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marhill31's review against another edition
4.0
How well do you know someone?
If you find out some damaging information about someone you admired and respected would that change your view of that person?
Is justice a zero-sum game?
These questions get answered in a surprising fashion from Paloma: Book 5 of the Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I have decided to read and review the entire series here on the website and I must write it has been an absolute pleasure following the adventures of Miles Flint, the Retrieval Artist and various characters that make up this series.
This novel opens up with a murder. Flint discovers the dead person is his mentor, Paloma. Paloma taught him everything he needed to know in order to become a Retrieval Artist. Obviously, he takes her brutal death hard.
Moreover, Flint receives an inheritance from Paloma of some valuable items that include a ship and information about her past. He reluctantly decides to dig into the information he received from the inheritance and learns that Paloma might not have been the woman he believed her to be.
Paloma’s family, led by her son, Justinian, wants the information Flint inherited and will do anything to get it. The Retrieval Artist gets caught in the cross-hairs of Justinian’s determination to get his mother’s inheritance and the police’s investigation into her death. Flint finds out how blind justice can actually be now that he is on the other side of the law.
Paloma is my favorite book of the Retrieval Artist Series so far. Rusch does another excellent job (as she has done on the previous books in the series) of combining a detective story within a science-fiction setting. The world building of this series has captivated me and fans of both the mystery and science fiction genres should add these books on their to-be-read list.
If you find out some damaging information about someone you admired and respected would that change your view of that person?
Is justice a zero-sum game?
These questions get answered in a surprising fashion from Paloma: Book 5 of the Retrieval Artist Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I have decided to read and review the entire series here on the website and I must write it has been an absolute pleasure following the adventures of Miles Flint, the Retrieval Artist and various characters that make up this series.
This novel opens up with a murder. Flint discovers the dead person is his mentor, Paloma. Paloma taught him everything he needed to know in order to become a Retrieval Artist. Obviously, he takes her brutal death hard.
Moreover, Flint receives an inheritance from Paloma of some valuable items that include a ship and information about her past. He reluctantly decides to dig into the information he received from the inheritance and learns that Paloma might not have been the woman he believed her to be.
Paloma’s family, led by her son, Justinian, wants the information Flint inherited and will do anything to get it. The Retrieval Artist gets caught in the cross-hairs of Justinian’s determination to get his mother’s inheritance and the police’s investigation into her death. Flint finds out how blind justice can actually be now that he is on the other side of the law.
Paloma is my favorite book of the Retrieval Artist Series so far. Rusch does another excellent job (as she has done on the previous books in the series) of combining a detective story within a science-fiction setting. The world building of this series has captivated me and fans of both the mystery and science fiction genres should add these books on their to-be-read list.
vailynst's review against another edition
4.0
Notes:
- 3.5 Stars Round up to 4 Stars
- Second book in the series that had Flint as a main part of the plot vs 1/3 of events.
- It seems like he's finally figuring out where he stands & how he wants to proceed with his life.
- Sucked that Paloma went kaput but it was a good plot line to follow. Not really a mystery but it was an entertaining story.
- 3.5 Stars Round up to 4 Stars
- Second book in the series that had Flint as a main part of the plot vs 1/3 of events.
- It seems like he's finally figuring out where he stands & how he wants to proceed with his life.
- Sucked that Paloma went kaput but it was a good plot line to follow. Not really a mystery but it was an entertaining story.
melbsreads's review against another edition
3.0
Plot: Miles Flint is a Retrieval Artist, living on the Moon and helping to find the Disappeared who've been forced into hiding by the Earth Alliance regime. When his friend and mentor, Paloma, is brutally murdered, Flint takes it upon himself to investigate.
Thoughts: Once again, I've managed to jump into the middle of a series. And once again, this has left me a little confused about certain things (especially The Disappeared, considering Flint doesn't spend any time working as a Retrieval Artist in this book). That said, I liked the characters and it was a well paced mystery, so I definitely liked it, despite the occasional moment of confusion. I'll be trying to track down some of the other books in the series, as I'm curious about The Disappeared and the work of Retrieval Artists!
Thoughts: Once again, I've managed to jump into the middle of a series. And once again, this has left me a little confused about certain things (especially The Disappeared, considering Flint doesn't spend any time working as a Retrieval Artist in this book). That said, I liked the characters and it was a well paced mystery, so I definitely liked it, despite the occasional moment of confusion. I'll be trying to track down some of the other books in the series, as I'm curious about The Disappeared and the work of Retrieval Artists!
tome15's review against another edition
4.0
Rusch, Kristine Kathryn. Paloma. Retrieval Artist No. 5. Roc, 2006.
The woman calling herself Paloma is for Miles Flint the ideal retrieval artist. She seems to him to navigate the complex morality of human-alien interaction better than anyone. When she is murdered, Miles must investigate what turns out to be a legal and ethical morass that could get him killed by a very efficient bioengineered assassin. More noir stuff on the Moon that offers a very wry twist on Dashiell Hammett. I like it.
