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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was reading this as an ebook, and was about ready for the story to wrap up. I checked my progress and found I was barely past the 50% mark. SIGH. I pushed through and finished it, but it was a close call.
So it's a murder mystery in space, featuring a celebrity billionaire roboticist heroine who has a severe but non-obvious disability. She and her new husband, a retired detective, are traveling incognito and without bodyguards on their honeymoon when the corpses start to appear. It's easy to get annoyed with her massive sense of entitlement. And the mystery is a convoluted one involving doubles and coincidences; even in hindsight, I don't think there were sufficient clues for a reader to put together.
The most interesting aspect of the story, for me, was that it is set in a time where the cultural norm is not to make any assumptions about gender. On introducing oneself, the conventional courtesy is to supply one's name and gender pronouns; until then, everyone is "Mx." and "they."
At one point, a detective (she/her) is attempting to ascertain the identity of a "Mx. Smith" who spoke briefly to the cruise ship concierge Auberi (they/them) without revealing their gender pronouns. The detective has run a few searches on the passenger list based on Auberi's initial description of Mx. Smith and has pulled together an initial photo lineup. Auberi is quite confident that none of the photos shown are Mx. Smith. When pressed to explain, Auberi reluctantly says "If I were ... if I were to guess gender based on stereotypes, then I would have said that this passenger was a man."
So it's a murder mystery in space, featuring a celebrity billionaire roboticist heroine who has a severe but non-obvious disability. She and her new husband, a retired detective, are traveling incognito and without bodyguards on their honeymoon when the corpses start to appear. It's easy to get annoyed with her massive sense of entitlement. And the mystery is a convoluted one involving doubles and coincidences; even in hindsight, I don't think there were sufficient clues for a reader to put together.
The most interesting aspect of the story, for me, was that it is set in a time where the cultural norm is not to make any assumptions about gender. On introducing oneself, the conventional courtesy is to supply one's name and gender pronouns; until then, everyone is "Mx." and "they."
At one point, a detective (she/her) is attempting to ascertain the identity of a "Mx. Smith" who spoke briefly to the cruise ship concierge Auberi (they/them) without revealing their gender pronouns. The detective has run a few searches on the passenger list based on Auberi's initial description of Mx. Smith and has pulled together an initial photo lineup. Auberi is quite confident that none of the photos shown are Mx. Smith. When pressed to explain, Auberi reluctantly says "If I were ... if I were to guess gender based on stereotypes, then I would have said that this passenger was a man."
3.5/5, rounded up. I want to say up front that I really loved the plot, the universe, and the characters, especially the dog. For the first 2/3s this book was running a strong 4.25 for me. My only complaints in that section was the one time the book got the coriolis effect wrong (got it right everywhere else, kudos!), the way the video jammers operate is impossible to reconcile, and the unavoidable pacing that comes with a murder mystery. A classic case of "if everyone chilled out for a second and communicated effectively, the story would be over sooner." Generally, that makes for an uninteresting book, so it's fine.
The biggest issue I had was that up until the last third or so, a character who suffered an injury actually suffered the consequences of the injury. And in the ending, we get some much more debilitating injuries, but they have basically no effect. Which really ruined how immersive and serious the story was.
If you're less nitpicky than me, then this is probably a 5 star sci-fi murder mystery. With excellent gender and disability stuff going on!
The biggest issue I had was that up until the last third or so, a character who suffered an injury actually suffered the consequences of the injury. And in the ending, we get some much more debilitating injuries, but they have basically no effect.
Spoiler
Her knee BUCKLED out from under her, because of how seriously she had damaged it while immune to pain. Less than 24 hours later, and without the help of the DBPS, she wins a knife fight against someone with experience? Ludicrous.If you're less nitpicky than me, then this is probably a 5 star sci-fi murder mystery. With excellent gender and disability stuff going on!
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-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
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
There were aspects of this I liked -- mostly Gimlet, a Westie who serves as the main character's service dog, as well as a grumpy security officer named Maria Piper -- but on the whole, Kowal is trying way too hard here. The whole thing came off as a little bit twee; the mystery was hard to follow; and while I really appreciate a main character with chronic pain and disability, her struggles took up WAY too much of the book and pulled focus from what's supposed to be a light-hearted murder mystery.
Loveable characters:
No
Insufferable. Bad smut, heavy handed and plot useless gender stuff.
Props for repping chronic pain and service dogs
Props for repping chronic pain and service dogs
adventurous
lighthearted
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
Don't think about the science. Don't do it. Also don't think about the layout of the ship if you can help it. None of the science works even a little bit, and it was really distracting to think about the characters moving between areas of a spaceship that are spinning at different rates using a staircase.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes