Kids get stuck on Mars and befriend an alien enemy. Parental notes: some swearing, discussion of alien sexes and reproduction, although boring. Pretty bleak with war and invading aliens, a bit lord of the flies for a minute. ( )

So. This was a fun and enjoyable romp.
It gets brownies for being a stand-alone in terms of plotting.

BUT.
Gosh, Author, I do NOT need Girl Power at the expense of male characters.
1) What was the point of Carl anyway?
2) And Noel does not really count because he is a kid.
3) Goldfish does not count because it is an it and, therefore, not in possession of a gender.

It's like if you are not a female then you are a devolved malformity or something.
Because everybody actually Doing Something Worthwhile is of the female persuasion. What even? Does the author have subconscious hate for the males or something?

This was a decent book but there is many a problem in here.

FINAL VERDICT : READ IT AT YOUR OWN PERIL ( )

When the war with the aliens continues to go badly, Alice Dare is sent to Mars to train for the army with a few hundred other children. One day all of the adults disappear, leaving the children unsupervised and forming groups fighting for control of the resources left to them. Alice and her friends leave their base on Mars to find answers to what happened to the adults. Their space ship is destroyed by mysterious creatures called space locusts that no one has seen before. When they discover one of the aliens attacking earth and take him captive, they learn that those creatures are why the other aliens have been attacking earth. The kids and their captive use their ingenuity to survive the unpleasant atmosphere of Mars and tell the grown-ups of both species about the space locusts in time to join forces and save the solar system from being eaten.

Both funny and scary, this book will entertain readers looking for younger science fiction. Although the science isn’t all accurate or believable, it has a science fiction feel. At times it feels like Ender’s Game mixed with Lord of the Flies, but there are also a lot of funny moments and the goldfish shaped robot helps ease the tension even in the most stressful moments of the book. It has more swearing than most books this age as the characters are trying to survive on an inhospitable area. The voice of the main character could be fun and cute, but sometimes information is glossed over or not given in detail and the voice seems to be a way to avoid thinking about things too complexly. The characters' role as misfits that manage to get along well when they have a similar goal is one of the strongest points of the book. In spite of its weaknesses, the humor and strength of the characters will make this book fun for a wide variety of readers. ( )

McDougall, Sophia. Mars Evacuees. Mars Evacuees No, 1, Egmont, 2014.
Mars Evacuees is a better than average older children’s story with an original, if not quite credible, premise. Aliens, called Morrors, are invading, and though we are putting up a good fight, the issue is in doubt. So, a few children are being sent to a scientific outpost on a partially terraformed Mars. Our narrator, Alice Dare (no relation to Virginia, thank goodness), has a believable voice and is not always centerstage in the narrative. Things don’t quite go as planned, and Alice and her friends are abandoned by the adults and left in the care of teaching robots that look like flying goldfish. When the kid community threatens to become a replay of Lord of the Flies, Alice and her buddies begin a trek to a distant station to find some adults. The prosocial themes are cooperation, ingenuity, and perseverance. Is it as good as my favorite Heinlein juveniles? No. But that is a high bar. 4 stars on my kid-book scale. ( )

Thanks to Penguin and Goodreads for a free copy of this book!

Mars Evacuees wasn't what I was expecting... but I mean that in a good way.

Reading the back cover, I thought I was in for a madcap romp through space with a bunch of pre-teens and robot goldfish. And, yeah, that's what this book started out as, and it would have been a fun read on its own.

But then, it took a much more serious tone, and it got into things like racism, and gender, and child soldiers. It still had that initial wacky, funny tone, but wow did it cover some heavy things.

That's, I think, what really impressed be about this book. It's funny, it has some great running gags (Alistair?), but there's a lot of depth to it, too. ( )