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abitsybat's review against another edition
3.0
I was hoping for a mystery that used cloning to complicate the whodunnit but this is very much a science fiction story about the potential impacts of easy access to cloning. It was well done, but I did not want something that went this heavy into clone law.
theobromo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kennedien's review against another edition
2.0
New scifi will sometimes have this humor tone to it that I can’t describe but reminds me of cheesy bland one liners. I really don’t know how to describe it. But I just know this book has it and I don’t enjoy it.
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Three for effort, but really it's a two overall.
Lafferty appears to have decided to explore the philosophy of cloning, and specifically serial cloning of the same person. That's admirable, and some of the discussions presented here are quite good.
Then she decides to make it a murder mystery, and hey, let's go all Agatha Christie and make it REALLY complicated. But no, that's all tweed and pipes and accents, so let's stir in some Reservoir Dogs.
Hey! We can put it on a spaceship with an AI running it.
Is this starting to feel like too many ingredients? If so, congratulations - because it is.
The story unfolds with a series of back stories, in which we learn that the characters have a few things in common. The web tightens and everything fits together, but in far too complex a way. As I summarize it to myself, I admit that it holds together very well, but if someone who hadn't read the book heard my summary, they'd say, "That's ridiculous!" Perhaps the most difficult part of that to swallow is that [name withheld] went to so incredibly much trouble to DO all this.
There's that Reservoir Dogs scene near the end, which seemed quite unnecessary.
And the incredibly annoying Wolfgang, who approaches the level of grating annoyance of some of Connie Willis's gormless time travelers. He's Roderick Spode from P G Wodehouse.
Then we get to the SF part, and this is where the stars fell like rain.
I'll have to hide this part:
(1) Maria's a great hacker, and it's hundreds of years in our future. But gosh, she's reading the code of an AI that can operate a miles-long starship, and in a few minutes she can go "Aha!" comment out a few lines, and everything changes.
(2) At one point, unless the author was using artistic licence, it appeared that she was actually programming this miles-long starship in BINARY. I have programmed in binary and Assembler, and hey folks, it is incredibly tedious. There's a reason programming languages were invented.
(3) I don't have any trouble believing that a hacker hundreds of years in our future can quickly tell why I have a weak left eye and brown hair. I know that memory editing is not entirely implausible, with brain scans etc. But it's a little harder to believe that a speck of dead skin will reveal my memories of that day in grade four when the teacher embarrassed me in front of the class.
(4) But wait, there's more! I can put a copper band around your head and make a complete map of your mind! All your memories, preferences, everything. What is this, Buck Rogers?
(5) Never mind the copper band. Just gimme a month-old speck of your saliva and I will get that mind map, AND the complete specs for your body -- AND I'll print out a copy of you with the autochef!
#5 there took me as close as I have come in years to actually throwing the book across the room.
This could have been a great book, and an interesting exploration of cloning ethics, but it's way, way overplotted and relies on some wildly implausible assumptions about DNA hacking.
Lafferty appears to have decided to explore the philosophy of cloning, and specifically serial cloning of the same person. That's admirable, and some of the discussions presented here are quite good.
Then she decides to make it a murder mystery, and hey, let's go all Agatha Christie and make it REALLY complicated. But no, that's all tweed and pipes and accents, so let's stir in some Reservoir Dogs.
Hey! We can put it on a spaceship with an AI running it.
Is this starting to feel like too many ingredients? If so, congratulations - because it is.
The story unfolds with a series of back stories, in which we learn that the characters have a few things in common. The web tightens and everything fits together, but in far too complex a way. As I summarize it to myself, I admit that it holds together very well, but if someone who hadn't read the book heard my summary, they'd say, "That's ridiculous!" Perhaps the most difficult part of that to swallow is that [name withheld] went to so incredibly much trouble to DO all this.
There's that Reservoir Dogs scene near the end, which seemed quite unnecessary.
And the incredibly annoying Wolfgang, who approaches the level of grating annoyance of some of Connie Willis's gormless time travelers. He's Roderick Spode from P G Wodehouse.
Then we get to the SF part, and this is where the stars fell like rain.
I'll have to hide this part:
Spoiler
(1) Maria's a great hacker, and it's hundreds of years in our future. But gosh, she's reading the code of an AI that can operate a miles-long starship, and in a few minutes she can go "Aha!" comment out a few lines, and everything changes.
(2) At one point, unless the author was using artistic licence, it appeared that she was actually programming this miles-long starship in BINARY. I have programmed in binary and Assembler, and hey folks, it is incredibly tedious. There's a reason programming languages were invented.
(3) I don't have any trouble believing that a hacker hundreds of years in our future can quickly tell why I have a weak left eye and brown hair. I know that memory editing is not entirely implausible, with brain scans etc. But it's a little harder to believe that a speck of dead skin will reveal my memories of that day in grade four when the teacher embarrassed me in front of the class.
(4) But wait, there's more! I can put a copper band around your head and make a complete map of your mind! All your memories, preferences, everything. What is this, Buck Rogers?
(5) Never mind the copper band. Just gimme a month-old speck of your saliva and I will get that mind map, AND the complete specs for your body -- AND I'll print out a copy of you with the autochef!
#5 there took me as close as I have come in years to actually throwing the book across the room.
This could have been a great book, and an interesting exploration of cloning ethics, but it's way, way overplotted and relies on some wildly implausible assumptions about DNA hacking.
trin's review against another edition
2.0
I recently succumbed to the urge to rewatch hbomberguy's classic, Sherlock Is Garbage and Here's Why (this has somehow become a comfort watch for me, don't ask). Reading this book, I was reminded of his criticism of Steven Moffat's earlier show, Jekyll: why start with a fabulous in media res beginning, only to weigh down the rest of your narrative with flashbacks that explain everything?
This book does that. There's a great opening where six clones awake on a spaceship, realize that they were all murdered and that the murderer must be one of them, but their memories of the entire mission so far have been erased. Fun! But then we get endless farting around instead of an interesting -- or character-revealing -- investigation, and lots and lots of backstory for these characters that still doesn't paint them as compelling people. Also, I'm pretty sure the mystery itself and the underlying plots and conspiracies make no sense.
Worse, this is just kind of boring?
Still better than Sherlock, though!
This book does that. There's a great opening where six clones awake on a spaceship, realize that they were all murdered and that the murderer must be one of them, but their memories of the entire mission so far have been erased. Fun! But then we get endless farting around instead of an interesting -- or character-revealing -- investigation, and lots and lots of backstory for these characters that still doesn't paint them as compelling people. Also, I'm pretty sure the mystery itself and the underlying plots and conspiracies make no sense.
Worse, this is just kind of boring?
Still better than Sherlock, though!
love_larry's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
4.5
ghost_talk_mac's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
andrewsweet's review against another edition
4.0
I was prepared not to like this book. I'm not much of a mystery reader, and what attracted me to it was the cloning element. I bought the audiobook on a whim, and it was one of the best impulse buys I made in the literature. The story moves quickly from the moment the book opens with a catastrophic event. This book is an excellent read for anyone who likes fast-paced whodunits and works cloning into the story in a central and impactful way. Excellent work!