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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this because of my love for the Lady Astronaut series. Murder mystery isn't really my genre, but I thought I'd give it a go. I liked the book, and still love the author, but have solidified my stance on murder mystery not being my genre.
My first book by the author and having read nothing about it beforehand, I didn't really know what to expect when picking up this title. Fortunately, I enjoyed it quite a bit and read it in two days.
I would describe this book as crime fiction in a science fiction setting. A number of murders occur on a space cruise ship en route to Mars, and our main character becomes involved when her new spouse is accused of being the murderer on what is supposed to be their honeymoon.
For a while I wondered whether this title was a sequel as there seemed to be so much backstory to the main character, her spouse and their story, but gradually I came to realise that this book is a standalone (so far?) as the backstory was gradually revealed. Instead, it is a sort of "what happens after the 'I dos'", and I could easily imagine someone writing a romance novel based on the love affair between the spouses prior to this story.
The book is very current in some of its themes. The version of the future presented here is obviously post-covid, and gender sensitivity is a matter of common courtesy. As is sensitivity to the differently abled as the main character is partially disabled due to past injuries and has a service dog, which is front and centre in the narrative.
While enjoyable, this is not a very 'deep' book and if you prefer your science fiction speculative and philosophical in nature, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are looking for an entertaining and engaging mystery/crime novel, this could very well be for you.
I would describe this book as crime fiction in a science fiction setting. A number of murders occur on a space cruise ship en route to Mars, and our main character becomes involved when her new spouse is accused of being the murderer on what is supposed to be their honeymoon.
For a while I wondered whether this title was a sequel as there seemed to be so much backstory to the main character, her spouse and their story, but gradually I came to realise that this book is a standalone (so far?) as the backstory was gradually revealed. Instead, it is a sort of "what happens after the 'I dos'", and I could easily imagine someone writing a romance novel based on the love affair between the spouses prior to this story.
The book is very current in some of its themes. The version of the future presented here is obviously post-covid, and gender sensitivity is a matter of common courtesy. As is sensitivity to the differently abled as the main character is partially disabled due to past injuries and has a service dog, which is front and centre in the narrative.
While enjoyable, this is not a very 'deep' book and if you prefer your science fiction speculative and philosophical in nature, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are looking for an entertaining and engaging mystery/crime novel, this could very well be for you.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s a kind of satire in a billionaire tech mogul heroine who assiduously states her pronouns. Yes, she’s exploiting the masses and hoarding obscene levels of wealth, but look how respectful she’s being about it! The levels of basic human courtesy she’s showing! By golly, I bet she would have voted for Obama for a third time, too! And have you seen her plucky little dog? Unfortunately, this isn't a satire, and this billionaire heroine is the character the book wants us to root for.
And look, I get it, the story is a sci-fi version of The Thin Man, it’s a murder mystery set on a luxury space cruise ship; the protagonists by necessity have to be people with disposable wealth. But if you want me to get behind a billionaire – not just rich, not a just a millionaire, a billionaire – well, I’m gonna be going into the novel with a negative base level of sympathy for her. You’re going to have to work to get me on her side.
Within a handful of chapters, our heroine is making imperious demands and threats, don’t-you-know-who-I-amming and I-want-to-speak-to-the-managering all over the place. She whines and sulks at length about being moved to a less opulent suite because her original one is a crime scene. She and her husband continually mock and belittle the security chief trying to investigate the murder that’s just happened, and then they both proceed to interfere with the investigation because they’ve decided that they are better equipped to solve it. The entitlement from both of them is fucking unbearable.
'You're all here because you're suspects in the gruesome murder that occurred minutes ago,' says the security chief (I'm paraphrasing a little). 'lol,' smarms the husband, 'what an embarrassing cliché. I bet I can guess your favourite detective movie. Or is it a TV show? I know it's not a novel because you're super dumb.' A person's just died, but that's never as important as these two pricks letting everyone know how clever they are.
This woman understands full well that the rules don’t apply to her. She plays at following along as a courtesy to others, the same way she tries to be nice to waitstaff and to be mindful of her privilege— but the moment it all gets too inconvenient for her, it’s masks off: she’s going to do whatever she wants, go wherever she wants, get whatever she wants, and if you don’t like it you’ll be hearing from her lawyer.
But because she gives paltry lip service to allyship and the security chief doesn’t, we’re supposed to be assured that she’s one of the good ones.
If Kowal only taken a slightly different angle here – if she’d leaned into the satire, or leaned into the idea of an unlikeable heroine, or if she just hadn't leaned so hard into the rich entitled billionaire scum of it all – I think I could have bought into this book. But I could just never get behind these characters, or let go of the infuriating feeling that they were just preventing the perfectly competent security officer Maria Piper from doing her damn job.
