Scan barcode
categal's review against another edition
1.0
I'm giving this a star because of the idea: E.A. Smithe is a clone whose personality was uploaded from a deceased mystery writer. That's so cool, let's go, it's a mystery story that takes place in a future where people can check out clones from their local libraries. What?
Well ... the execution of this idea is disappointing. In the future, rich people pay over a million dollars for a home! I am living in the future with the real estate prices for a 500-sq. ft. condo, but I digress. What's up with Smithe taking showers every five minutes? His personal hygiene became a little distracting. I also have to note the jaw-dropping descriptions of women.
Smithe is trying to offload an extra sandwich:
"Two tables away, a fat girl was reading one of the broken novels some people like now. I went to her table, smiled, and offered her the remaining chicken salad sandwich."
Um, what?
Well ... the execution of this idea is disappointing. In the future, rich people pay over a million dollars for a home! I am living in the future with the real estate prices for a 500-sq. ft. condo, but I digress. What's up with Smithe taking showers every five minutes? His personal hygiene became a little distracting. I also have to note the jaw-dropping descriptions of women.
Smithe is trying to offload an extra sandwich:
"Two tables away, a fat girl was reading one of the broken novels some people like now. I went to her table, smiled, and offered her the remaining chicken salad sandwich."
Um, what?
everyonespal's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Fun noir story from the best sci fi writer ever. Fun novel. Worth a read if you like gene
cheezvshcrvst's review against another edition
4.0
I have reread this book a couple of times since it was published in 2015, and what strikes me the most about it is how accessible it is. It’s absurdly simple, as far as Gene Wolfe science fiction stories go: there’s been murders, and a piece of property that wishes it was still human or could ever be human is going to solve this murder if it has to take him to another planet and back again a couple of times to do so. If it’s possible to find the world-building lacking it’s because you are left wanting to explore that world: a few hundred years in the future, humanity exists in pockets and there’s been a cleansing of anyone deemed less healthy or fit for survival so those clinging to the planet’s surface can feel like they deserve the energy and resources and technology at their disposal, including other, poorer, humans. If the reader is bewildered by the main character’s actions or motivations, it’s because they ignore the clues literally (ha!) handed out in the beginning of the book that explain why and how our Mr. Smithe will proceed as the plot thickens and then thins. What Gene Wolfe has accomplished here is an open and closed murder mystery in a bleak future not too far off from the present we have already imagined for ourselves, and if it does many things right the number one thing this novel does is casually and masterfully show the reader how to do science fiction without having it spill all over itself. Fun and quick-paced, with little to none of Wolfe’s typical verbose passages and digressions (instead, he seems to wink and steeple his fingers and allow you the reader to insist upon being granted wisdom from his words.) 4.5/5
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
I don't read many mysteries and certainly not classic mysteries. So I can't tell if this is supposed to be a Sam Spade knockoff with science-fictional elements or whatever. What I can say is that it was written in an intentionally irritatingly sexist put-upon style which kind of had a back-to-the-future feel of the way books set in the future were written in the 50's. The story itself had some interest and potential even if the idea of clones you could check out of the library was basically ludicrous. But that interest and potential was squandered. Readable but not especially enjoyable. But the choices seemed to be intentional, they weren't an accident of writing or editing.
bookmason's review against another edition
4.0
Thoroughly entertaining and a stunningly original future world
Ern Smithe is a book or is that an author, well sort of and a detective too!
Loved this from start to finish another true original story from Wolfe
Ern Smithe is a book or is that an author, well sort of and a detective too!
Loved this from start to finish another true original story from Wolfe
ashleylm's review against another edition
2.0
I loved the New Sun, and I loved the Long Sun only slightly less, and almost everything else he's written has left me cold. I do have to want-to-read a book to actually read it (I actually own several books, surprise, surprise--so if I don't want to read this one, I can easily pick up that one), and I'm about halfway through with no desire to finish this.
I know he's supposed to be this great author, the critic's darling, but all his characters sound/speak the same way (from book to book!), the dialogue sounds so stilted, his depiction of women engenders notions of an earlier era, and (for something supposedly SF) the central premise is so ridiculous as to beggar belief: I can guarantee that at no point in the future will people clone authors, keep them in a "library" while housing and feeding them, on the off-chance that once every few years or so someone "borrows" them.
(Hey, I'm okay with ridiculous premises, as long as the writer knows they're ridiculous and we end up with a fun, silly story that owns its silliness. This doesn't do that).
I get that supposedly the somewhat stilted style is because he's a 1930s crime writer, but it didn't seem all that different from, say, his An Evil Guest or The Sorceror's House which don't have that built-in excuse--and there's no reason it should apply to the other charcters. If anything, the conceit would work much better if everyone else sounded like they came from the future, you know, for contrast. Urgh.
I'd rather read A Fire Upon the Deep or City of Miracles, by a long shot. And it doesn't matter if "it all comes together" at the end, that's the equivalent of eating a tasteless 7 course meal because the desserts are so good. I'd rather have a slightly-less amazing dessert at the end of a good meal at a different restaurant.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
I know he's supposed to be this great author, the critic's darling, but all his characters sound/speak the same way (from book to book!), the dialogue sounds so stilted, his depiction of women engenders notions of an earlier era, and (for something supposedly SF) the central premise is so ridiculous as to beggar belief: I can guarantee that at no point in the future will people clone authors, keep them in a "library" while housing and feeding them, on the off-chance that once every few years or so someone "borrows" them.
(Hey, I'm okay with ridiculous premises, as long as the writer knows they're ridiculous and we end up with a fun, silly story that owns its silliness. This doesn't do that).
I get that supposedly the somewhat stilted style is because he's a 1930s crime writer, but it didn't seem all that different from, say, his An Evil Guest or The Sorceror's House which don't have that built-in excuse--and there's no reason it should apply to the other charcters. If anything, the conceit would work much better if everyone else sounded like they came from the future, you know, for contrast. Urgh.
I'd rather read A Fire Upon the Deep or City of Miracles, by a long shot. And it doesn't matter if "it all comes together" at the end, that's the equivalent of eating a tasteless 7 course meal because the desserts are so good. I'd rather have a slightly-less amazing dessert at the end of a good meal at a different restaurant.
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
atreidesiiv's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
davidscrimshaw's review against another edition
5.0
The narrator and protagonist of this book is a "re-clone". He is the clone with memory prints of a mystery writer. Now he is a "thing" with no legal rights who resides in a library and his continued existence depends on people consulting him or checking him out from time to time.
With this sort of world-building, I would have expected some sort of sweeping tale where the hero starts a revolution so that people like him get legal rights.
But no. He just does the best he can with the situations that come his way in the constraints he has.
His limited worldview reminded me in a good way of Martha Wells Murderbot.
With this sort of world-building, I would have expected some sort of sweeping tale where the hero starts a revolution so that people like him get legal rights.
But no. He just does the best he can with the situations that come his way in the constraints he has.
His limited worldview reminded me in a good way of Martha Wells Murderbot.
misanthrope's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Good characters. Medium murder mystery. A surprising effort from this author.
wunderbread384's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5