Reviews - The Spare Man | The StoryGraph

1.1k reviews for:

The Spare Man

Mary Robinette Kowal

3.75 AVERAGE

amampersand's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ellie_the_kraken's review against another edition

2.0

challenging funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

petrichortrails's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was delightful! A murder mystery on a space cruise with bonus cocktail recipes? Yes please! Plus excellent disability rep, a cute dog, and cool tech. Engaging & adventurous, with a side of romance; loved the little plot twists that hooked me fully. Highly recommend.

I really enjoy Mary Robinette Kowal as a narrator and her talents shine even more as she brings her own book to life.

Time for me to try some new cocktail recipes!

likecymbeline's review against another edition

3.0

Honeymooners trying to lie low on an interplanetary space-liner guzzle cocktails and aim to solve a series of murders so they can get back to canoodling. Very fun concept that blends a 1920s aesthetic with sci-fi concepts that often feel just slightly ahead of us. It's a cozy mystery with a lot of markers of the 2020s, from 'courtesy masks' to a culture with a very different attitude towards pronouns.

The story had good banter, Tesla's husband is very dreamy, and I spent the whole time craving each and every one of the cocktail recipes that head each chapter. It has enough space tech to appeal to a hard-sci-fi reader, as long as they like the social stuff that goes with the feeling of a locked-room (or ship) murder. But with the retrofied set-pieces, it can also appeal to people who don't usually venture into sci-fi.

whatshereads727's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is an interesting story about a new couple that are on a space transport to Mars for a honeymoon trip. They have taken along their little terrier name of gimlet with them and unfortunately there’s murder and mystery on this trip, and due to circumstances beyond their control they are smack dab in the middle of it And work toward solving the mystery. Its unique because of the location. The characters are engaging and funny and in love there’s also the dog which helps them negotiate the solutions and it is also a medical support dog for one of the main characters who has severe spine damage due to an accident. I picked this book up because of the reference to the dog being part of the story but also this book has just won a Hugo award and I had read all the winners except this one. I was interested because of those two things I would definitely pick this book up. Great read.