Some things I did like: Some fun near-future sci-fi concepts with the design of the ship and world building. A society with far more open and inclusive conceptions of gender. I largely liked the portrayal of Tesla's PTSD and chronic pain (though the constant unsafe use of a pain inhibiting device without any consequences and the way the service dog just gets treated as a pet became frustrating) and appreciate Kowal's use of sensitivity readers. The idea of a locked-room murder mystery on a space cruise ship is really cool and I wish I could have enjoyed this.
And look, I get it, the story is a sci-fi version of The Thin Man, it’s a murder mystery set on a luxury space cruise ship; the protagonists by necessity have to be people with disposable wealth. But if you want me to get behind a billionaire – not just rich, not a just a millionaire, a billionaire – well, I’m gonna be going into the novel with a negative base level of sympathy for her. You’re going to have to work to get me on her side.
Within a handful of chapters, our heroine is making imperious demands and threats, don’t-you-know-who-I-amming and I-want-to-speak-to-the-managering all over the place. She whines and sulks at length about being moved to a less opulent suite because her original one is a crime scene. She and her husband continually mock and belittle the security chief trying to investigate the murder that’s just happened, and then they both proceed to interfere with the investigation because they’ve decided that they are better equipped to solve it. The entitlement from both of them is fucking unbearable.
'You're all here because you're suspects in the gruesome murder that occurred minutes ago,' says the security chief (I'm paraphrasing a little). 'lol,' smarms the husband, 'what an embarrassing cliché. I bet I can guess your favourite detective movie. Or is it a TV show? I know it's not a novel because you're super dumb.' A person's just died, but that's never as important as these two pricks letting everyone know how clever they are.
This woman understands full well that the rules don’t apply to her. She plays at following along as a courtesy to others, the same way she tries to be nice to waitstaff and to be mindful of her privilege— but the moment it all gets too inconvenient for her, it’s masks off: she’s going to do whatever she wants, go wherever she wants, get whatever she wants, and if you don’t like it you’ll be hearing from her lawyer.
But because she gives paltry lip service to allyship and the security chief doesn’t, we’re supposed to be assured that she’s one of the good ones.
If Kowal only taken a slightly different angle here – if she’d leaned into the satire, or leaned into the idea of an unlikeable heroine, or if she just hadn't leaned so hard into the rich entitled billionaire scum of it all – I think I could have bought into this book. But I could just never get behind these characters, or let go of the infuriating feeling that they were just preventing the perfectly competent security officer Maria Piper from doing her damn job.
Some things I did like: Some fun near-future sci-fi concepts with the design of the ship and world building. A society with far more open and inclusive conceptions of gender. I largely liked the portrayal of Tesla's PTSD and chronic pain (though the constant unsafe use of a pain inhibiting device without any consequences and the way the service dog just gets treated as a pet became frustrating) and appreciate Kowal's use of sensitivity readers. The idea of a locked-room murder mystery on a space cruise ship is really cool and I wish I could have enjoyed this.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Spare Man is a sci-fi mystery that blends an almost retro style science fiction setting with a murder mystery headed up by an unusual sort of detective. Tesla Crain, an inventor in her own right and also heiress to a significant family fortune, is on a luxury spaceship celebrating her recent wedding. However her enjoyment is rudely interrupted when another guest is murdered onboard and her new husband is accused of the crime. It's up to Tesla (and her service dog Gimlet) to prove her husband's innocence if she wants to enjoy married life after the honeymoon.
I have very conflicted feelings on this story. I really love following detectives as they track down a killer and have previously really enjoyed underdog characters like Agatha Christie's Poirot. And while Poirot is quite smart and frequently undervalued, he's not always terribly likeable. So I thought I'd really enjoy following Tesla but unfortunately, I found her to be a very frustrating character. I liked that Kowal really put in the effort to show how Tesla struggled with PTSD and chronic pain but I really struggled to root for someone whose first instinct is to bulldoze everyone in her path and threaten legal action against anyone standing in her way. It felt like Kowal attempted to have a conversation on privilege with having other characters point out to Tesla that she's bullying people who have minimal say in the matter but it never really felt like she learned from that, she just turned around and did it again.
Slight spoilers on my frustration with the ending:
That said, I really loved the setting of this one. The sort of retro sci-fi element was super fun and when Kowal dipped into scientific explanations on how the ship worked, it was one of the rare times that I didn't tune out of a sci-fi explanation. It was easy to understand the elements of the world and I honestly would happily spend more time in that world. I also really liked Tesla's husband, who was a lot more sympathetic and interesting to me because he had a background as a detective and had to deal with some elements related to Tesla's fame.
Overall, while I enjoyed some elements of the story, my frustration with the main character and the ending really brought the rating on this one down for me. If Kowal does make this a series, I'd be tempted to see if future installments worked better for me so we'll see. I think if you enjoy mystery blended with speculative elements and can deal with some of the things that frustrated me, this could be more fun for you.
