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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A disjointed, drunken mess. I mean that literally. I've never before read a book so soaked in alcohol. Several other reviewers have commented on the unlikeable behaviour of the uber-rich lead, and I share those views. The pace of the book is frenetic, and the lead's obsession with cocktails was tedious. I gave this 1.5/5 because the SF elements, including plausible tech, were interesting, and the mystery itself had potential. Sadly, that potential was lost in a maze of disparate elements that seldom seem likely to cohere. I finished this book for only two reasons: (1) It's a mystery and I often wade throu mysteries to find out whodunnit, and (2), it was prompt for my 2023 TSG Onboarding Challenge
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
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
My favorite Kowal book so far! Space mystery with a lovably intelligent and also disabled woman with a mysteriously traumatic past? Yes, please. Every day. I also enjoyed that Kowal projected out some realistic advances that I nonetheless would have never thought of. Subdermal communication devices, handheld devices you can roll up, and everyone declaring their pronouns are just a few examples. Had to finish it all in one day!
adventurous
funny
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
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After the excellent Lady Astronaut books, this one was something of a letdown. I was expecting a historically-flavored murder mystery on a cruise ship in space. And it is a murder mystery on a space cruise, yes, but there was nothing particularly historical about it. Or, honestly, futuristic. It felt very 2020s, to the point that I expect it will sound dated in about ten years.
The heroine is a billionaire inventor, which already poses a challenge to try to get me to like her. (Also she's named Tesla. Huh, I wonder who her rich daddy is.) She has chronic pain, PTSD, and a service dog. Which is a lot of stuff to load her down with, but she doesn't really seem to have a personality beyond these things. She doesn't grow much as a person. Her husband is even worse: he's a fantasy of an ideal husband, but apparently adjusting to married life took them about six seconds and they never quarrel.
One of the most annoying things about the book is that apparently, in the future, it's rude to even mention someone's name without mentioning their pronouns. Also you can never refer to or guess at anybody's gender unless they're told. If it's really vital, like if they saw a murder suspect, characters will squirm uncomfortably before admitting that if they HAD to guess, leaning on TOXIC STEREOTYPES, they looked like a man. The problem with all of this is that *everyone has cyber profiles which you can check by blinking at your heads up display.* So all of this clunky awkwardness is completely unnecessary. It would be so easy to put the pronouns in the profile and let us move on with the book, but we are not allowed to. Most of the first chapter is cluttered up with explaining this before we are allowed to move on.
You'll think my complaint then is that the book is "too woke." No, actually. It's not really woke at all to write a story about a bunch of rich people calling their lawyers and complaining if they have to be moved to a smaller suite. It's not woke to spend this much time obsessing over 2020s pronoun etiquette while doing not one new or interesting thing with gender. It's not woke to hear nothing about the political reality, nothing about the obvious class distinctions, nothing calling out the main character's aggrieved privilege. Which I guess means it was supposed to be an escapist book, but in that case . . . it should have been more fun to read.
The heroine is a billionaire inventor, which already poses a challenge to try to get me to like her. (Also she's named Tesla. Huh, I wonder who her rich daddy is.) She has chronic pain, PTSD, and a service dog. Which is a lot of stuff to load her down with, but she doesn't really seem to have a personality beyond these things. She doesn't grow much as a person. Her husband is even worse: he's a fantasy of an ideal husband, but apparently adjusting to married life took them about six seconds and they never quarrel.
One of the most annoying things about the book is that apparently, in the future, it's rude to even mention someone's name without mentioning their pronouns. Also you can never refer to or guess at anybody's gender unless they're told. If it's really vital, like if they saw a murder suspect, characters will squirm uncomfortably before admitting that if they HAD to guess, leaning on TOXIC STEREOTYPES, they looked like a man. The problem with all of this is that *everyone has cyber profiles which you can check by blinking at your heads up display.* So all of this clunky awkwardness is completely unnecessary. It would be so easy to put the pronouns in the profile and let us move on with the book, but we are not allowed to. Most of the first chapter is cluttered up with explaining this before we are allowed to move on.
You'll think my complaint then is that the book is "too woke." No, actually. It's not really woke at all to write a story about a bunch of rich people calling their lawyers and complaining if they have to be moved to a smaller suite. It's not woke to spend this much time obsessing over 2020s pronoun etiquette while doing not one new or interesting thing with gender. It's not woke to hear nothing about the political reality, nothing about the obvious class distinctions, nothing calling out the main character's aggrieved privilege. Which I guess means it was supposed to be an escapist book, but in that case . . . it should have been more fun to read.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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:
Complicated
informative
mysterious
medium-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:
Complicated
I adored it. Style, panache, trauma, and the very best puppy.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
I have never understood a character quite as quickly as when Tesla's wedding ring as noted as being the same metal mix as the original kilogram standard. Masterfully deployed on the first page.
The mystery sucked me in and I wound up reading a large chunk of the end of the book in a single setting because I couldn't stand to put it down. I also really loved Tesla and Shal. I am totally okay with so many of the author's couples having similar dynamics because we don't get enough happy, stable marriages in SFF.
And of course as an MRK novel we get lots of solid scientific grounding. I particularly enjoyed remembering that every time they called the lawyer the time delay got longer and the thought to how they were going to deal with having a conversation that way.
The mystery sucked me in and I wound up reading a large chunk of the end of the book in a single setting because I couldn't stand to put it down. I also really loved Tesla and Shal. I am totally okay with so many of the author's couples having similar dynamics because we don't get enough happy, stable marriages in SFF.
And of course as an MRK novel we get lots of solid scientific grounding. I particularly enjoyed remembering that every time they called the lawyer the time delay got longer and the thought to how they were going to deal with having a conversation that way.
Weirdly, this is the second book in a row I've read where pronouns are a standard feature during introductions.
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:
No
Fun murder mystery with some
neat, queer futurism ambiance, though the pacing was odd and the narrative+prose somewhat unfocused.
neat, queer futurism ambiance, though the pacing was odd and the narrative+prose somewhat unfocused.