Review: A Rebel’s History of Mars, by Nadia Afifi

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer member’s striking new book of time travel and biological science fiction is a thrilling ride.

Kezza, an aerialist in the Martian circus, can never return to Earth – but she can assassinate the man she blames for her grim life on the red planet. Her murderous plans take an unexpected turn, however, when she uncovers a sinister secret.

A thousand years into the future, Azad lives a safe but controlled life on the beautiful desert planet of Nabatea. His world is upended when he joins a crew of space-traveling historians seeking to learn the true reason that their ancestors left Mars

Separated by time and space, Kezza and Azad’s stories collide in the Martian desert.

My Review

Thanks to Flame Tree Press for sending me a copy of this book and to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising the tour. The tour was supposed to be in June, but it got put back a month. This is the second lovely hardback book I’ve had from Flame Tree for tours this month, and I appreciate it.

This is a book with two timelines. We have Kazza, a ‘Tier Three’ corporate resident on Mars, in 2195. Born on Earth, to Welsh and Korean parents who emigrated to Mars when she was three, Kazza is smart and empathetic. She could have been a Tier One or Two employee, but her mother’s death from radiation poisoning and a grief powered visit to the local circus sent her in a new direction – as a member of the Calypso Corporate Campus circus troupe. She is a, at 25, a skilled aerialist, on the trapeze, lyra, and ribbons.

In the other timeline we have Azad, 1200 years later on a planet populated by people who left Mars. Their civilization, based in the city of Nabatea, on the planet of Nabatea, is heavily regulated and divided between the Orthodox and the Vitruvians. The Orthodox live their lives in settled communities, doing whatever they are assigned that day, and living with a chip in their necks that gives them three options when they have a decision to make.

On an ordinary day Azad meets a dying Vitruvian, who knows his presumed-lost sister Ledo. With new hope, he sets off to find answers. What he finds is a crew of historians determined to learn the truth about their origins, a secret or three that will tear Nabatean society apart, and eventually, a possible future that will heal them all.

On an ordinary night, Kezza is about to perform when alarms go off, sending the people of Calypso Corporate Campus into lockdown. Kezza is robbed by a gang, who she chases to get back what little portable wealth she has. She loses them, but finds two bodies. One of whom isn’t as dead as she thought. Contracting an alien virus from the survivor, who doesn’t last long after, she starts to become something else entirely.

Azad and his new historian acquaintances use some speculative technology to see into the past on Mars and together they discover Kezza’s story, and the story of how the Nabateans came to be.

I have enjoyed Afifi’s books in the past, but this is absolutely my favourite of them all. The dual timelines slowly come together as Azad and Kezza go through their own difficulties, become more themselves, as they free themselves from cultural chains, and learn the truth. They, and the other main characters, are rounded and complex. They are consistently written and none of the actions of a character like Juul (Kezza’s timeline), who is charismatic and leads the Martians to Nabatea, or Faisel (Adza’s timeline) who is a Vitruvian who hangs out with Orthodox Nabateans, are out of character. Juul has the nature of a charismatic preacher at a mega church. And we all know what most of those creeps are like…

The pacing is perfect and the amount of information shared between timelines gives the reader just the right level of hints for the whole story. While there is a long sequence of travelling across Mars looking at the past by Azad and the historians, the tension is maintained as they argue their priorities and encounter hostile Vitruvians. And some glowing blue slime.

The glowing blue slime is important.

The science is wobbly, other than the possibility of using viruses as vectors for changing DNA, but the story is set 170 and 1370 years in the future, who knows what we’ll have come up with by then. The development of technology and social norms is logical, with ‘new’ technology on Mars being incredibly advanced on Nabatea, and social structures that are theorised by Juul becoming reality under the Vitruvians. The Earth has gone from an overcrowded, corporation controlled hell-hole to an abandoned mess. Afifi really thinks the consequences through, and I enjoy that.

The settings are palpable. Mars is inhospitable, the corporate habitats are crowded and dug into the rock; Nabatea has been terraformed, but only half of it, into a replica of somewhere like Arabia; meanwhile the ships Azad travels on are cramped and need constant work to function.

I liked Azad, he is frustrated but scared, and then learns to deal with it for a more important purpose than not being a Problem. His frustration at not being able to use his medical training because mechs do everything is obvious, as is his joy at finally having the chance to do his work properly. His motivation to embark on his journey, despite his fears – to find and save his twin sister – is understandable and powerful.

Kezza has an unfortunate name, and her world is horrible. She clearly feels to dehumanisation and commodification of her person and her body, and blames her parents and Juul, who encouraged them and thousands of other people to leave Earth. Her journey from trying to kill Juul to working with him to save everyone, to trying to stop him from reproducing the horrors he claims to abhor, is powerful. I wanted to know what she would do; I could tell Juul was a wrong’un but Kezza has to discover that for herself and make her decision. She is emblematic of all those trapped by conditions into a life where they are used and discarded by people in power.

Don’t trust slick talking populists, they’re always up to something bad.

Afifi writes beautifully about Kezza’s art and it’s obvious she has experience on and a passion for the lyra (aerial rings). I loved the sections where Kezza is free in the air to fly, her only freedom.

Afifi uses her science fiction to explore culltural and social issues and this novel is no different. We’re reading about the dangers of hyper-capitalism and corporatisation of lives, about the dangers of slick populists who take over resistance movements for their own ends, and about how history can be used to control people, to build hierarchies and prejudices that harm. The phrase ‘separate by equal’ is used frequently, and will be familiar to those who know anything of history.

Highly recommended, this book is going on my favourites of 2025 list.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nadia Afifi is the author of the Cosmic trilogy and numerous science fiction short stories. Her debut novel, The Sentient, was lauded as “staggering and un-put-downable” in a starred Publisher’s Weekly review. The Cosmic trilogy is a near-future series about a controversial cloning project,
human consciousness and a high-stakes conflict between religious fundamentalism and science Afifi’s short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (“The Bahrain
Underground Bazaar”) and Clarkesworld (“The Lonely Time Traveler of Kentish Town”, “A Thousand Tiny Gods.”)

Nadia grew up in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where she read every book she could get her hands on, but currently calls Denver, Colorado home. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s organization. Her background as an Arab American who lived overseas has inspired her fiction writing, particularly her passion for exploring complex social, political and cultural issues through a futuristic lens.

When she isn’t writing, she spends her time practicing (and falling off) the lyra (aerial hoops), hiking through Colorado’s many trails, jogging through Denver’s streets and working on the most challenging jigsaw puzzles she can find. She also loves dogs, travel and cooking.

nadiaafifi.com / X: @nadoodles / Instagram: @nadiawritesscifi

FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to excellent original writing in horror, science fiction and fantasy. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more
at http://www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress. Awarded independent publisher of 2024 by the British Fantasy Society.