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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
I wish I could just give this thing 2 1/2 stars. It falls exactly between a solid like and a 2-star "meh." It has some interesting ideas, but the initial premise of the book is basically abandoned a third of the way in and a totally different book emerges. That's not to say the remaining book is no good.
I don't want to even write a lengthy review, so I'll just say that on the fourth use of the phrase "3 shits in a 1-shit bag," I realized it was never gonna quite turn that corner like I'd hoped.
I don't want to even write a lengthy review, so I'll just say that on the fourth use of the phrase "3 shits in a 1-shit bag," I realized it was never gonna quite turn that corner like I'd hoped.
Strange. The first half is basically Blade Runner, if Deckard spent half the time high out of his damn mind but then the second is Platoon I guess? We suddenly leave the 200-floor megacity for a fantasy war jungle and a bunch of stuff happens that 1) has absolutely nothing to do with the titular clones and 2) I could've happily gone without reading.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author (Only Forward being the first), and while both books were all over the place and didn’t entirely make sense at times, it’s easy to look past any flaws because they were just so damn fun to read.
The stars only go up to 5 and I want to give it more. I mean, I gave 5 to “Only Forward” but I like “Spares” even more. After I finished “Only Forward” I had to agree with some reviews saying that the book was not entirely polished. “Spares” definitely has the finished polished feel. Good read all around with an ending that is satisfying and not at all Hollywood!
This book is not about a rescue, even though Spares play an important role. This book is not about vengeance, although Jack has plenty of reason to want revenge. This book is about Jack growing up. By growing up I do not mean aging, I mean him coming to terms and not running away.
If you look at the events of Jack's life chronologically, not the way they are laid out in the book, then you realize that Jack started running away when he was very young. When Jack is thrown into The Gap and begins taking Rapt, it is the first time he avoids dealing with the reality. Sure, everything in The Gap is super scary and drives you nuts, but even though he held out he had succumbed in the end. Taking Rapt to avoid facing The Gap would be equivalent to taking drugs or drinking alcohol, anything for that small chunk of time when you can be “gone” and when you don't have to deal with things that are hard to deal with.
Once Jack has returned to reality he is graced with a family, yet Jack is still running away. Why? To Jack, his family is not perfect. Sure he loves them, but the love he feels for them is not what he envisioned. He wants the passion that his previous relationship had. He does not want to settle for the lukewarm feelings that he has for his family and so he runs. He runs by once again taking Rapt, and by drinking, and by hooking up with different women in hopes of finding that spark again. Or at the very least not allowing himself to settle, after all if he hasn't settled there is still hope he will find something better. After his family's death, his guilt over not settling is doubled by his guilt of not being able to save them. No matter how he is to look at the situation, their death is his fault and he cannot undo it no matter what he does.
Jack's downward spiral brings him to the farm. Essentially that is where he should have died, or more likely gone insane and blown his brains out. However, just like in The Gap, even under the effects of Rapt, he is able to recognize something so wrong no amount of running away will allow him to ignore it. Just like when he shot the Lieutenant in the head, he knew there was no explanation to make up for what was happening, it was wrong and it needed to be corrected whether or not his brains were under the effect of Rapt.
The second time Jack stops himself from running is when he decides to stay and solve Mal's murder, and finish Mal's work. According to all of his past actions Jack should have ran. It was easier than trying to hold on to something, and to solve something, and to get involved in that something. Jack stayed to face the issues, not just bury them.
When Jack crosses paths with Vinaldi his first reaction is to avenge his family. Reasonable and understandable, but he doesn't get a chance to. If you ask me, even if he did get a chance to he would not take it. Jack is not a cold blooded killer, and while he blames Vinaldi he blames himself that much more for his family's death. So he wouldn't shoot the man, like he shot the Lieutenant, otherwise he would have shot his own head off a long time ago.
Vinaldi starts out as a basic bad guy, but he is not all bad. That is why Jack does not shoot him in the beginning nor in the end. Vinaldi is a man with his own demons and while not essentially good, he is not a monster. Yes Vinaldi killed Jack's family but how much blame does he really hold? Do you blame a gun that fired the lethal bullet? Do you blame the gun that feels remorse for firing that bullet? Are Jack's actions not just as much to blame for the death of his family as Vinaldi's?
