Reviews - The Spare Man | The StoryGraph

1.08k reviews for:

The Spare Man

Mary Robinette Kowal

3.76 AVERAGE

amber_does_audio's review

5.0

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was such a fun and amazing read. The characters were rich and fun and full- and I loved the exploration of disability aids in a sci fi setting! It felt so real and genuine, and played into the stories of the characters. I truly didn't see the end coming, but it fit it perfectly with all the clues and misdirection. Immediately going on my to-buy list.

ahkrin's review against another edition

Je l'ai laissé tomber à 35% environ, l'idée de base était sympa, et plusieurs idées de worldbuilding étaient vraiment cool, mais l'héroïne a fini par me saouler assez vite, elle est rigolote deux minutes, mais "je profite de ma thune et de mon avocate qui parle comme un charretier pour essayer de régler mes problèmes", eh gros sayeh.

Puis pareil, c'était vraiment cool d'avoir une héroïne avec un handicap mais au final elle a une aide technologique pour faire comme si de rien n'était donc bon. J'ai trop de livres à lire et pas assez de temps pour insister.

aliteralhobbit's review against another edition

I only made it a quarter of the way through this book for several reasons. First, the main character isn't compelling or even likeable. Second, the main character is filthy rich and it appears that the author is pro-billionaire/billionaire apologist based on how this is written.

I didn't finish the book, but based on some other reviews I found after I got this far, neither of those things change throughout the book. I don't understand the appeal of a heroine who's main tactic in solving a crime she has no reason to solve, is actually just calling her lawyer and flaunting her own wealth, power, and privilege to get her way. Oh, and I found it disturbing that the ONE character (the head of security) so far who wasn't impressed or daunted by the main character was presented as immoral and archaic. Do people really have to be morally reprehensible to not be cowed by a rich bully? I would never have expected to read a sci-fi novel with no commentary on the wealth, privilege, technology, and literal surveillance state within it.

Content Warnings

thebard223's review against another edition

Didn’t connect with it. I will restart this at some point, and hopefully, I will enjoy it more then.

lamesjayman's review

2.0

Wealthy heiress/celebrity/genius engineer Tesla Crane is on a cruise ship to Mars for her honeymoon with her spouse and her service dog when a fellow passenger is murdered and her husband becomes the prime suspect. Armed with an endless supply of fancy cocktails, a high powered attorney, and her engineering prowess, Tesla and her husband work to solve the mystery and identify the real killer in time to enjoy what's left of their cruise. I thought this sounded like a fun premise -- it is very obviously going for "The Thin Man in space" -- but it fell flat for me. Too many mixed messages about whether this was supposed to be fun -- sure, you might be arrested for murder, but let's have another cocktail and get frisky in the brig, and then threaten everyone with my expensive lawyer to escape any consequences -- or supposed to be serious -- don't forget the tragic accident in my past, and my PTSD, and my chronic pain, and the risk that the person I love will be convicted of murder. And, while I appreciated the author's good intentions in layering in bits of exposition about how to be sensitive and respectful around various issues (PTSD, service animals, wearing masks, chronic pain, etc.) it did start to feel like the author's desire to educate people about these issues was interfering with her desire to tell a story. In the acknowledgments section, the author thanks several different categories of sensitivity readers who had assisted with these issues, and then goes on to note that although the book had featured many different cocktail recipes, she took care to include some fun recipes that did not feature alcohol as an ingredient, explaining that calling such drinks "virgin" drinks has negative connotations and she prefers not to use that term. It just felt *so* self-conscious about demonstrating the author's desire to be sensitive to, well, everything. The fun stuff wasn't fun enough, the serious stuff was a little exhausting, and most importantly, the murder and its solution just wasn't that interesting and was a bit too deus ex machina. I wanted to like this but I just didn't connect with it.

jeo224's review against another edition

4.5

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

A fun new book from the writer of the Lady Astronaut series - and hopefully a new series? I liked the exploration of different ability, chronic pain and the impact of this, and managing PTSD. This was also a great look at service dogs and the amazing things they can do for humans, as well as how to relate to service dogs. The author chose to be very sensitive to gender issues and to envision a future where that sensitivity is common sense courtesy and automatically extended to all (in most cases). I appreciate this perspective! I was interested in this book because I like the author and because I immediately caught the reference to the Thin Man series - so I knew the dog would be important and fun!