The woman calling herself Paloma is for Miles Flint the ideal retrieval artist. She seems to him to navigate the complex morality of human-alien interaction better than anyone. When she is murdered, Miles must investigate what turns out to be a legal and ethical morass that could get him killed by a very efficient bioengineered assassin. More noir stuff on the Moon that offers a very wry twist on Dashiell Hammett. I like it.
coolcurrybooks's review against another edition
4.0
Paloma is the fifth installment in the Retrieval Artists, a science fiction mystery series following former detective Miles Flint. The series starts with The Disappeared, but since each book is a stand alone mystery, you could theoretically read them independently.
Miles Flint used to be a detective working for the police force of Armstrong, a domed city on the moon. Then he bought a business from a woman named Paloma and became a retrieval artist, someone who goes looking for people who’ve gone into hiding due to alien laws at the behalf of relatives or others who don’t want them to be officially found. Since becoming a retrieval artist, Paloma has acted as a mentor and an adviser for Miles. At the start of the book, he receives an emergency message and arrives at her apartment to find a crime scene. Paloma has been murdered. Miles always looked up Paloma, but with her death he’s finding out that she’s not the woman he thought he was. Paloma had a dark side.
One of my favorite things about this series is when it includes aliens and alien cultures. For trade reasons, humans have entered an alliance with other human species that means when humans break a law in alien controlled space, they are liable to prosecution and punishment under alien laws. And given the vast differences between humans and alien species, what aliens consider a crime is not always fathomable to humans. To escape alien justice, people hire a Disappearance Agency who gives them a completely new identity somewhere else. Aliens and alien cultures don’t play a large role in this installment of the series, but the details of the situation are a part of the mystery. While I miss the inclusion of aliens, the exploration of Paloma’s past made up for the lack.
Since the very first book, the series has also included sections from the POV of Noelle DeRicci, who was Miles’s partner when he was on the police force. No longer a detective, DeRicci’s role in the series feels uncertain. She had less page time than ever before, even if she did still have a presence. The two other POV characters are a current detective and a reporter. I think I remember them from prior books, and it’ll be interesting to see if they remain in future ones. I do wonder if all of these sections were necessary. While I like Noelle DeRicci, did she really have a part to play in the plot? Same goes for the reporter. It’s possible that Rusch wanted to keep them fresh for future installments, but I don’t know what they were adding to this one.
With Paloma’s death, the only real friend Miles has left is Noelle, and that connection looks like it may be growing tenuous. Additionally, the revelations regarding Paloma may warn him off from trusting too many other people. I want to see where this goes, even if it takes me forever to track down the next installment in the series. My pacing for this series has been about a book a year, but I’ll see if I can speed it up.
I consider The Retrieval Artist to be a criminally under-known science fiction series, and if you have any interest in a mystery science fiction series, I encourage you to give it a try.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
Miles Flint used to be a detective working for the police force of Armstrong, a domed city on the moon. Then he bought a business from a woman named Paloma and became a retrieval artist, someone who goes looking for people who’ve gone into hiding due to alien laws at the behalf of relatives or others who don’t want them to be officially found. Since becoming a retrieval artist, Paloma has acted as a mentor and an adviser for Miles. At the start of the book, he receives an emergency message and arrives at her apartment to find a crime scene. Paloma has been murdered. Miles always looked up Paloma, but with her death he’s finding out that she’s not the woman he thought he was. Paloma had a dark side.
One of my favorite things about this series is when it includes aliens and alien cultures. For trade reasons, humans have entered an alliance with other human species that means when humans break a law in alien controlled space, they are liable to prosecution and punishment under alien laws. And given the vast differences between humans and alien species, what aliens consider a crime is not always fathomable to humans. To escape alien justice, people hire a Disappearance Agency who gives them a completely new identity somewhere else. Aliens and alien cultures don’t play a large role in this installment of the series, but the details of the situation are a part of the mystery. While I miss the inclusion of aliens, the exploration of Paloma’s past made up for the lack.
Since the very first book, the series has also included sections from the POV of Noelle DeRicci, who was Miles’s partner when he was on the police force. No longer a detective, DeRicci’s role in the series feels uncertain. She had less page time than ever before, even if she did still have a presence. The two other POV characters are a current detective and a reporter. I think I remember them from prior books, and it’ll be interesting to see if they remain in future ones. I do wonder if all of these sections were necessary. While I like Noelle DeRicci, did she really have a part to play in the plot? Same goes for the reporter. It’s possible that Rusch wanted to keep them fresh for future installments, but I don’t know what they were adding to this one.
With Paloma’s death, the only real friend Miles has left is Noelle, and that connection looks like it may be growing tenuous. Additionally, the revelations regarding Paloma may warn him off from trusting too many other people. I want to see where this goes, even if it takes me forever to track down the next installment in the series. My pacing for this series has been about a book a year, but I’ll see if I can speed it up.
I consider The Retrieval Artist to be a criminally under-known science fiction series, and if you have any interest in a mystery science fiction series, I encourage you to give it a try.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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