When Jack does not kill Vinaldi even though he had the chance, I think it is another step in Jack growing up. He had learned not to run from reality, but instead to confront it, and in that instance he had also learned to let things go. Jack's family died in a gruesome way, but taking his own life or the life of Vinaldi would not bring them back. Vengence and self destruction are all ways to run away from the grief he is feeling, and in the instance that he does not take Vinaldi's life he learns to stop running.
When we reach the final scene, you could say Jack had completely failed everything he set out to do. Vinaldi is alive, so his family is not avenged. The Spares had not been saved, in fact the “medical facilities” continue to operate around the world. Even the New Richmond elite were not shaken or otherwise changed by the death of Maxen. The Gap children are still dead, even if the invading soldiers were no longer among them. So what changed since the beginning of the book? What is better off once all the events took place? The person that is in the best position is our protagonist Jack.
This is why I say that Jack's emotional evolution is the central part of the book. Solving crimes and saving children are nothing more than tools to help push Jack to his catharsis. This is also why I love the book. Who cares about explosions and murders when the protagonist's own emotional roller-coaster is that much more exciting.
Spoiler
This book is not about a rescue, even though Spares play an important role. This book is not about vengeance, although Jack has plenty of reason to want revenge. This book is about Jack growing up. By growing up I do not mean aging, I mean him coming to terms and not running away.
If you look at the events of Jack's life chronologically, not the way they are laid out in the book, then you realize that Jack started running away when he was very young. When Jack is thrown into The Gap and begins taking Rapt, it is the first time he avoids dealing with the reality. Sure, everything in The Gap is super scary and drives you nuts, but even though he held out he had succumbed in the end. Taking Rapt to avoid facing The Gap would be equivalent to taking drugs or drinking alcohol, anything for that small chunk of time when you can be “gone” and when you don't have to deal with things that are hard to deal with.
Once Jack has returned to reality he is graced with a family, yet Jack is still running away. Why? To Jack, his family is not perfect. Sure he loves them, but the love he feels for them is not what he envisioned. He wants the passion that his previous relationship had. He does not want to settle for the lukewarm feelings that he has for his family and so he runs. He runs by once again taking Rapt, and by drinking, and by hooking up with different women in hopes of finding that spark again. Or at the very least not allowing himself to settle, after all if he hasn't settled there is still hope he will find something better. After his family's death, his guilt over not settling is doubled by his guilt of not being able to save them. No matter how he is to look at the situation, their death is his fault and he cannot undo it no matter what he does.
Jack's downward spiral brings him to the farm. Essentially that is where he should have died, or more likely gone insane and blown his brains out. However, just like in The Gap, even under the effects of Rapt, he is able to recognize something so wrong no amount of running away will allow him to ignore it. Just like when he shot the Lieutenant in the head, he knew there was no explanation to make up for what was happening, it was wrong and it needed to be corrected whether or not his brains were under the effect of Rapt.
The second time Jack stops himself from running is when he decides to stay and solve Mal's murder, and finish Mal's work. According to all of his past actions Jack should have ran. It was easier than trying to hold on to something, and to solve something, and to get involved in that something. Jack stayed to face the issues, not just bury them.
When Jack crosses paths with Vinaldi his first reaction is to avenge his family. Reasonable and understandable, but he doesn't get a chance to. If you ask me, even if he did get a chance to he would not take it. Jack is not a cold blooded killer, and while he blames Vinaldi he blames himself that much more for his family's death. So he wouldn't shoot the man, like he shot the Lieutenant, otherwise he would have shot his own head off a long time ago.
Vinaldi starts out as a basic bad guy, but he is not all bad. That is why Jack does not shoot him in the beginning nor in the end. Vinaldi is a man with his own demons and while not essentially good, he is not a monster. Yes Vinaldi killed Jack's family but how much blame does he really hold? Do you blame a gun that fired the lethal bullet? Do you blame the gun that feels remorse for firing that bullet? Are Jack's actions not just as much to blame for the death of his family as Vinaldi's?
