Reviews - The Spare Man | The StoryGraph

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1.1k reviews for:

The Spare Man

Mary Robinette Kowal

3.75 AVERAGE

michellestoll's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous mysterious tense 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

kjboldon's review against another edition

4.0

funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

The Thin Man in space is a great hook, and I definitely feel under its spell. I found the book funny, diverting, and charming. I couldn't wait to get back to it when I had to put it down.

Tesla is a poor little rich girl whose fame and tragic past have given her chronic pain, PTSD, and a need to hide from the public. At the beginning she seems to be in a happy place with her sexy new husband, a retired detective, on a luxury cruise. Then someone gets killed and things get complicated. She has an adorable service dog named Gimlet (and I'm not a dog lover; little barky dogs make me anxious.) But this fictional one was hard to resist. This book was a romp, a twisty mystery with lots of red herrings and reversals up till the end, with one of my favorite tropes, the girl detective.

I didn't find the Catholic-saint invoking, crocheting, cursing lawyer that funny, and Tesla's bossyboots attitude wore on me, as did the convenient and repetitive descriptions of her pain (which she always managed to keep moving through.)

But to have a heroine with chronic pain and a service dog, one whose service includes interesting variations, and to have things like masks and gender pushed into the future? All of that I'm here for.

shoutman's review against another edition

4.5

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: Yes

philfromocs's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious fast-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: No

kpeninger's review against another edition

4.0

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: No

(I was in the middle of writing this review when my power went out. Curses.) This book is a romp and it isn't trying to be anything more than that. This book isn't trying to impart meaning or be an allegory or reflect truths about real life - it's just mimicking some of the classic tropes from the Golden Age of Mystery (specifically the wealth, the alcohol, and the perceived glamour - it's specifically riffing on The Thin Man), but setting it In Spaaaaaace. That means if you want your sci-fi to have a meaning to it, you probably should skip this one. However, if you want something very lighthearted, something where the whole purpose is just to have fun, this might be for you. The characters were pretty fun (I love Fantine, the lawyer, best of all) and the setting is interesting and the mystery is simple but enjoyable. This was a nice little diversion for an afternoon; I had a good time.