I have very conflicted feelings on this story. I really love following detectives as they track down a killer and have previously really enjoyed underdog characters like Agatha Christie's Poirot. And while Poirot is quite smart and frequently undervalued, he's not always terribly likeable. So I thought I'd really enjoy following Tesla but unfortunately, I found her to be a very frustrating character. I liked that Kowal really put in the effort to show how Tesla struggled with PTSD and chronic pain but I really struggled to root for someone whose first instinct is to bulldoze everyone in her path and threaten legal action against anyone standing in her way. It felt like Kowal attempted to have a conversation on privilege with having other characters point out to Tesla that she's bullying people who have minimal say in the matter but it never really felt like she learned from that, she just turned around and did it again.
Slight spoilers on my frustration with the ending:
Spoiler
I also didn't love the resolution of the murder mystery at the end because it didn't feel like the kind of thing you could possibly have guessed. It had a bit of a Scooby Doo vibe that I found substantially more charming in the cartoon than in a murder mystery book. I really prefer mysteries where I might not guess it at the end, but I could have if I'd been following the clues closely enough. I really don't think that's possible here because you don't have enough information to do that.That said, I really loved the setting of this one. The sort of retro sci-fi element was super fun and when Kowal dipped into scientific explanations on how the ship worked, it was one of the rare times that I didn't tune out of a sci-fi explanation. It was easy to understand the elements of the world and I honestly would happily spend more time in that world. I also really liked Tesla's husband, who was a lot more sympathetic and interesting to me because he had a background as a detective and had to deal with some elements related to Tesla's fame.
Overall, while I enjoyed some elements of the story, my frustration with the main character and the ending really brought the rating on this one down for me. If Kowal does make this a series, I'd be tempted to see if future installments worked better for me so we'll see. I think if you enjoy mystery blended with speculative elements and can deal with some of the things that frustrated me, this could be more fun for you.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There was so much I really liked about this book - notably the look it provided of the future. It was a world with multiple planets and cruises to Mars but it did t seem like there was a great world disaster that made space travel a thing. Just the future.
And in this future, women are accepted as brilliant engineers and pronouns of all kinds are just a part of the world. Nothing weird, nothing hard, just a fact of life. And I really loved that look of the future.
And I loved that this was an inter-galactic murder mystery.
But overall I thought the plot was repetitive (I don’t know how many times the main character had to dial up or rain her pain meter), and I felt like it could have used a little more story building. I love it when back story can be inferred, but there needed to be a bit more here. (Why did everyone love the dog so very much? Do they just not have pet dogs anyone? I know one comment said they were common on earth, but it just didn’t quite make sense to me, as an example)
And in this future, women are accepted as brilliant engineers and pronouns of all kinds are just a part of the world. Nothing weird, nothing hard, just a fact of life. And I really loved that look of the future.
And I loved that this was an inter-galactic murder mystery.
But overall I thought the plot was repetitive (I don’t know how many times the main character had to dial up or rain her pain meter), and I felt like it could have used a little more story building. I love it when back story can be inferred, but there needed to be a bit more here. (Why did everyone love the dog so very much? Do they just not have pet dogs anyone? I know one comment said they were common on earth, but it just didn’t quite make sense to me, as an example)
I enjoy mysteries and especially enclosed space (ha) where there is a limited cast of characters and locations. I also love characterization and I feel like if this was a sequel with the main characters being more established, I would have enjoyed them more. Coming in blind, I'm unsure about how much I appreciate Tesla basically running around being a space Karen, to the extent that even her spouse has to ask her to dial it down a bit.
Despite the explicit conversation about why Shal (who is apparently a reasonably well known detective and good at his job) chose to retire, it continues to strike me as strange that he would not just be leading the investigation once he's been cleared. His reasons for retiring are that he's too famous to do his job effectively, which is negated here because not many people recognize him, so it seems odd that he lets his partner, who is basically a robotics person, run around doing investigation that he is much more suited for, both professionally and physically.
I appreciated the disability and chronic pain representation, but got increasingly frustrated that Tesla is constantly blocked and instead of sneaking around, in most cases all she can do is try to contact her lawyer, who yells about the lawsuits that are incoming, and so on.
A reasonably enjoyable space mystery romp, but I didn't connect to the characters so did not enjoy it as much as I'd expected.
Despite the explicit conversation about why Shal (who is apparently a reasonably well known detective and good at his job) chose to retire, it continues to strike me as strange that he would not just be leading the investigation once he's been cleared. His reasons for retiring are that he's too famous to do his job effectively, which is negated here because not many people recognize him, so it seems odd that he lets his partner, who is basically a robotics person, run around doing investigation that he is much more suited for, both professionally and physically.
I appreciated the disability and chronic pain representation, but got increasingly frustrated that Tesla is constantly blocked and instead of sneaking around, in most cases all she can do is try to contact her lawyer, who yells about the lawsuits that are incoming, and so on.
A reasonably enjoyable space mystery romp, but I didn't connect to the characters so did not enjoy it as much as I'd expected.