When Jack does not kill Vinaldi even though he had the chance, I think it is another step in Jack growing up. He had learned not to run from reality, but instead to confront it, and in that instance he had also learned to let things go. Jack's family died in a gruesome way, but taking his own life or the life of Vinaldi would not bring them back. Vengence and self destruction are all ways to run away from the grief he is feeling, and in the instance that he does not take Vinaldi's life he learns to stop running.
When we reach the final scene, you could say Jack had completely failed everything he set out to do. Vinaldi is alive, so his family is not avenged. The Spares had not been saved, in fact the “medical facilities” continue to operate around the world. Even the New Richmond elite were not shaken or otherwise changed by the death of Maxen. The Gap children are still dead, even if the invading soldiers were no longer among them. So what changed since the beginning of the book? What is better off once all the events took place? The person that is in the best position is our protagonist Jack.
This is why I say that Jack's emotional evolution is the central part of the book. Solving crimes and saving children are nothing more than tools to help push Jack to his catharsis. This is also why I love the book. Who cares about explosions and murders when the protagonist's own emotional roller-coaster is that much more exciting.
Just unconscionably gross things happened in the text
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence
Probably 3.5 stars rounded up.
There was a lot to love for me, but this book was in terrible need of an editor. While I appreciate that the author is British, I can’t believe that an editor let this go to press with an American character using British language like “tyres” and “petrol” pervasively throughout the book. Inelegant tech metaphors also abounded, and while I am all for a hardboiled protagonist, this one stretched my empathy nearly to the breaking point between wallowing in self pity and descriptions of past and ongoing behavior that by all rights should have alienated everyone around him.
Otherwise, though, it was a good story, albeit one that was much less weird than I had expected based on others’ reviews. I’m looking forward to reading more of Smith’s later work to see if his writing improves with maturity and experience.
There was a lot to love for me, but this book was in terrible need of an editor. While I appreciate that the author is British, I can’t believe that an editor let this go to press with an American character using British language like “tyres” and “petrol” pervasively throughout the book. Inelegant tech metaphors also abounded, and while I am all for a hardboiled protagonist, this one stretched my empathy nearly to the breaking point between wallowing in self pity and descriptions of past and ongoing behavior that by all rights should have alienated everyone around him.
Otherwise, though, it was a good story, albeit one that was much less weird than I had expected based on others’ reviews. I’m looking forward to reading more of Smith’s later work to see if his writing improves with maturity and experience.
Quite a bit Stainless Steel Rat, some Neuromancer and dim shades of Never Let Me Go. Having seen the film The Island which is sort-of-not-really based on it, I was initially surprised how far they'd departed from the story and it took me a while to adjust to the fact that this wasn't really any relation to it.
The hard-boiled protagonist is creaky as a main character, the other leads don't get much beyond cardboard cut-outs (the most 'real' of them is a robot), the spares themselves barely feature apart from as a plot device and the world is an unconvincing BladeRunner/Brave New World/Gibson mashup with an alternate reality plane thrown in for good measure (or at least to provide somewhere for the characters to go when the mall gets boring) .. but
... by the halfway mark I didn't really care - it's a pacy, funny, action thriller that does a good job at dragging you pell mell along to the end.
Speed minus Dennis Hopper.
The hard-boiled protagonist is creaky as a main character, the other leads don't get much beyond cardboard cut-outs (the most 'real' of them is a robot), the spares themselves barely feature apart from as a plot device and the world is an unconvincing BladeRunner/Brave New World/Gibson mashup with an alternate reality plane thrown in for good measure (or at least to provide somewhere for the characters to go when the mall gets boring) .. but
... by the halfway mark I didn't really care - it's a pacy, funny, action thriller that does a good job at dragging you pell mell along to the end.
Speed minus Dennis Hopper.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Michael Marshall Smith is probably my favourite science fiction author. His surreal future dystopias are regularly spiked with a small dose of humour to take the edge off. Spares is great.
Enjoyed this a lot - well written, funny, moving...I thought it had a flavour of Douglas Coupland about it, and tiny touches of Douglas Adams sometimes too. There are some very violent/disturbing parts too, but it didn't feel gratuitous.