incident sets off a chain of events which no-one could foresee. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf This book is an odd mix of genres. Set in the 1930s, it's an alternate universe where humans have colonised other planets - basically it's the Western expansion of America but set on Mars. There are robots but the other technology is rather antiquated, they still use mules to pull carts, & the law is upheld by a local sheriff.

It's an odd juxtaposition but it mainly works. The issue for me was the MC who basically acts like a smart-mouth brat
6mo
OutsmartYourShelf throughout, getting herself & others into trouble by not thinking before she speaks or acts. Yes you can't expect teenage characters to act like an adult but full blown tantrums & screaming at people because you don't get your own way became irritating. A slightly more bearable MC would have gained a higher rating. 3.5🌟

Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5457327658
Read 6th-8th Nov 2023
6mo
27 likes2 comments
review
Twainy
The Strange | Nathan Ballingrud
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Pickpick

🎧 It‘s Mars, 1931. Annabelle‘s 13, her mom has left to care for her mom on Earth, then all communication with Earth ends. The Silence begins.

Annabelle tells the story. She works in her dad‘s diner. FUN robot sidekick!

We came to Mars to mine The Strange, it changes us.

Annabelle loses everything. The story becomes Tru Grit on Mars. Vengeance.

A western mixed with an old school alternate history sci-fi with some horror. Good audio.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Addison_Reads
The Strange | Nathan Ballingrud
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Pickpick

Such an interesting mash-up! This book is combination of an alternate history, sci-fi, western, with a bit of horror tossed in.

The story is set in 1931 on a Mars colony where 13 year old Annabelle works at a diner with her father. A nearby mining town harvests The Strange, which makes people turn odd with exposure.

Annabelle was a great character and I loved her robot sidekick. Some aspects needed clarification, but overall I enjoyed it.

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Lizpixie
The Strange | Nathan Ballingrud
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Bk6 of my recent #BookHaul is another SciFi novel. Though it seems to be a cross with a western too! Annabelle is 14 when all communications between Earth & her new home world of Mars is cut. After being robbed at gun point closing up their diner, her father is devastated when their only recording of her mothers voice is taken. So Annie & her loyal robot travel through mining towns overtaken by a mineral called The Strange to take it back.

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