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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-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:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I so wanted to love the book. Purely bought because of author and the cover, which is stunning. I grew up watching'The thin man' movies, so of course I was interested.
But I couldn't get past my dislike for the main character and shoddy descriptions of.. well, everything. A murder on a luxury cruise space ship? Sounds amazing, yet the execution.. not so much. The story felt so incredibly constructed. When immersed in a book I don't want to feel like I know why the author added a particular part. Tesla Crane's wealth makes her so incredibly arrogant. In one line she actually thinks to herself how her incredible wealth and privilege is what will save her spouse from being wrongly convicted. It just feels off and icky.
I ultimately DNFed the book, as I can't be bothered spending more time on it, only to find out who 'dunnit', when I'm not interested in any of the characters. If i feel nostalgic for a rich couple solving mysteries with a a small dog, I watch any of the six 'Thin Man' movies.
But I couldn't get past my dislike for the main character and shoddy descriptions of.. well, everything. A murder on a luxury cruise space ship? Sounds amazing, yet the execution.. not so much. The story felt so incredibly constructed. When immersed in a book I don't want to feel like I know why the author added a particular part. Tesla Crane's wealth makes her so incredibly arrogant. In one line she actually thinks to herself how her incredible wealth and privilege is what will save her spouse from being wrongly convicted. It just feels off and icky.
I ultimately DNFed the book, as I can't be bothered spending more time on it, only to find out who 'dunnit', when I'm not interested in any of the characters. If i feel nostalgic for a rich couple solving mysteries with a a small dog, I watch any of the six 'Thin Man' movies.
The Spare Man is brilliant in many was. The delayed dialogue is creative and cool and interesting. The cocktail epigraphs are clever and used to great effective, I must say that I know nothing about cocktails but my casual interest found some meaning in them nonetheless. The whodunit aspect had me going from "Oh! It is totally this person." to "Nope it is this other person!" to "Nope again, it was definitely the first person." to... really I didn't get it entirely right. Which was fun. The ship is cool, the luxury and social dynamics in this future, the technology, it all fits together really well. This is a meticulously thought out world with imaginative elements throughout.
I got lured in by the tagline "The Thin Man in space" plus by the gorgeous cover, but this didn't really work for me. There is a way to write this kind of uber-rich and hyper privileged protagonist so that they are fun and sympathetic (thinking of Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher books) but Tesla just sounds like a spoiled kid alternatively asking to see the manager and threatening everyone with her lawyer. I couldn't feel much chemistry between her and her husband, and while I'm reasonably fond of dogs even I was a bit fed up with the constant baby talk aimed at Gimlet. The mystery itself wasn't particularly interesting, and so the only thing I enjoyed was the futuristic cruise backdrop.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The persistent drawing attention to pronouns whenever someone was introduced or introduced themselves just became annoying. Especially when characters had to introduce themselves multiple times like the the security agents. I already know what the characters prefer to be called, I don't need a reminder. Let the characters be what they are organically.