Reviews

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

kcopp's review

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lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.0

dstevens's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

aliena_jackson's review

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2.0

I’m unimpressed.

So the whole point of this book is to write a sci-fi murder mystery set on a cruise ship in space. That’s cool as hell! I was so psyched to start reading this, and the cover only added to my anticipation.

First of all, Tesla and Shal are alcoholics. Let’s get that out of the way. They brought a traveling bar with them, and they use it frequently. They are consuming copious amounts of alcohol throughout the entire book, probably upwards of six drinks a day. Each chapter begins with a cocktail recipe. They’re alcoholics, and I will brook no arguments about this.

Second of all, despite Tesla’s claims to the contrary, she absolutely uses her wealth and privilege to degrade and bully others. The number of times I winced while she was harassing innocent employees during one of her (not so) valiant attempts to solve the murders, has to have numbered in the thousands. Speaking of annoying things Tesla did, let’s talk about her service dog, Gimlet. Tesla also uses Gimlet as a tool to be used in her own manipulation. Gimlet is supposed to be a service dog, yet it feels like there are more scenes of Tesla sending Gimlet to be petted by someone they’re trying to get information out of than there are of Gimlet actually working. And Gimlet’s role in the unveiling of the murderer was nothing short of preposterous. (Spoilers) The murder was solved because someone didn’t like dogs. Okay, fine, some people don’t like dogs. That’s okay. I understand that. I myself am very picky about the dogs I do and don’t like. There was nothing to indicate that what’s-his-face liked or disliked dogs at all. That Time magazine cover was thrown in there as a Hail Mary. This gave the same energy as the Shadow and Bone series, when Alina decided Tamar was a lesbian because she didn’t find Mal attractive. Like sure, the base of the idea is there, but then you took it and ran with it in a direction that made no sense.

And the prose! The prose was awful! The word “buttocks” was used way too much to be novel, and I found myself annoyed by Tesla’s diction. Every time she described her pain, it was always something like, “red starbursts” or “green fireworks.” That’s fine to use once or twice, but when it’s on every single page, it gets old quickly. It got to the point where if I read a color followed by a synonym of explosive, I knew I was good to skip the next paragraph or so. I would have appreciated better descriptions of Tesla’s pain.

The ending was disappointing. It came out of nowhere, and it was not fleshed out well. I think the author created too many characters to try and throw off the reader, and then struggled to find an ending for them all. (Like, wtf was that Ewan kidnapping side plot? Crazy sauce. Or Annie and Jalna? What was the point of them being in the story, other than being wholly unoriginal red herrings. Also, Annie’s comment about Tesla being seen as a sham in the robotics field both cracked me up and made me angry. Sometimes things go wrong, Annie. At the same time though, Tesla has an overinflated ego.)

Really, the only things this book has going for it are the setting and the inclusivity. (Especially regarding gender!) But that’s not enough to redeem it of its errors. We’re approaching a point where we’re allowed to pick and choose the diverse books we like- it’s no longer a matter of seizing upon the first possible novel we see ourselves reflected in and grasping on to it for dear life. We’re allowed to dislike media, even when we see ourselves in it. We’re allowed to let inclusive materials be bad. And this is a prime example of that philosophy. We can acknowledge what The Spare Man attempted to do. We can appreciate it. But that doesn’t mean it did it well, and that doesn’t create an obligation for us to enjoy it.

wizardreads's review

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4.0

Fun! Protag couple has a healthy dash of Gomez and Morticia Addams energy with how much they adore each other which, though sometimes over the top, was cute. While most of the major threads are neatly tied up, there are what feels to be a few flyaways. Quite a few red herrings that get a heavy chunk of focus up front and then get dropped and never come up again, though the twist for one was delightfully shocking.

For a service dog Gimlet spends a lot of time being pet, but the exploration of the future of gendered language and the depiction of PTSD and chronic pain were refreshing at least for me after a string of novels which lacked that extra bit of depth and consideration.

shelby7's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

emilyinthewoods's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious relaxing
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jessvm's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

jmronbeck's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

foolio's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

diana_reads_and_reads's review

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4.5

When I heard this described as if Becky Chambers wrote a mystery, I immediately put it on hold. It did not disappoint. The cocktail recipes at the beginning of each chapter sometimes featured in the book and sometimes their names were commentary on the goings on. I found the portrayal of chronic pain nuanced and so human. I wish there was a little more world building and that we got more details on exactly what happened in Tesla Crane’s accident, but maybe we’ll hear about that in future books. 🤞🏻 I thought it was interesting that in this timeline, everyone goes by Mx., which really would simplify things but sometimes made it hard for me to visualize the characters. On the other hand, I was really tuned in to the other descriptors given to each character, which I’m normally not, so maybe that’s a good thing. This reminded me a bit of the JD Robb mysteries, which are set sometime in the future, but I haven’t read one of those in a long time so I could be drawing a bad comparison there based on the scraps of memory I have. This is also fade to black, and JD Robb is decidedly not.